He was the eighth child of the Rev. David Williams (1751–1836), born in the
Hungerford almshouse in
Wiltshire; his father, an uncle of
John Williams (1792–1858) the
archdeacon of Cardigan, was warden of the almshouse and curate of
Heytesbury. His mother, whose maiden name was also Williams, was daughter of a surgeon in
Chepstow,
Monmouthshire. His father was a successful private tutor, and educated him at home; he entered the
University of Edinburgh in 1820. He was there a resident pupil of Dr.
John Thomson (1765–1846), and was influenced in his reading by Dr. Robert Herbert Brabant of
Devizes, then living in Edinburgh. His inaugural dissertation for the degree of M.D., which he took in 1824, was
On the Blood and its Changes by Respiration and Secretion. Williams went to London, but in 1825 travelled to Paris, where he worked at drawing as well as at medicine. He attended
René Laennec's clinic at the
Hôpital de la Charité, and acquired the new methods of physical examination of the chest. In 1827 he came back to London; he travelled with
Gilbert Elliot, 2nd Earl of Minto, to Switzerland, and on his return married, in 1830, Harriet Williams Jenkins, daughter of James Jenkins of Chepstow. Having received the license of the
College of Physicians of London, Williams began practice in Half Moon Street. and in 1835 was elected a
Fellow of the Royal Society. He lectured in 1836 at the anatomical school in
Kinnerton Street, on diseases of the chest. In 1839 he succeeded
John Elliotson as professor of medicine and physician to
University College London, and moved to Holles Street,
Cavendish Square. In 1840 Williams was elected a fellow of the College of Physicians. A reformer in the medical world, soon after his admission he tried to alter the constitution of the College, but received little support. He became a censor in 1846 and 1847, and delivered the
Lumleian lectures on
Successes and Failures in Medicine in 1862. Williams took part in 1841 in founding the
Consumption Hospital at
Brompton, and continued to support it. When the
Pathological Society was formed in 1846 he was elected its first president. He moved to 24
Upper Brook Street, where he was in practice for many years, a specialist in diseases of the chest. From 1873 to 1875 he was president of the
Royal Medical and Chirurgical Society, and in 1874 was appointed physician extraordinary to the queen. In 1875 Williams gave up practice and retired to Cannes. Before leaving London he made an attempt to alter the constitution of the Royal Society. A committee was appointed to consider his views, but reported against them. He died on 24 March 1889 at Cannes. ==Works==