The Children of John Dignan Williams

John Dignan Williams (1789 - 1858)  was the oldest brother of Hutchins Thomas Williams, Sarah Williams, William Williams and the half-brother of Richard, Mary and Henry Williams.  He was the son of London lawyer and steward of Grey's Inn, John Jeffery Williams, and of Sarah Dignam.

I had originally thought that John Dignam William's younger brother, Richard, who was born in London in 1812 to John Jeffery Williams and his second wife, Mary Oliver, might be our great-great grandfather, Richard Williams of Eden Quay, Dublin, since both men were born in 1812, but lack of supporting evidence leads me to now doubt any family link.  I include my research here for the benefit of anyone who might be related to the family of John Dignam Williams.

Siblings John Dignam Williams, Hutchins Thomas Williams, William Williams and Sarah Williams all moved from London to Dublin in the early 1800's, where they were deeply involved in banking, shipping and other businesses.

http://alison-stewart.blogspot.ie/2011/11/john-dignan-williams-grandson-of-thomas.html

The genealogy of the Williams family has been gravely compromised by the loss of the St Andrew’s registers, so I’ve had to piece together bits and pieces of information to build up a picture of John Dignan’s offspring.

http://alison-stewart.blogspot.com/2011/11/john-jeffery-williams-1770-1815-son-of.html

In Bray, Co. Wicklow, on 25th June 1818, John Dignam Williams of St. Thomas's parish, Dublin, married Mary Roberts of Ravensville.  She was the daughter of the late Quaker Robert Roberts and of his wife Sarah Watson.   
A Victorian genealogy of the Williams family named John Dignam William's wife as Mary Law or Love rather than Roberts - this confusion arises because Mary's widowed mother, Sarah Roberts, née Watson, the daughter of banker Solomon Watson, married again in 1813 following her husband's early death.  Her second husband was banker Robert Law of Raheny, so daughter Mary could have taken her stepfather's name from 1813 onwards and been known by either Roberts or Law.

Mary Roberts, who married John Dignam Williams in Bray in 1818, was the daughter of Robert Roberts, who had been born on born 21st July 1758 in Mountrath to Robert Roberts and Hannah Russell who would subsequently move tbeir family to Cork.
The younger Robert Roberts was ejected from membership of the Cork Quakers in the late 1790s when he got a servant girl pregnant in the course of his business apprenticeship.  He moved to Dublin where he later proved himself to be suitably reformed, and was accepted back into the Dublin congregation. 
 He married Sarah Watson in Dublin, the daughter of Solomon Watson, in Wicklow on 4th October 1794.    The young couple had Thomas Roberts in Dublin on 29th June 1795 and Mary Roberts in Dublin on 22nd November 1796.   A son, Watson Roberts, died in childhood on 1st May 1809 and was buried in Cork Street. 
Following Robert Roberts' 1812 death, his wife and two children, Thomas and Mary, drifted away from the Quaker religion.    In 1812 however, Thomas Roberts, son of Robert Roberts, was placed into apprenticeship in Clonmel by the Dublin congregation;  in 1823, Thomas Roberts informed them that he wished to worship in the established church, ie, Anglican, so they declared him 'not one of us'.

Robert Robert's widow, Sarah, née Watson, married the banker Robert Law of Raheny in 1813, and her daughter, Mary, married John Dignam Williams in 1818. 

Mary's brother, Thomas Roberts, would also marry a member of the Law family.  Thomas Roberts, son of Robert Roberts and Sarah Watson , married Eliza Law in Dublin in 1828.  The papers noted this marriage as occurring in Coolock Church which was the place of worship of the Law family of Raheny. The ceremony was carried out  by Rev. Francis Law. Thomas Roberts was noted as being of Coleville near Clonmel on the Tipperary/Waterford border.  Elizabeth Law, his bride, was noted as the youngest daughter of the late Rev. Francis Law of Athane, Co. Kilkenny  - the ceremony was conducted by her brother, also Rev. Francis Law.   The late Rev. Francis Law was the son of Robert Law who had been born in Derry in 1730 and who died in Dublin on 11th June 1789.   Robert Law who married the groom's widowed mother, Sarah Roberts, in 1813 must have been a close relation of the bride's father, Rev, Francis Law.
Thomas Roberts and Elizabeth Law settled in Clonmel where he was noted in the street directories of the day as being an agent to the Bank of Ireland.   His wife died in Clonmel on 1st March 1853, and he later moved to Vesey Place, Kingstown, Co.Dublin, where he proved his mother's will when she, Sarah Law, died on 16th January 1862.  She was buried in the Watson grave in Mount Jerome alongside her brother, Solomon Watson and her nephew Major William Watson.

The children of Thomas Roberts and Sarah Elizabeth Law were Elizabeth Roberts 1829 - 1837, Major Thomas Law Roberts who was born 1830 in Waterford and who died on 9th March 1890, Robert Roberts 1831 - 1856, Isabel S. Roberts 1833 - 1855, Francis Law Roberts, born 6th January 1836 in Santry, Co. Dublin,  Elizabeth C. Roberts, Eleanor Kate Roberts born 1845, Arthur John Roberts born 1837 and Amelia Louise Roberts 1834 - the Irish papers noted the birth at Coleville, Waterford (near Clonmel) on 7th September 1834 of a daughter to the lady of Thomas Roberts.  But more of Amelia Louise Roberts later.

In 1835 in St. George's Church, Dublin,  John Dignan Williams was a witness to the wedding of Robert Roberts of Drogheda to Penelope Battersby of Dublin.  The three other witnesses to this wedding were John Battersby, Robert Law and Thomas Roberts.   

Robert Roberts, who married Penelope Battersby, was the Drogheda agent to the Bank of Ireland, and John Dignan Williams' second cousin, Richard Williams, was notary to the Bank in Dublin.  Robert Law, one of the witnesses, was a Governor of the Bank of Ireland - the Law family had moved to Dublin from Donegal, and had established Finlay's Bank on Jervis Street, before taking up work with the Bank of Ireland. They lived at Great Denmark St, and later moved to Kilbarrack House in Raheny.   Penelope Battersby was the daughter of Robert Battersby of the wonderfully-named Bobsville, Co. Cavan.  

Robert Roberts who married Penelope Battersby in Dublin in 1835, and whose wedding was witnessed by Thomas Roberts and John Dignan Williams, husband of Mary Roberts, must have been another member of the Quaker Roberts family but I've been unable to accurately place him into the family, despite the excellent record-keeping of the Quakers.    

Robert Roberts - agent to the Bank of Ireland as was Thomas Roberts of Clonmel - and Penelope Batterbsy settled in Laurence Street, Drogheda and the baptisms of some of their numerous children took place in St. Peter's.   Amongst them was Francis Roberts, later Lt. Col. Francis Roberts, who married Ellen Beresfored Watson, daughter of Solomon Watson Junior, in Monkstown Church of Ireland church, on 19th October 1865;  the witnesses were Thomas Roberts and Solomon Watson.  

As already mentioned, Robert Roberts and Hannah Russell of Mountrath, and later of Cork, were the ancestors of Thomas Roberts who married Eliza Law, and of Mary Roberts who married John Dignam Williams.  

A son of Robert Roberts and Hannah Russell was Francis Roberts of Youghal who married Mary Abbott in 1791.  Francis was the great-uncle of Thomas Roberts and Mary Law, being the younger brother of their grandfather.   One of the sons of Francis Law of Youghal was the builder Samuel Roberts who settled in Dublin and who developed the Appian Way.  

The earliest documented evidence for the children of John Dignam Williams and Mary Roberts is a notice in the 'Dublin Weekly Register' of 17th April 1819 which reported the birth of John D. William's daughter at North Cumberland Street, Dublin.
T
he UK 1841 census describes the family living back in London at 34 Woburn Place in Bloomsbury.  John Dignan was 50 and a merchant;  his wife, Mary, was 40.  Their children were as follows:
John Williams, aged 20 - born 1821 The 1841 Census doesn't provide further information.
Robert, aged 14 - born 1827.
Watkin Wynn, aged 12 - born 1829.
Elizabeth (later named as Bessie Law), aged 8 - born 1833.
Susannah (later named as Susan Amelia), aged 7 - born 1834.

This was a third daughter:  Mary Antoinette Williams,born circa 1825, of Coolock, North Dublin, the daughter of John D.Williams, married Daniel Henry Rucker (9th December 1815 - 10th March 1895), the son of the London merchant, John Anthony Rucker, on 4th November 1847.  John Anthony Rucker had married Anne Bencraft, the eldest daughter of Stephen Bencraft, on 8th May 1810 - the Bencraft family were business associates of the Rucker family.
Was Mary Antoinette Williams living at the home of her mother's family, the Laws of Raheny/Coolock, when she married?

In 1871 the Rucker family were living in Clapham; Daniel Henry Rucker was a colonial broker (the Rucker family had long been associated with the East India Company and had traded at 37 Mincing Lane since the end of the eighteenth century) and they had six children - Arthur William Rucker, born in Clapham on 23rd October 1848, who was a fellow and mathematical lecturer at Oxford; Edward Augustus Rucker, born Clapham on 22nd June 1850;  Helen Louisa Rucker, baptised in Clapham Church on 11th December 1857; Reginald Wynn Rucker, born on 27th December 1854 in Clapham;  Marion Constance Rucker, born in Clapham on 27th September 1852,  and Adela Rucker who married the surgeon Edgar Duke in Clapham on 27th May 1884.
Mary Antoinette Rucker, née Williams, died on 26th August 1905 at St. Leonards-on-Sea, East Sussex.
A deed of 1878 (1878-55-12) confirms that Mary Antoinette Williams was the daughter of John Dignan Williams.  The deed, dated 29th July 1878, was between Sarah Brereton of 3 Great Tower Street, London, a widow, and Watkin Wynn Williams Esq., Bessie Law Williams, and Susan Amelia Williams, all of 35 King William Street, London,  and Daniel Henry Rucker and Mary Antoinette Rucker (aka Williams) of 37 Mincing Lane, London.  They were all the grantors of Editha Hatchell of Salem Lodge, Upper Norwood (this was indecipherable), near London, spinster. The grantors were granting land in Wexford to Editha Hatchell.

Another daughter, Penelope Williams, was born at Woburn Place, Bloomsbury, London, on April 7th 1837, and this was recorded in the baptismal records of St. George's. Her parents were Mary Williams and the merchant John Dignam Williams, but I can find no further details on her and she was missing from the census in 1841.  It is interesting that the family had a London address in 1837.  In 1835,  John Dignam William's brother had notoriously broken a bank and fled the country for Canada, and John Dignan Williams must have returned to London to escape the scandal at this time.

In 1851, Robert Williams was a student at Cambridge. When he graduated in 1854, his home address was given at 14 Endsleigh Street, Tavistock Square.  He would emigrate to Canada, where he died in Vancouver on October 16th 1894.

In 1851 the family were living at 33 Argyle St., Grays Inn Lane, where John Dignan Williams would die in 1858.  John himself was away on the night of the census, but the following were all present:

Mary Williams, independent annuitant, born 1801 in Ireland.
Watkins W., Merchant's Clerk/West India Merchant & Shipping Agent, aged 22, born Ireland.
Susan W., aged 17, born Ireland.
Bessie, aged 18, Independent Annuitant, born Ireland.

Two  of the daughters of John Dignan Williams appear and reappear on the English censuses, living with their brother and his family in England - Bessie/Elizabeth Law Williams, born Dublin circa 1833  and Susan Amelia Williams who would witness her brother’s marriage.

Watkin Wynn Williams, was born in Dublin to John Dignan Williams in about 1828.  Watkin Wynn Williams married Amelia Louisa Roberts in St.Pancras chapel, London, on 20th November 1858.  This was only 6 months after the death of John Dignan Williams. At the time of the marriage, Watkin was living in London and working as a ship agent.
Amelia Louisa had been born in about 1836 in Dublin to Thomas Roberts, a gentleman, of Hillsborough, Co.Waterford.  Thomas Roberts was her uncle, therefore bride and groom were first cousins.
The witnesses to the wedding in 1858 were somebody with an impossible squiggle for a signature, and what seems to be Susan Louisa Williams - the ‘Susan’ is illegible but the ‘Louisa’ is clear enough. This must be Watkin’s sister.

Amelia Louisa Williams died at 23 Upper Phillimore Place, Kensington, on 19th January 1905;  her husband, Watkin Wynn Williams, died at the same addess on 11th June 1920, and probate was granted to his unmarried son, Francis Ernest Williams.

(The name ‘Watkin Wynn’:
A deed exists in the Registry of Deeds in Dublin, dated 25th February 1782, which details a property deal done by Thomas Williams of the Bank of Ireland, and which was witnessed by his brother, Watkin Wynne Williams. This then, is a family name, Thomas and Watkin Wynne being the great-uncles of Watkin Wynn William’s father, John Dignan Williams.)

Watkin Wynn Williams Junior was born in Stockwell, Surrey, to Watkin and Amelia Louisa, on 11th March 1860.
Francis Ernest was born 14th Feb 1864 in Stockwell, Surrey.
Hugh Howard Williams 29th July 1866 in Stockwell, Surrey.

Watkin’s son, Watkin, was a cleric. He was the curate of St.Peter’s, Battersea 1883-1886;  the vice-prinicpal of Dorchester Missionary College 1888 - 91; a fellow and tutor of St.Augustine College, Canterbury 1891 - 1904; the vicar of Monckton 1904 - 1915;  dios. Exam. Of Secondary School, Roch. 1902 - 15;  Honorary fellow of St. Augustinne, Canterbury 1907 - 1916;  the rector of Drayton, St.Leonard 1915 - 1928.
In 1932, he was living at Wellington House, Great Malvern, Worcestershire.
Rev. Watkin Wynn Williams was also an author and scholar, writing ‘Studies in St.Bernard of Clairvaux’ 1927;  ‘Letters of savonarola’ 1907;  ‘Maxim of the Mystics, translated from Fénélon’ 1909.

He married, on 7th September 1905, Charlotte Philippa Stephanie Warren in Ramsgate, Kent, and they had three children, the schoolmaster Watkin Wynn Williams (the 3rd), Mary Fanny Williams, and Frank Williams.

Watkin’s brother, Hugh Howard Williams, was also a clergyman,  He received a BA from Worcestershire College, Oxford in 1895.  Among his posts were Dundee 1900 - 1904; St.Jude’s, Bradford, 1905 - 1908;  St. Aid., Middlesborough 1908 - 1911; St. Stephen’s, Smethwick 1912 - 1912;  Mafeking 1916 - 1919; Stechford 1919 - 1922; Solihull 1922 - 1925.

On the 1911 UK census, Hugh Howard Williams can be seen living at Knipton Rectory in Lincolcshire, along with his paternal aunt, Susan Amelia Williams, aged 76.
Susan Amelia Williams died at Little Horsted Rectory, Uckfield, on 27th February 1927; the probate was granted to Hugh Howard Williams.
Hugh Howard Williams died on 5th January 1937 at Horsted Parva rectory, Little Horsted near Uckfield.   A second address was given: 23 The Drive, Hove, Sussex. Probate was granted to the schoolmaster, Rev.Watkin Wynn Williams, either his brother or his nephew.

On the 1911 UK Census, the brother of Watkin and Hugh Howard, Francis Ernest Williams, was living at the family home of 31 Phillimore Place in Kensington, London;  he was single, living on private means, and aged 47.  His widowed father, Watkin Wynn Williams, was present, as was his paternal aunt, Bessie Law Williams.

Earlier, in 1871, Bessie L.Williams had been living as a lodger in the Hastings house of an Eliza Philcox. Ten years later she was living at the home of her brother,the ship-builder, Watkin Wynn, and his family at 8 Devonshire Terrace in Chelsea.
 Elizabeth Law Williams died at Watkin’s home in Kensington, 32 Phillimore Place on 28th December 1916, probate to her nephew, Francis Ernest Williams.

John Jeffery Williams 1770 - 1815

John Jeffery Williams 1770 - 1815.

John Jeffery Williams was born to Hutchins Williams in 1770 and was baptised in St. John The Baptist Church in Hillingden, West London, on 3rd April 1770. 
Hutchins was the brother of Thomas Williams, who was later the first secretary of the Bank of Ireland in Dublin.  Hutchins had been born to their parents, Richard Williams and Mary Hutchins, in Leighton Buzzard in Bedford on 26th December 1740;  his brother, Thomas Williams, had been born there on 30th December 1747.

The 'Faculty Office Marriage Licences Transcriptions' record the marriage of Hutchins Williams and Elizabeth Jefferys on 27th August 1766.   The register of St. Giles in the Field, Holborn, Middlesex, also records that:

"Hutchins Williams and Elizabeth Jefferys, both of this parish, were married in this church by licence this twenty-seventh day of August 1766..."     The witnesses to the event were David Lanker and Joseph Holman.

There seems to be confusion about the name of Hutchins Williams' wife (or wives) and a variety of names are recorded in the baptism register of their parish church in Hillingden.   The children and mothers are noted as follows:

a) Harriot Williams, baptised in St. John the Baptist Church, Hillingden, on 11th September 1767 by Hutchins and SARAH Williams.

b) John Jeffery Williams baptised in St. John the Baptist Church, Hillingden, on 3rd April 1770 by Hutchins and MARY Williams.

c) Thomas Williams baptised in  St. John the Baptist Church, Hillingden, on 21st February 1772 by Hutchins and SARAH Williams.

d) Betty Williams, baptised in St. John the Baptist Church, Hillingden, on 29th November 1775 by Hutchins and BETTY (ie Elizabeth) Williams.


Hutchins' son, John Jeffery Williams, mentioned in his will that he had one brother and more than one sister, but he didn't name them.  The brother may have been William Williams who was admitted to the Freemen of Dublin in 1817, and who was named in the admission papers as the nephew of Thomas Williams (brother of Hutchins William of Hillingden) of the Bank of Ireland.

The will of John Jeffery Williams, 1815:

‘This is the last Will and Testament of me John Jeffery Williams of Greys Inn, Gent, who owes outstanding debts to Mr. Andrew Duncan of Greys Inn aforesaid in the sum of two hundred pounds…and to Mr. James Kibblewhite of the same place...is one hundred and thirty pounds and which I direct may be discharged by the money which shall arise by sale of a set of Chambers belonging to me in Grays Inn and if any deficiency shall happen after appropriating the money to arise by sale of the set of Chambers in satisfying the said debts, then my will is that such deficiency shall be made up out of the money to arise out of the sale of my other effects not hereinafter specifically bequeathed.

I give and bequeath to my dear wife Mary Williams all my shares in the Amicable Society in Serjeants Inn. I give to my dear daughter Sarah my piano and all my books of music, also the (lease?) of my house in Greys Inn (Lane?) subject to the rent…………
….and I bequeath my silver teapot for her own use and I give to my dear son John my Encyclopedia Britannica and to my dear sons Thomas Hutchins and William I give all the rest of my printed books and I give to each of my said sons and daughter twenty pounds for mourning and I give to my Brother Sisters ten pounds for mourning and I also give to my dear beloved sister  (possibly Harriet) the further sum of twenty pounds.
I give to my beloved wife my gold watch and chain in trust for my dear son Richard, and all the rest and residue of my estate subject to the payment of my just debts and funeral expenses, I give and bequeath the same to my said dear wife and I desire to be buried in or near the grave where my late dear wife was buried and at as little expense as may be, and I request that my friend Mr (Twigg?) may lead the management of my funeral and I appoint the said Andrew Duncan and John Dignan Williams of Dublin executors of this my will and do hereby revoke all former wills by me made in witness whereof………this twenty first day of May, one thousand eight hundred and fifteen. J.J.Williams. Signed sealed published and….by said testator John Jeffery Williams as and for his last will and testament in the presence of us who in his presence and at his bequest….our names as witnesses, Sophia Augusta (Mullon??) //Elizabeth Dart.
Proved at London 28^th June 1815 before the worshipful Samuel Kirke……surrogate by the oath of Andrew Duncan one of the executors.......to John Dignan Williams the son of the Testator.’

NB:  James Kibblewhite and Andrew Duncan, both mentioned in John Jeffery Williams' will, were solicitors of Grays Inn;   James Kibblewhite was admitted to Gray's Inn, aged 39, on February 28th 1811, and was the son of the late William Kibblewhite of Liddiard, Millicent, Wiltshire.   Andrew Duncan lived at Gray's Inn Place and practised law locally.   


The Family of John Jeffery Williams:
So, John Jeffery Williams married twice. He married Sarah Dignan (sometimes Dignam) in St. Leonards Church, Shoreditch, on 19th October 1788 - the witnesses were Thomas Blinson/Blanson and Thomas Quin, who was the Steward of Gray's Inn.


By Sarah Dignan, his first wife, he had:
1) John Dignan Williams who was baptised in St.Andrew's, Holborn, on 6th October 1789.
     http://alison-stewart.blogspot.ie/2011/11/john-dignan-williams-grandson-of-thomas.html
2) William Williams (date of birth unknown, but possibly 1795) was later mentioned in his father's will of 1815.
3) Sarah Williamswas born in 1794, and was baptised in St. Andrew's on 2nd October 1794.
4) Harriot Williams was baptised on 16th August 1796.
A second daughter named Harriet was born in January 1798 and baptised on 30th January - neither Harriot survived, and were not mentioned in their father's will of 1815.  Both were named after an aunt named Harriet who was mentioned in their father's will.
5) Thomas Hutchins Williams was born to John Jeffery and Sarah, and was baptised on February 20th 1790 at Georges Court, and was baptised in the Church of St. George the Martyr in Queen Square; the family were living in Boswell Court near Grays Inn at the time.  Thomas later called himself Hutchins Thomas Williams.

Following the death of Sarah Dignan, John Jeffery Williams married Mary Oliver of Alresford, Essex, and had a further three children with her:
1) Richard Williams was born on 24th July 1812 and was baptised in the Old Church, St. Pancras on 3rd September 1812.  (I had originally believed him to be my immediate ancestor, Richard Williams of Dublin, who worked for the Williams family for many years but I now know this to be incorrect).
2) Mary Williams was baptised in the same church on September 3rd 1813;  the family's address at the time was what seems to be Mabledon Place, but this was difficult to decipher and may be incorrect.  Mary was not mentioned in her father's will, but she would later marry Rev. Samuel Farman.
3) Henry Jeffery Williams was baptised in St.Andrew's, Holborn on August 20th 1815, several months after the death of his father. The family were living at Gray's Inn Place. 

Mary Oliver, the second wife of John Jeffery Williams, was the daughter of Samuel Oliver and Susannah Martin of St. Osyth, Essex, who had married by banns on 8th October 1771.   They baptised their 4-year-old daughter, Mary Oliver, in St. Osyth in 1789, along with siblings Samuel in 1773, a second Samuel in 1787, Susanna in 1774, John in 1776, Sarah in 1778,  Thomas in 1780, a second Thomas in 1789, William in 1781, Charles Martin Oliver in 1783, George in 1784, Ann in 1787, 

John Jeffery Williams of Grays Inn, Holborn, was referred to in the records by three names - John Jeffery Williams,  John Williams and J.J. Williams.


He appeared in 'The Universal British Directory' of 1791, under the heading 'Inns of Court, Gray's-Inn, Holborn':
   'Stewart, Mr. Thomas Quin, Library Staircase, Gray's-Inn
    Under Steward, Mr. John Williams.'
The above Thomas Quin was probably one of the men who witnessed John Jeffery's marriage to Sarah Dignan;  Thomas Quin died in 1813 and was  buried in St. Andrews, Holborn, on February 13th.  He was succeeded as Steward of Gray's Inn by our John Jeffery Williams.
(Thomas Quin appears in the 'Pension Book of Gray's Inn' - on 23rd February 1787, he was appointed second butler and panyerman and Steward's and Chief Butler's man, in place of Peter davies who had resigned.  Later on 14th November 1787, he was noted as the second butler who was elected on this date as Chief Steward and Chief Butler.   Thomas Quin died, aged 68, in January 1813.  The Steward of Gray's Inn performed an administrative roll, dealing with admissions and correspondance.  John Jeffery Williams was, along with John Howell of Bartlett's Buildings, one of the witnesses to Thomas Quin's 1813 will - Thomas Quin mentioned two brothers in his will, William Quin, a painter/glazier of Camden, and James Quin, a yeoman of Crown Court near Grays Inn.  He also mentioned a son-in-law, Francis Millard, and it's interesting to note that John Jeffery William's son, John Dignan Williams, was apprenticed in London to a merchant tailor named Francis Millard.

John Jeffery Williams, who succeeded to the post of Steward, was himself buried in St.Andrew's, Holborn two years later on 27th May 1815. In the parish register he was noted as 'Steward to the Honorable Society of Gray's Inn'.
The same year an inquest was held in the chambers of the late John Jeffery Williams upon a member of Gray's Inn who had been found dead and badly decomposed in his own room.
In his will, John Jeffery Williams mentions the sale of this set of Chambers in Grays Inns, all of which seem to suggest that he was a barrister and his son, Henry's, marriage certificate later confirms this.
In Doane's 'Musical Directory' of 1794, he was cited as an alto, or counter-tenor, of 22 Great Warner Street, Cold Bath Fields (an area of Gray's Inns), who belonged to the Choral Fund and sang in the Drury Lane oratorios and in the Handelian performances of 1785 - 1791 in Westminster Abbey. This is more or less confirmed in his will when he leaves his piano and his music books to his daughter Sarah.

John Jeffery Williams was a kind individual - 'The Times' of May 14th 1801, published this appeal:
   'To Merchants and others - A Friend of a respectable youth of fifteen years of age, educated for the counting-house, takes this modic of presenting him, for employment;  he writes a good and improveable hand, knows Accompts, and understands the French language very well.  The parent has taken great care of his morals, and is flattered with having succeeded to the utmost wish in that respect.  Salary at present is not so much a matter of concern as a reputable connection, where a hope might be entertained that merit would meet reward.  Address, post paid, to Mr. J.J.Williams, Gray's Inn, Holborn, who will give particulars, and wait upon the parties if necessary.'

John Jeffrey's son, John Dignan Williams, aged 26, had already moved to Dublin by the time of his father's death in 1815. His activities as a merchant are quite well-documented - see my separate post on him - he was noted as a shareholder in the CDSPCo. His father named him as the executor of his will which seems to suggest that he was the eldest son in the family.

http://alison-stewart.blogspot.com/2011/11/john-dignan-williams-grandson-of-thomas.html

The widowed Mary Williams, née Oliver,  might have been one of the shareholders of the East India Company, who, because she held £1000 worth of stock in 1826, was entitled to vote in the company.  In 'A List of The Names of the Members of the United Company of  Merchants of England Trading to the East Indies, who appear by the Company's Books Qualified to Vote at the General Election, 12th April 1826.'  Her brother, Thomas Oliver, worked as a colonel in the service of the East India Company.
She was noted as 'Mrs. Mary Williams, Widow, Gray's-Inn Place.'

William Williams, the son of John Jeffery Williams, was taken on by the Gray's Inn solicitor, George Tennant, as a clerk/apprentice in 1811;  William's brother, John Dignan Williams, had started his apprenticeship in the London linen industry at the age of 16 - if William had started his clerkship at the same or similar age, then he would have been born in 1795.  A William Williams, who witnessed a deed of 1814 whereby 14 North Cumberland Street in Dublin was leased out to John Dignan Williams, and it was noted that William had previously lived at Dame Street but was now resident at Cumberland Street.

Later, a solicitor, William Williams, had offices at 3 College Green, Dublin, and this individual was involved in a property deal along with Richard and Hutchins Thomas Williams of Dame Street. The deed concerned was 1833-6-103, between John Boyd, accountant-general of Stephens Green, Richard and Hutchins Thomas Williams of Dame St., James Josiah Hardy, barrister, William Williams of College Green and Thomas Cusack of Dundrum.  The land concerned was at Ellis Quay.

William Williams of College Green also witnessed deed 886-120-586622, dated 13th July 1832, whereby land at Friarsland, Queen's County, was being tranferred to Hutchins Thomas Williams from James Lafarelle.
The subsequent deed, 886-120-586623, also dated 13th July 1832, between Crofton Fitzgerald of Simmonscourt Avenue, Richard Williams of Drumcondra Castle and Hutchins Thomas Williams of Dame Street, concerned a house on Baggot Street which was demised to the same William Williams.


'Philip Reeve of Gray's Inn, Gentleman, maketh oath and saith, that by Articles of Agreement bearing date the twenty fourth day of April last past and made between George Tennant of Gray's Inn, aforesaid, gentleman, one of the Attornies of his Majesty's Courts of King's Bench and Common Pleas at Westminster and a solicitor in the high Court of Chancery of the one part, and John Jeffery Williams of Gray's Inn Lane in the County of Middlesex and William Williams son of the said John Jeffery Williams of the other part,  the said William Williams for the considerations therein, did put, place and bind himself clerk to the said George Tennant to serve him in the profession of an Attorney at Law and Solicitor in Chancery from the day of the date of the said Articles for the term of five years from thence next ensuing and fully to be complete and ended and which said Articles were in due form of Law executed by the said George Tennant, John Jeffery Williams, and William Williams in the presence of this Deponent and George Smith of Gray's Inn aforesaid in the County of Middlesex and that the names "Philip Reeve" and "Geo. Smith" set and subscribed as witnesses to the due execution thereof, are of the proper Hand Writing of this Deponent and the said George Smith.
Sworn at my Chambers in Serjeants Inn this twelfth day of June One thousand Eight hundred and eleven.  Philip Reeve.'
(Taken from the UK, Articles of Clerkship, 1756-1874.  George Tennant was a Gray's Inn solicitor who was in partnership with Thomas Green.  Born in Wigan, in 1817 George Tennant bought the Glamorgan estate of Rhydings near Neath. He invested in and developed the local Welsh canal system and also had unfulfilled plans to develop the railway there.)

The 'Belfast Commercial Chronicle' of 19th May 1827 noted that the solicitor William Williams, who was a relation of Richard Williams of the firm of Gibbons and Williams (Richard Williams was the brother of Charles Wye Williams who founded the Dublin Steam Packet Company) had been assaulted by a Thomas Howard, William Williams having pressed him to pay a bill which was overdue.
Two days later, the 'Dublin Mercantile Advertiser' followed on with the case, but this time solicitor William Williams was noted as the brother of Thomas Hutchins Williams of the firm of Gibbons and Williams.

Before moving to 3 College Green, William Williams had offices at 20 and 26 Dame Street in the 1820s.   He would die unmarried and left no children.

('The Carlisle Patriot' of 16th June 1871 reported the marriage in Newcastle-on-Tyne on 3rd June 1871 of John Andrew Williams, the youngest son of the Dublin solicitor William Williams. This William Williams was acutally William Campbell Williams, the son of George Williams of Co. Down, and wasn't related to the Williams discussed in this post.  John Andrew Williams married Jane, the daughter of William Gill a plumber of Dacre St., Corporation Road, Carlisle.  The earlier 1871 UK census shows this John Andrew Williams as a 20-year-old boarder, in Newcastle.  He had been  born in about 1851 in Kingstown, Dublin, and was an engineer/draughtsman, and was boarding in the home of the mate of a steamship.)


Thomas Hutchins Williams, son of John Jeffery and Sarah Dignan,  also moved to Dublin, but reversed his given names and was known always as Hutchins Thomas Williams.
http://alison-stewart.blogspot.ie/2011/09/hutchins-thomas-williams-son-of-thomas.html

The children of John Jeffery Williams and his second wife, Mary Oliver, were much younger than his children by his first wife, Sarah Dignan,  and it's unclear whether they had many dealings with each other.

Mary Williams, the daughter of John Jeffery and his second wife, Mary Oliver of St. Osyth, married Rev. Samuel Farman.  Her mother lived with her in Layer Marney.
http://alison-stewart.blogspot.ie/2012/11/mary-williams-second-wife-of-john.html

John Jeffery's youngest son, Henry Jeffery Williams, who was born several months after the death of his father in 1815, married Eliza Richer in St. Dunstan All Saints Church in Stepney on May 16th 1840. He was a book-keeper, like his (possible!)  brother Richard of Eden Quay, and gave his address as 7 Willington Street. His father was, of course, John Jeffery Williams, a solicitor; Eliza's father was Thomas Richer, a builder, of 16 George Place. The witnesses were Elizabeth Jarnett and Ethel Price.
Thomas Richer had been born in 1781 in Washbrook, Suffolk, and died in Stepney, London, on February 24th 1855.  He appeared on the 1851 Census at 4 Cadbury Place as a carpenter, along with his wife, Eliza Richer, who had been born in Ipswich in 1789.  Their children had all been baptised at the Church of St. Mary le Tower in Ipswich -  Eliza, who would marry Henry Jeffery Williams in 1840, had been baptised on 21st July 1816.  A sister, Amelia, was baptised on 29th September 1822 - she would marry the mariner, James Vashon Rowed, in London in 1846.  (James Vachon Rowed had been born in March 1819 in Catersham, Surrey, to William and Eliza Rowed.   Following their marriage in 1846, Amelia Richer and James Vachon Rowed had a daughter, Amelia Kate Rowed, in 1850 in Stepney.  James Vachon Rowed died in St. Pancras in 1880 - the following year, his widow, Amelia, was living at 81 White Horse Lane, Mile End, where she worked as a seamstress.  She died in 1918 at Uxbridge, Middlesex.)
There were also two Richer brothers - Thomas, baptised in Ipswich on 20th February 1815, and John baptised in February 1815.

Following  Henry's marriage to Eliza Richer in 1840, he disappears from the records. I scoured the UK, American, and Canadian records for any trace of him, but had no luck - he should really have been on the 1841 Census for the UK, since he had married there the previous year, but he wasn't.  The passenger lists, available on Ancestry.com, showed up nothing for him.  His mother, Mary Williams, who lived with her daughter at Layer Marney, made her will in 1873 - a wealthy woman when she died, she left the greater part of her fortune to her daughter's family, and a mere £100 to her son Henry Williams.  However, she made no mention of his whereabouts, nor was her third child, Richard Williams, mentioned.  

(Note:  A Henry J. Williams was an investor with the Dublin Stock Market later; this may be the same man. Or not!)

Richard, born to John Jeffery Williams and to Mary Oliver in 1812, similarly disappears from view.  I scoured the UK, US and Canadian censuses for any sign of him, but without any luck. I suspected he might be our Richard Williams of Eden Quay, Dublin, who was a bookkeeper like Henry Jeffery, and who worked for the Williams' shipping business in their Dublin headquarters, but I've never found a positive link - nor have any DNA matches ever surfaced.  Our great-great grandfather was known to be the son of a deceased John Williams, but he is one of those mysterious ancestors who seem to have no relations nearby, which is highly unusual in Ireland!

http://alison-stewart.blogspot.com/2011/08/richard-williams-and-geraldine-omoore.html


(Sophia Augusta Mullon/Mullen (1787 - 1839), who witnessed the will of John Jeffery Williams in 1815,  was the proprietor of a London lodging house who went bankrupt in 1831.  From 'The Law Advertiser, Volume 9' of 1831, under 'Insolvent Debtors':  'Mullen, Sophia Augusta, formerly of Tavistock-street, Covent-garden, then of York-street, Covent-garden, lodging-house keeper, then of Blenheim-street, Bond-street, and late of Leicester-square, out of business.'
She died in 1839, and was buried on 12th October in All Souls Cemetery, Kensal Green. She had been living at 26 Surrey Street, The Strand, at the time of her death.)

John Dignan Williams, son of John Jeffery Williams

I am not related to the following family - I had researched them in order to rule out a family link.  I hope this following details will be of interest to fellow researchers.

John Dignan Williams 1789 - 1858:
This post is about John Dignan Williams, one of the early shareholders of the City of Dublin Steam Packet Company, who I have previously researched, hoping to find a link with the family of Charles Wye Williams, and now I’ve discovered new, improved information about the man.
Although named as John Dignan Williams in his father's will, he is sometimes named as John Dignam Williams - I'm presuming for the moment that there is only the one individual and not two separate men with a similar name.


 John Dignan Williams was born in 1789 to John Jeffery Williams and Sarah Dignan and was baptised in St. Andrews Church in Holborn, London.
His siblings were Harriot Williams, born in 1796 and Sarah, born in 1794. A Pedigree Resource File contributed to the LDS site by J.W. Renaud provides other siblings - William Williams and Hutchins Thomas Williams.

The father of John Dignan Williams was John Jeffery Williams who married Sarah Dignan in Holborn in St.Leonards Church, Shoreditch on 19^th October 1788.

 John Jeffery Williams later married to a woman named Mary Oliver and they had three children together. In 1815, they had a son named Henry Jeffery Williams who was baptised in St.Andrews, Holborn, the same church which had been used by the parents of John Dignan Williams.
Earlier, this couple had a daughter, Mary Williams, who was baptised in the Old Church of St. Pancras in 1813.
And earlier still, in 1812, John Jeffery Williams and his wife Mary baptised their son, Richard Williams in St. Pancras on 3^rd September. He had been born to the couple on 24^th July 1812, and I wonder if John Jeffrey Williams had two wives as was so common in those days? I’ve already isolated the facts that our great-great grandfather, Richard of Eden Quay, had been born outside of Ireland in about 1810 and that he had some link to the family associated with the CDSPCo. Could this be the missing link, I wonder? He himself mentions on his 1847 marriage certificate that his father was John Williams, a gentleman, deceased.  However, a genealogy on the family of John Jeffery Williams, which was commissioned in the 1880's, gives no information for either Henry or Richard Williams. 
John Jeffery Williams was the son of Hutchins Williams who was the brother of Thomas Williams, first secretary of the Bank of Ireland. Both Hutchins and Thomas were the sons of Richard Williams and Mary Hutchins of Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire.

On 7th September 1805, John Dignan Williams was admitted to the Freedom of the City in London, when he was formally accepted as an apprentice to the Merchant Taylor of London, Francis Millard.  Following his apprenticeship, he moved to Dublin


In 1814, John D.Williams, linen-factor, was working at 75 Upper Dorset Street; a separate Thomas Williams, linen draper, flannel and blanket merchant, was at 30 Lower Sackville Street.
 
 The 1815 Treble Almanack listed John D. Williams as a woollen merchant and linen factor of 12 Merchants Quay.
In 1827 he was noted as holding £300 worth of stock in the CDSPCo.
In 1827 his address was 25 Eustace Street - he was earlier noted at 15 Eustace Street.

‘Memorial of Indenture, dated 15^th December 1817, between Job Hall Culloden of Phibsborough, merchant of the first part; Henry Higginson of Eustace Street, Dublin, merchant of the second part; John Dignan Williams, Merchants Quay, merchant of the other part.
Reciting:
Reciting deed of lease made by David La Touche in 1784...it would appear that the premises at 15 Eustace Street came into Henry Higginson’s possession in 1808. The dwelling was free from incumberances and recites a memorial of indenture became vested in Henry Higginson. On 18^th June 1816 the property in consideration of £700 the property became vested in Job Hall Culloden. A commission of bankruptcy was awarded under the Great Seal of Ireland against Henry Higginson on 22^nd June 1816 and on that date he was declared a bankrupt and his estate assigned to Nicholas Mahon. In the High Court of Chancery, 13^th July 1816, Mahon was assigned the major portion in Henry Higginson’s goods, estates and effects for the benefit of Higginson’s creditors and in the consideration of £113.15s John Hall Culloden released 15 Eustace Street to John Dignan Williams.’

(Henry Higginson of Eustace Street was a woollen merchant like John Dignan Williams; The Job Hall Culloden mentioned above also had land dealings with a William Williams of Caigronew, Merrionethshire, Wales - the land involved was Mill Street and land near Naas, Kildare. Job Hall Culloden had taken out a mortgage with this William Williams which was still outstanding when Culloden died.)

‘Memorial of Deed of Agreement, dated 22^nd July 1817, between John Dignan Williams and Henry Higginson.
Reciting: That Henry Higginson undertakes and agrees to make out to the satisfaction of the said John Dignan Williams in three weeks from this date, a title to the house No. 15 Eustace Street…now occupied by Mr. Coyne and that Henry Higginson has agreed to release the house to Williams for the fine sum of 100 guineas and the yearly rent of £125 above taxes.’
(I filtched the above information off the internet - it had been researched by Valerie Garton.)

Deed 1836-18-180, dated 18th July 1836, details the transferral of land in Shantalla, Galway, to Eliza Burke.  John Dignan Williams of Eustace Street and London was named as one of the assignees of the estate of John Burke of Galway town. (The 2nd assignee was a Henry Chapman of London.)


John Dignam (sic) Williams married Mary Roberts in 1818.  Later, their son, Watkin Wynn Williams, would marry Amelia Louisa Roberts of Waterford, and I wonder were both women from the same family?  John and his wife, Mary, owned property in New Ross, Wexford, along with Samuel Batt, Hannah Chandler and Anne Hours.
Mary Roberts seems to have been John's first wife - a family tree of the Williams family noted Mary Love as the wife of John Dignan Williams.  Since one of their daughters, Bessie Law Williams, had been given the middle name 'Law',  perhaps his second wife was actually Mary Law.  Mary Law/Love had been born in Dublin in 1801.
Another possibility here is that Mary Roberts was actually called Mary Roberts Law - Robert Law of Brookville, Raheny, Dublin, was married to Sarah Roberts, and this Law family of Dublin was definitely acquainted with John Dignan Williams.  The Law family were involved in banking in Dublin.

Deed 762-115-517250, dated 5th April 1821, named John D. Williams and George Frederick Carleton as the legal assignees of the estate of the effects of William Hartnett, bankrupt of Limerick.  The Carleton family, one member of whom married a kinsman of John D. Williams, lived on Eustace Street as did John D.Williams.

In 1832 John D. Williams was noted as a director of The Royal Irish Institution for Promoting the Fine Arts.
John D. Williams of Eustace Street was also one of the Protestants of Dublin who signed the petition of 1829, published in ‘Historical Sketch of the late Catholic Association of Ireland’ which called upon the British Government to bring about the immediate emancipation of the Catholic population.

John Dignan Williams had been born in London, and died back where he started in St. Pancras Parish in central London on 13th July 1858.
He was living at the time of his death in Argyle St, Grays Inn Lane, and was buried in Highgate Cemetery.
Earlier in 1841, he appeared with his family on the UK census at 34 Woburn Place in Bloomsbury. By 1851, the family address was Argyle St., Grays Inn Lane, although John himself was absent from the household on the night.

I had mentioned in an earlier post that a Watkin Wynn Williams, who had been born in Dublin and who was a shipbuilder, was most likely a relative of our Williams family and this too has proved to be the case.
Watkin Wynn Williams had been born in Dublin to John Dignan Williams in about 1828. He married Amelia Louisa Roberts on the 28th November 1858 in St. Pancras Church. His father, John Dignan Williams was dead by then. Amelia's father was a gentleman, Thomas Roberts, of Hillsborough, Waterford. The witnesses were what looks like Isabella Amelia Williams and somebody who signed their name with an incomprehensible squiggle.

I also came across a Marie Antoinette Williams who married Daniel Henry Rucker in Coolock, North Dublin, on 4th November 1847. Her father is named as John D. Williams; Daniel's is John Anthony Rucker, a textile merchant whose family had originated in Germany. The fact that both families were involved with the textile industry makes me suspect that Marie was the daughter of John Dignan Williams. Also, the couple later named one of their children as Wynn which was one of the Williams names.

Also, in the index of past Cambridge students, 'Alumni Cantabrigienses, Vol 6. Part 2', I found another son of John Dignan Williams:
   'Williams, Robert, Adm.pens. at Trinity, February 2 1847; son of John Dignan, of 14, Endsleigh Street, Tavistock Square, London; Matric, Michs. 1847. Scholar 1850, B.A. (23rd Wrangler) 1851, M.A. 1854; Died October 16, 1894, at Victoria, Vancouver Island, British Columbia. (The Standard, Nov. 7, 1894).'
Robert Williams appeared on the 1851 UK Census as a student of Trinity College, Cambridge, and his entry confirms that he was born in Dublin in 1827.

(A bit of a mystery: The 'Dublin Weekly Register' of 17th April 1819 noted the birth at North Cumberland Street of a daughter to John D. Williams.  John D. Williams appeared in an 1836 Street Directory at 14 North Cumberland Street, Dublin.  The following year he reappears as John Dingan (sic) Williams, 14 North Cumberland Street.  However, a John Williams also lived there - this other John appeared in the 1824 Pigot's Directory as John Williams, merchant, of 14 North Cumberland Street.  He died five years before John Dignan Williams and was buried in Mount Jerome Cemetery in 1853 - was John Williams the son of John Dignan Willams?  

Update on the above mystery - I accessed an 1814 deed in the Registry of Deeds, ie: 687-484-472654)  in which John Usher and William Wynne of Dublin conveyed 14 Cumberland Street to John Dignan Williams, to hold for 943 years at an annual rent of £90.  The witnesses were Henry Richardson of Dublin and also William Williams, formerly of Dame Street but now of Cumberland Street.  William Williams was John Dignan's brother.

More info here:
http://alison-stewart.blogspot.ie/2012/01/children-of-john-dignan-williams.html

RIchard Williams of Drumcondra Castle

I am not related to the following Williams family.  I researched them in order to rule out any family link but include them here for the benefit of fellow researchers.

Richard Williams  (1778 - 1868)  was the son of Thomas Williams, of the Bank of Ireland, and of his wife Mary Anne Quine.
Along with his younger brother, Charles Wye Williams, he founded the City of Dublin Steam Packet Company before becoming a stockbroker in partnership with James Gibbons - their offices were at 38 Dame Street, directly across the road from the present Bank of Ireland headquarters.  He had a younger brother named Walker Williams who died before adulthood.
Richard Williams lived at Drumcondra Castle.

His children were as follows:
Anne Williams who was christened in St. Thomas’s of Cathal Brugha Street in 1807. She married Daniel Barrington of 3 Palace Street and Limerick, in St.Andrews Church in 1829. Daniel Barrington was the brother of Sir Mathew Barrington, and the son of Sir Joseph Barrington. He was a clerk of the crown in Limerick. 

The children of Anne Williams and Daniel Barrington were:
     a) Anne Barrington who died in 1886, married Walter Carr MacKinnon, the son of Birmingham-born Charles MacKinnon and Anne Julius Carr.  In 1881, Anne MacKinnon was living in Hampshire with her mother Anne Barrington and her children, Annie, Nora, Mary, Alexander, and Edmund, all 12 years old or younger.  Most had been born in India, the MacKinnons being a military family.
     b) Mary Anne Charlotte Barrington, who died 31st August 1870, married John Bayly of Debsborough, Tipperary, the son of an older John Bayly, on 3rd September 1857 in St. Peter's, Dublin.
     c) Colonel Joseph Thomas Barrington, born 4th Sept.1834, died 24th Feb.1913.
     d) Capt. Richard William (or Williams) Barrington, born 4th Jan.1838, died 15th Oct. 1900.

Richard William Barrington of Eden Park, Dunddrum, died on 15th October 1900 in Llandudno, Wales. His widow was Henrietta Maria Jane Barrington.  His children were:
    a) Alice Henrietta who married William Keawick.
    b) Helen Lucy Johnstone Barrington.
    c) John Lawrence Barrington.
    d) Richard Irving William Barrington.

Thomas Williams was born in 1810 to Richard and Anne Williams and christened in St. Thomas’s on Cathal Brugha Street.

From 'Dublin University Alumni':  'Thomas Williams, S.C. (Mr.Feinaigle) July 4 1825, aged 15; son of Richard, Scriba Aerarii;. born Dublin;  BA Aest 1829;  MA Nov. 1832.'

 He married Marion, the daughter of Sir Matthew Barrington of Glenstal Castle in Limerick.I believe the couple were married by Rev. Henry de Laval Willis.  Marion  died on 30th April 1858 at 50 Stephen's Green, Dublin, and Thomas Williams, whose later address was 72 Stephens Green South, went on to marry the widow, Georgina Graves.
Georgina was a member of the Lees family and was therefore a relation of Thomas Orde-Lees who accompanied Ernest Shackleton on his Antartic expedition of 1914 - 1917. Georgina’s first husband was James Perceval Graves; the couple had been married in Donnybrook in 1847 and lived at 13 Fitzwilliam Square.
In September 1867, Thomas and Georgina Williams were witnesses to the marriage of Georgina’s daughter, Emily Graves, to George Archibald Graham Adamson of Westmeath.


Thomas Williams was involved in finance - he worked alongside his brothers, Richard Palmer Williams and Charles Watkin Williams, in his father’s office at 38 Dame Street. In 1856, he was noted as working for the Bank of Ireland.
He also maintained close links with the Barringtons of Dublin and Limerick. Thomas shared ownership of land in Co. Limerick with Croker Barrington and both appear as property owners on the list of petitions presented to the commissioners for the sale of encumbered estates in September 1849 - the petitioners were Thomas’s brother, Richard Palmer Williams and his father Richard; their solicitors were Barringtons & Co. of 10 Ely Place, Dublin. (The Encumbered Estates Acts, 1848 and 1849, allowed the sale of Irish estates which had been mortgaged and whose owners, because of the Great Famine, were unable to meet their obligations. It was hoped that English investors would be attracted to buy Irish estates and thereby transform Irish agriculture. Under the 1849 Act, an Encumbered Estates Court was established with authority to sell estates on the application of the owner or encumbrancer who was one who had a claim on the estate. After the sale, the court distributed the money among the creditors and granted clear title to the new owners.)Thomas Williams died in 1890 and his obituary called him ‘the father of the stock exchange.’


In 1880, Thomas Williams had addresses at 20 Merrion Square, South, and at 'Kalafat', Sorrento Road, Dalkey.

Thomas's funeral was reported in the Irish Times of 24th February 1890:  'The remains of the esteemed gentleman, the Father of the Dublin Stock Exchange, were removed on Saturday morning from his late residence, 68 Merrion Square, for interment in Mount Jerome Cemetery...There was a large concourse of members, embracing nearly all the licensed stockbrokers of Dublin...The remains were enclosed in a suite of coffins, the outercase being of oak, with brass mountings. The breastplate bore the following inscription: -
     "Thomas Williams, 
     Born 29th March 1810,
     Died 19th February 1890." '

Amongst the mourners were his nephew, Richard William Barrington, his son-in-law G.A.G. Adamson,  his brother-in-law J. Vanderkiste,  W. Barrington,  H. Percival Adamson and Charles G. Adamson.

'Williams, Thomas, Personal Estate in England £3,698 10s., 9th May - Probate of the Will of Thomas Williams, late of 68 Merrion Square and of 38 Dame-street, both in the City of Dublin, Stockbroker who died on or about 19th February 1890 at 38 Dame Street granted 26th March 1890 at Dublin to Richard Palmer Williams of 38 Dame Street, Stockbroker, one of the Executors.'


George Gibbons Williams was born to Richard and Anne Williams in about 1811, although the exact date is unclear. (The later US census gives a date of 1815.) His middle name was probably in honour of his father’s business partner, James Gibbons.

From 'Dublin University Alumni':   'George Williams S.C. ( Sch) Oct 16 1826 aged 15; son of Richard, Notarius Publicus; born Dublin, BA Aest 1831.'

George married, in 1837, Emma Highfield, the daughter of John Highfield and his wife Catherine of Liverpool. John Highfield was the business partner of John Bibby, and together, in 1807, they founded the highly successful shipping company which operated a service from Liverpool to Dublin. John Highfield left the company in 1821, but a wooden brig, the ’Margaret Highfield’ was launched in 1828 and named after one of John Highfield’s daughters.
George Gibbons Williams, along with his father and Joseph Barrington, was involved with the development of Pery Square in Limerick in the 1840.
He was the owner, in 1841, of a ship ‘The Amanda’ which, on September 26th 1841, during a voyage from Limerick to Quebec, sank off Little Metis Point, killing 29 passengers and 12 crew.


Catherine Williams was born to George G.Williams and Emma Highfield in Limerick in 1842; she was baptised in St.Michael's Church.
Ann Williams was born to George Gibbons Williams and Emma Highfield in Aigburth, Liverpool, on 29th September 1843, and was baptised in St. Anne's Church.
Thomas Williams was born to the couple in Aigburth on 7th March 1845; he must have died young because another child named Thomas Harris Williams was born to them the following year, 1846, on 10th July.  This son also died, aged 7 months, of whooping cough.
Charles John Williams was born in 1847 and baptised on 2nd December in St. Peter's, Liverpool - his father, George Gibbons Williams, was noted in the register as a corn merchant of Hope Street, Liverpool.

George and Emma emigrated at some stage to New York - the passengers list for the 'Albert Gallatin', which arrived on the 10th May 1850 in NYC, show up the merchant George Gibbons Williams, his wife Emma and their 2-year-old son Charles John amongst the passengers. The other children must have travelled separately.
George G. Williams and his family were recorded on the US census for 1870, living in Essex, East Orange, New Jersey.  He was working as a clerk in a store.  The children were listed as Richard H.born 1838 in Ireland, Catherine born Ireland 1842, Ann/Annie born 1843 England, Charles born 1847 in Ireland, Abraham born 1853 in New York and Frederick B. born 1858 in New York.  There was also a boarder, rev. John G. Mulholland, who was an Irish Episcopal clergyman.  
Their son, George Perry Williams, was absent from the household in 1870. He appeared on the 1900 census living at 514 Washington Avenue, Brooklyn, along with his second wife, Ella C., who he'd married three years previously. He didn't give a year of birth, but stated he'd been born in Ireland in September in the 1850s.  His wife, Ella C. had been born in New York in January 1864 to an Irish father and an English mother. Her daughter (George's stepdaughter) was Clara B. Mackay who had been born in New York in 1884 - her own late father had been born 'at sea'.   George's natural daughter, Emma H. Williams, had been born in August 1886 in New York.  Both girls were students.

George Perry Williams, the son of George Gibbons Williams and Emma Highfield, died in New York on 26^th May 1908.  His obituary, which appeared in 'The Limerick Chronicle', has been published to the internet by the Limerick city website:
    'Death of a Limerick Man Abroad - To  the Editor of the Limerick Chronicle - 46 Nt. Beech-street, Richmond Hill, New York, May 16th 1908.   Sir - I have been requested to advise you of the death of George Perry Williams, son of the late George Gibbons Williams and Emma Williams, all of Limerick, Ireland.   The late Mr. Williams died at 210 (?) Parkide Avenue, (Flatbush), Brooklyn, New York and City of New York, USA, on May 5th 1908 in the 68th year of his age.  He held a high position in the New York City Controller's Office for 38 years, and for the last 15 years had been the oldest in the service in that office.  He leaves a widow and two sisters, Annie and Kate Williams, and a daughter, Emma, now of 49 Sth. Spruce-street, Richmond Hill, New York.   The family were well-known in Limerick and Dublin, and he was grandson of the late Richard Williams and Annie Williams, of Drumcondra Castle, Dublin,  Ireland.  By publishing this, it will be very much appreciated by his friends and relations in Ireland, - yours truly,  George B. Stanett.'

The marriage of the son of George Gibbons Williams and Anne Highfield, Charles John Williams, to Annie Jessica Mordecai (her parents were Benjamin Mordecai and Clara Pollock) was much later recorded on 19^th August 1884.  In 1915, Charles J. and his wife were living at 521 West 112th St., New York. Charles J.Williams and his wife, Annie J. Williams, were living in Manhattan at the time of the 1930 US Census.

The 1910 Census showed three of the other children living at 3109 Chichester Avenue, Queens - Catherine Williams, 67 years old, who had emigrated in 1853, was a music teacher.  Her sister, Annie, aged 66, had emigrated in 1858, and had her own income.  Their younger brother, Abraham, was 57 and an invalid.

Another brother, Frederick B. Williams, is also recorded through the censuses. In the 1892 New York Census, he was shown living on Marcy Avenue, Brooklyn, and working as a salesman.  His wife was Louise H. Williams, aged 38. There was a 10-year-old son, Joseph H. Williams.  By 1900 this family were living at 132 Briggs Avenue, Queens.  Frederick (who had been born in 1858 to an Irish father and an English mother) was still a salesman.  Their son, Joseph H, born September 1882, was now an assistant bookkeeper, and there was now a daughter, Catherine B, who had been born in April 1885.
By 1910, they lived at 150 Bedford Avenue, Brooklyn.  Frederick was a travelling salesman for a wholesale dry good company, while Joseph travelled for a starch manufacturer.  Catherine, who would be 25, is absent, possibly married with a new name.


Richard Palmer Williams was born to Richard Williams and Anne Palmer. I did a separate post about him earlier.
From 'Dublin University Alumni':  'Richard Williams, S.C. (Mr.Hawkesworth) July 5 1830, aged 16;  son of Richard, Notarius; born Dublin, BA Aest 1834.'   Note: Mr. Hawkesworth was the master of the Feinaigle Institute, Aldborough House, Dublin.

 I gleaned much of the genealogical information from a publication of 1874, in which Richard Palmer Williams had inserted a note at the foot of the page in relation to his father Richard Williams - 'He was son of Thomas, who was son of William, who was third son of Richard (of Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire) who, it is believed, was son of William, third son of Roger Williams of Fleet Street, London, mentioned in "Le Neve's Baronets" Herald's Office, London. Any information on this point gladly received by Richard Palmer Williams, 28 (sic) Dame Street, Dublin.'
Well, Thomas Williams was the son of Richard Williams of Leighton Buzzard, not the grandson - there simply wasn't enough time to squeeze an extra generation in there. The only explanation for this error, is that Thomas Williams had died almost 40 years before the publication of this book, so Richard Palmer Williams may not have paid too much attention to the origins of his family while his grandfather had been alive.


From the UK Probate Calendar:  'Williams, Richard Palmer of Glaslinn Clontarf County Dublin esquire died 12 May 1892 Probate Dublin to Richard Williams Barrington esquire and Croker Barrington solicitor Sealed London 15 August Effects £2206 in England.'

Charles Watkin Williams was born at Drumcondra Castle to Richard Williams and Anne Palmer in 1820. He worked in finance alongside his brothers at 38 Dame Street and lived at 8 Synnot Place. He married Anne Highfield, the sister of Emma Highfield who had earlier married his brother George. The wedding took place on October 15^th 1846 in Aigburth, Liverpool. The witnesses were Charles’ brother, Richard Palmer Williams, and Anne’s father John Highfield.
In 1853, CharlesWatkin Williams lived at 'Optic Lodge' in Fairview.


Charles Watkin Williams of 8, Synnott Place,  died on 2nd March 1878 at Charlemont Street. Probate of his will was granted to his brother, Thomas Williams, of 38 Dame Street, stockbroker - Thomas was also appointed as the guardian of Charles' Watkin Williams' son, Watkin Wye Williams.
The son, Watkin Wye Williams, was born at Synnot Place on 25^th September 1860. According to the historian Hazel Smyth (whose essay ‘Some Notes on Charles Wye Williams’ I used here), Watkin Wye Williams emigrated to the USA where he worked with horses in Buffalo Bill’s Circus. The LDS site records his emigration in 1909, when he sailed from Queenstown/Cork to New York city on ‘The Mauretania’. In fact, the Ellis Island site shows up the ship’s manifest with plenty of interesting information about Watkin Wye Williams - it records that he had visited the USA before in 1908 and had lived in St. Louis, and that, in Dublin, he had been living with Mrs. Reede, (his sister Eliza) at 13 Reuben Avenue. In 1909, he was heading to stay with a friend, the Rev. Brother Pious Coughlan, at 2912 Sheritan Avenue, St. Louis. The manifest records that he was 47, had blue eyes and grey hair, and that he was working as a groom which backs up the Buffalo Bill story nicely.
In 1876, in the Church of St. Thomas and St. George, Charles Watkin William’s daughter, Eliza Williams, married Samuel Thomas Reede, a doctor of Carrickmacross, Monaghan. The witnesses were A. MacNeall, Thomas Austin and E. Watkin Williams. She was widowed by the time of the 1901 Census.

Richard Williams and Anne Palmer also had two daughters - Mary Anne who married John Vanderkiste of Limerick, and Lucy Williams who married Hugh Harris of Ashford, Tynan, Co Armagh, and who had Margaret Anne, Mary Anne Madeline, Lucy Henrietta, Eugenia Porter and Eliza Louise Edith.
(From The Limerick Chronicle, 24th August 1844:  'At Drumcondra Church, by the Rev. George Blacker, Rector of Laraghbryan, county Kildare, Hugh Harris, Esq., of Ashefort, county Armagh, Barrister-at Law, to Lucy, daughter of Richard Williams, of Drumcondra Castle, county Dublin, Esq.')

Richard Williams also became a trustee of Mary Williams who married George Simpson Carleton in Dublin in April 1834.   It's unclear whose daughter she was.  Richard already had a Mary, ie: Mary Anne who married John Vanderkiste, and he wouldn't have had two Marys.  Was she a relation?  Might she be a sister, born late to his parents, Thomas Williams and Mary Anne Quin?

Other members of this Williams family: a deed exists in the Registry of Deeds which records some sort of property deal in Dublin city centre. The deed was dated 25^th February 1782.
‘Thomas Williams on behalf of himself & of Henry Lyons & Clifford Boldock of the City of Dublin, merchant, of the one part & William Shannon, Public Notary. Witness: Watkin Wynne Williams.’
Thomas Williams, Henry Lyons, Clifford Boldock and William Shannon were all names associated with the Bank of Ireland. Watkin Wynne Williams was the brother of Thomas Williams and both had been born in Leighton Buzzard to Richard Williams and Mary Hutchins in the mid-eighteenth century.

The Dublin City Archive of the Ancient Freemen of Dublin shows - online - that a William Williams was admitted to the Freemen of Dublin in 1817 and that he was a nephew of Thomas Williams:
'Beseech your honours, William Williams of William Street, Merchant, to be admitted by Grace Especial the rather being nephew to Thomas Williams Esq., Secretary to the Bank of Ireland, a Respectable Citizen...'
I haven't found any other information about either Watkin Wynne or William Williams, but their existence shows that other members of this Welsh family were in Dublin in the early nineteenth century.

Other Williams Families of Dublin City

Known facts about our maternal ancestor Richard Williams of 17 Eden Quay and Dundrum:
His father was John Williams, a gentleman, who died before Richard’s second marriage to Geraldine O’Moore Creighton in 1846. Richard’s social circle seemed to revolve around his wife’s family, rather than his own. Family word of mouth suggests that his family originated in Wales. I’ve had no luck discovering any of Richard’s close family relations - unless he is, as I suspect, related to the family which descends directly from Thomas Williams of the Bank of Ireland. The lack of immediate family seems to suggest that Richard Williams was born outside of Ireland.
In early adult life, two of Richard’s sons, David Creighton Williams and Willis Creighton Williams (our maternal great-grandfather) spent time in Bangor, North Wales and in Liverpool, both areas with strong associations to the family of Thomas Williams and his son Charles Wye Williams, the founder of the City of Dublin Steam Packet Company. Our great-great grandfather, Richard Williams, spent his early adult life living at the Eden Quay headquarters of the CDSPCo before heading south to the suburbs of Dublin with his young family. The family of Thomas Williams and Charles Wye Williams was associated with the profession of finance as was the family of our Richard Williams. Richard himself was the bookkeeper for the CDSPCo. His son, Willis Creighton Williams was also a book keeper while four of Willis’ sons worked in the bank, one of these four being our grandfather Richard Williams.
This post is an investigation into other Williams families of Dublin, in the hope that I’ll eventually stumble across some meaningful information about our brick wall ancestor, John Williams. I’ll add to it as I discover more information.

The 1815 Treble Almanack:
Merchants:
J.D. Williams & Co, Wh.Woollen-drapers, 12 Merchants Quay.
J.D.Williams, Linen-Factor and Linen Merchant, 12 Merchants Quay. This was John Dignam Williams, who was an early shareholder in the CDSPCo - in 1827 he held £300 of stock in the company; by 1827 his address was 25 Eustace Street behind Dame Street. In 1832 he was noted as a director of The Royal Irish Institution for Promoting the Fine Arts; John D. Williams of Eustace Street was one of the Protestants of Dublin who signed the petition of 1829, published in ‘Historical Sketch of the late Catholic Association of Ireland’ which called upon the British Government to bring about the immediate emancipation of the Catholic population.
I’ve had no luck yet discovering previous family for John D. Williams so am unsure whether we’re related to him or not. He may be related to John Williams of 14 Cumberland Street.

1815 Treble Almanack, under ‘Merchants’:
William T. Linen-Draper, Flannel & Blanket-merchant, 30 Lower Sackville Street. This was Thomas Williams, who later lived at 50 Lower Sackville Street. He, too, held shares - £200 - in the CDSPCo in 1827. It seems that Thomas Williams originated in Killucan, Co. Westmeath - two of his children married into the De Courcy family of Westmeath. On Griffiths Valuation of 1854, there is a Dr. John Williams leasing a house and land in Killucan; the Medical Bibliography of 1877 also shows up another doctor of this family, Dr.Thomas J. De Courcy Williams of Killucan. Thomas Williams, 50 Lower Sackville Street, wrote a letter of complaint to the House of Commons in 1823 to highlight the unfair taxation of certain foreign goods imported from Great Britain into Ireland. (House of Commons Papers, Vol.18) By 1850, Thomas Williams was still working at 50 Lower Sackville Street but was living in the southern suburbs at 3 Belvidere Terrace, Sandymount Strand.

1815 Treble Almanack, under ‘Gentry’:
Edward Williams, Drumcondra
George Williams, 47 Baggot Street
John Williams, 14 Cumberland Street. This John Williams died in 1853, aged 60 years. His death was registered by a James F.Williams. In 1835, a John D. Williams of 14 Cumberland Street was noted as a member of The British Association for the Advancement of Science which had a branch in Dublin. This was the first time the letter ‘D’ is mentioned in the name ‘John Williams’ and I wonder was this John Dignam Williams and was he the son of John Williams of Cumberland Street?
Thomas Williams, 2 Belvedere Place (This was Thomas Williams of the Bank of Ireland.)
T. Williams, 3 Fitzwilliam Square West.

1815 Treble Almanack, under ‘Attornies’:
E. 1778 Williams (C.S.) KCT, 65 Stephens Street (This is Christopher Stone Williams, son of Henry Williams.)
T. 1812 Williams (C.W.), 2 Belvedere Place (This is Charles Wye Williams of CDSPCo)

1815 Treble Almanack, under ‘Dublin Society’ ie: the RDS:
Williams, C.S esq (Christopher Stone Williams.)
Williams James esq. (Of Kilmacud and 4 Lower Bridge Street; joined RDS in 1801.)
Williams, C. Wye esq. (Charles Wye Williams.)

1815 Treble Almanack, under ‘Attornies, Advocates and Proctors’:
Williams (Bart), 17 Mary Street.
Williams (J.), 8 Chancery Lane
Williams (John), 90 Bride Street
Williams (M), Buckingham Street
Williams R. 2 Summerhill. (This may be Richard Williams, brother of Charles Wye Williams.)

The two John Williams in the above list, one of Bride Street and the other of Chancery Lane, were of interest to me, (the father of Richard Williams of 17 Eden Quay being John Williams) so needed to be investigated.
Chancery Lane and Bride Street are behind Dame Street, in the area adjacent to Dublin Castle. A William Williams of Chancery Lane was admitted to the Freemen of Dublin in March 1847; he was the son of another Freeman, Griffiths Williams, who had been admitted in 1804. Griffith Williams was a woollen merchant who operated at 2 Darby Square in the same Chancery Lane area; in 1815 he was working with a nephew at 9 Crampton Court; by 1832 he was ‘Griffith Williams (& Sons), woollen-merchant & Manchester warehouse. Crampton Court.’ (Treble Almanack, 1832.)


The family of the Dublin goldsmith, Richard Williams, is associated with Castle Street at the top end of Dame Street and with the parish of St. Werburghs Church. Richard Williams was apprenticed to John Wilme of the same parish in 1743. He operated at 6 Castle Street from 1764 to 1788, before moving to 17 Grafton Street where he did business from 1788 till 1795. He was succeeded at the same address by his goldsmith son, Robert Williams, who can be traced through the street directories from 1799 till 1833.  Interestingly, it is recorded that the English poet, Shelley, lived at 17 Grafton Street in 1812, during his brief sojourn in Dublin.
Other Williams of late 18^th century Castle Street include William Williams, a public notary and brother of Richard Williams, Adam Williams, Charles Williams, an apothecary (who later operated at Charlemont St) and James Williams, a bookseller.
From ‘The Land Index, Vol. 90’ as transcribed by Jane Williams in 1983 in The King’s Inns:
‘5.1.1785: Richard Williams of the City of Dublin, Goldsmith
John Williams of sd.City, Notary Public
Deborah Williams of sd. City, Widow
Executors of the last will of William Williams of the sd. City of Dublin, Notary Public, Deceas’d of the one part & wide street Commissioners of the second part.
Jury awarded £981-17-10 to Richard, John & Deborah Williams for 3 several houses & premises which the Commissioners took.
Humphrey Adams - witness.’
Also:
‘19.12.1783, registered 22.12.1783:
A memorial of that part of an indented deed bearing date 19.12.1783 which relates to part of the lands of Newtown (ie Coolock), hereinafter particularly made between Richard Williams goldsmith, Deborah Williams, widow of William Williams, late of the city of Dublin, Public Notary, Dec’d, John Williams, Public Notary & eldest son of the said William Williams, all of the City of Dublin, Executors of the last will and Testam.t of the said William Williams, & which said John Williams is also Heir at Law of the said William Williams.’

This family of Castle Street was well-recorded in the registers of St. Werburghs. On April 16^th 1754 Richard Williams married Mary Wilme; his brother, William, married Deborah Wilme on May 25^th 1758.

The historical painter, Solomon Williams, was born to Richard and Mary in 1758 - in one text he was described as a Welsh painter; later he lived at Molesworth Street and was associated with the Feinaglian Institute, an early 19^th century school with which the family of Thomas Williams of the Bank of Ireland was involved.  Solomon Williams died in Molesworth Street in 1824 - his children were Richard, Mary, Deborah, Ellen and Charlotte and Emily. (And the names Charlotte and Emily mirror the names of the daughters of our Richard Williams of 17 Eden Quay.) 

From 'Bryan's Dictionary of Painters and Engravers':
   'Williams, Solomon, an Irish portrait painter, born in Dublin about the middle of the 18th century. He was a pupil of the Dublin Academy but spent several years in Italy. While there, he made many good copies of Titian's pictures, and was elected a member of the Bologna Academy.  On his return he practised in Dublin, with the exception of a few years in London, where his works occasionally appeared at the Royal Academy and the British Institution.  On the establishment of the Royal Hibernian Academy, he was elected one of the original members.  He died August 2nd 1824. There are by him:
          Dublin:  Royal Dublin Society -  Portrait of General Vallancey
                       Royal Dublin Society - Portrait of Mr. Pleasant.'
1769 saw the birth in Castle Street of Solomon’s cousin, a second Solomon Williams, born to William and Deborah Williams. This individual was a lawyer who was called to the English bar in 1793. He was associated with the city of Chester which sits on the border of North Wales and England, close to Liverpool. He had an older brother, John Williams, who had been born to William and Deborah in Castle Street in 1761 - this John Williams lived later at Palace Street off Dame Street and operated as a notary:
'McKane & wife to Williams 1789. McKane & wife demise & set to John Williams of the said city publick notary all that dwelling house No 2 situate in Palace Street otherwise called Castle Lane in the City of Dublin formerly in the possession of Mr. John Nott deceased together with the yard and back house behind the same...Yearly rent of £80 and a peppercorn....Witnesses: Solomon Williams, Brother of said John Williams, & Richard Morgan, Clerk to said John Williams.'

In 1793, The Anthologia Hibernica recorded the marriage of Major Charles Martin of Chester Castle to Miss Williams of Palace Street. (Yet another association with Chester.) Miss Williams was actually Elizabeth Williams, the daughter of Solomon Williams, which suggests that both Solomon and John lived together in the same premises. Charles Martin was the son of Joseph Martin, esq., banker of Lombard Street, London, and MP for Tewkesbury.




No. 2, Palace Street

 ‘Deed dated 6.8.1812: Soloman Williams of the City of Chester, only Brother, Heir at law of John Williams late of Palace Street in the City of Dublin Publick Notary Dec’d….£2140 - 11 -10½ realised by sale. Several other premises had been sold by Solomon since the death of John Williams for payment of debts of John Williams.’

 On 10th January 1802, 70 year old child  Mrs. Williams of Palace Street was buried at St. Werburghs.
A William Williams of Castle Street was buried in St. Werbergh's on 8th September 1783.
Although, following his death, John's brother, Solomon, sold the house in Palace Street to pay off John's debts, a 6-month-old infant named Edward Williams of Palace Street was buried in 1828 in the church of St. Nicholas Without - I wonder did Solomon sell the property on to another member of the Williams family, or even buy it himself?   I can find no evidence to support the fact that John Williams of Palace Streethad ever married, which seems to rule him out as our great-great-great grandfather.
In the 1850s, 2 Palace Street was purchased by the charity, The Sick and Indigent Roomkeepers' Society.

Other children of Williams and Deborah Williams were James, Deborah, Elizabeth, although James must have died young - in John William's will it is mentioned that Solomon was his only brother.

Re: The Dublin/Chester connection. There had been strong trade links between the two cities from the 11th century onwards.  Charles I ordered that ships should voyage weekly between both Chester and Dublin, and between Milford Haven and Waterford, to ensure the quick transmission of news between the English government and Dublin Castle, the seat of British administration in Ireland.  The parish church of St. Werburghs, next to Dublin Castle, is named after the patron saint of Chester.  Jonathon Swift, the Dean of St. Patrick's who had been baptised in the church of St. Werburghs in 1667, commented on the profusion in Dublin of beggars from Chester city:
        'It seems the justices of the peace, and parish-officers in the western coasts of England, have a good while followed the trade of exporting hither their supernumerary beggars, in order (sic) advance the English protestant interest among us;  and these they are so kind to send over gratis, and duty-free.  I have had the honour, more than once, to attend large cargos of them from Chester to Dublin:  and I was then so ignorant as to give my opinion, that our city should receive them into Bridewell;  and, after a month's residence, having been well-whipp'd twice a-day, fed with bran and water,  and put to hard labour, they should be returned honestly back, with thanks, as cheap as they came:  or, if that were not approved of, I proposed, that, whereas one Englishman is allowed to be of equal intrinsic value with twelve born in Ireland, we should, in justice, return them a dozen for one, to dispose of as they pleased.'

Another notable Williams family of Dublin is the family of glassmakers, William, Thomas and Isaac Williams, who came to Ireland from Chepstow, England. They operated from the 1770s to the 1820s at Marlborough Street and Potters Alley. Later names associated with this family were Richard and James Williams. They had businesses at the North Lotts (the area around Connolly Station) and at Richmond in Coolock. They can be seen in Wilson’s Dublin Directory of 1801:
‘Williams, Richard, son & Co., Glass Manufacturer, Potter’s Alley.
Williams, Richard, jun., Glass Manufacturer, 35 Ormond Quay.
Williams, William, Glass maker, Richmond.’

I stumbled across the 1783 will of a John Wilton of Westmeath and Dublin who seems to have been in partnership with the above glassmakers.   John Wilton, late of Westmeath but now of Potters Alley, Dublin, named as his trustees, John Williams and his father William Williams of the Strand, Dublin. John Wilton states that he had entered into a copartnership with William Williams in 1776 to manufacture flint and green glass, and that he was entitled to five twelfths of the profits accordingly. He was named in the documents, however, as John Preston rather than John Wilton, but the will makes no explanation for why this would be so.  A William Cooper was also involved.   John Wilton had six children by a Bridget Neary who he had lived with for 30 years, namely Thomas, John, George, Elizabeth, Rose and Mary.  He also had an elderly unmarried brother, Henry Wilton, and an elderly unmarried sister named Rose Wilton.  His properties in Westmeath were named as Clonmoyle (currently tenanted by a John Jones), Gortunloe, Stonestown and Edmondstown or Redmondstown;  he also owned a property, White Cliff, in Hull, Yorkshire.  Rev. William Clarke of Baldonnel was to take responsibility of the rearing and educating of his children.

John Williams 1892/93 - 1918

                                    JOHN WILLIAMS 1892 - 1918

John Williams was born in Sandymount, Dublin to Willis Creighton Williams and his wife Kate O'Neill on 30th December 1892.   The family lived at 50 Park Avenue, Sandymount.

He was our paternal great-uncle, the brother of our paternal grandfather, Richard Williams.

                            John Williams is the blonde baby sitting on his mother's lap.

John Williams must have either worked for the bank or been an accountant because, at some stage following the outbreak of the First World War in 1914, he joined the 26th Battalion of the Royal Fusiliers. This battalion was known as 'The Bankers' Battalion and was one of 47 battalions raised by the Royal Fusiliers. The Bankers' Battalion had been formed on the 17th July 1915 in London by the Lord Mayor and City of London, and was composed mainly by former bank clerks and accountants.

The 26th Battalion was attached to the 41st Division of the 124th Brigade in November 1915, and landed in France on 4th May 1915. They were moved to Italy in November 1917 before returned to France in March 1918 which was where John was killed on August 10th.

I found John William's military records on Ancestry.com. He enlisted in Dublin and died in France/Flanders; he was a private in the Machine Gun Corps, No. 70469. He had formerly been with the Royal Fusiliers, No. 19507.

He was also mentioned in 'Ireland's Memorial Records 1914 - 1918:

'Williams, John. Reg No 70469. Rank: Private, Machine Gun Corps, 55th Batt; killed in action, France, August 10th 1918; born Sandymount, Co. Dublin.'

 The 55th Battalion Machine Gun Corps had been formed on 7th March 1918 and became part of the 55th West Lancashire Division. In August 1918, they were based near Lille in Northern France.

 We have two letters sent by John's colleague, second-lieutenant Sidney Johnston, in a small black-edged envelope to our grandfather, Richard Williams, stamped 'Field Post Office 16 Sp 18' and sent to our grandfather at the Royal Bank of Ireland, Foster Place (College Green), Dublin. The envelope is also stamped 'Passed by Censor No. 47.'

 "Dear Mr. Williams,

Yours of 5th to hand. I regret to say that your brother spoke no word after being hit as death was almost instantaneous.

Although his body is not with us, the memory of his verve and energy remains to inspire us, helping to make us crush the Bosche with all speed.

Perhaps you will kindly communicate any information I have sent to your brother Gerald as he has written me also.

Many thanks to Mrs. Williams for her kind invitation to call,

yours sincerely,

Sidney Johnston 2/Lt.

 

Also:

"Dear Sir,

I am answering your letter of 22 Aug addressed to O.C. Coy (?) as I was your brother's section officer. He was killed almost instantaneously by light shell on Saturday 10th August between 11.15 am and midday.

About half an hour previously 3 others had been wounded in cookhouse and after helping to dress them, he volunteered with another man to get a stretcher from Ard (?) Post half a mile away although the route was being shelled. On his way back he was killed with (sic) 50 yards of the cookhouse. It was all during a daily strafe and not going over the top. We were very very unlucky having 3 killed and 2 wounded in his section.

Hoping the above is what you require and that I have not perchance used casual expressions which (?) in a matter so grave,

Believe me,

Yours sincerely,

S. Johnston 2/Lt

PS: Particulars of grave will be sent later."

 Both the above letters were headed in pencil with the initials 'B.E.J.'.

John Williams is buried in Houchin British Cemetery south of Dunkirk and Calais in northern France.