Author: WILLIAMS, William
Biography:
WILLIAMS, William (fl 1796)
Only one publication can be confidently attributed to Williams. It is Book One of a projected long poem based on the Bible and entitled Redemption. In the Preface Williams describes the work as the first of a series, the next part to be completed before Midsummer and the rest following at intervals of three months—but nothing more appeared. It was printed at The Philanthropic Reform in St. George’s Fields, a charity school founded in 1788 for the prevention of crime. It is somewhat unusual in including eccentric endnotes on matters of doctrine, for instance speculating on God’s reasons for creating Man. The title-page identifies the author as a student-at-law of Gray’s Inn; the register of admissions for the Inn lists only two possible candidates, one “of Gray’s Inn, gent.,” who was admitted on 4 Jan. 1792, and the other “of the city of Durham, gent.,” admitted on 10 Aug. 1793. The name was very common and nothing further has been found in newspapers or public records. (Joseph Foster, ed. Gray’s Inn Register of Admissions, 1521-1889 [1889]; ancestry.com 20 June 2024; findmypast.com 20 June 2024) HJ