Wynn Williams was born on 11 September 1864 in Jermyn Street (now
Anzac Avenue),
Auckland, New Zealand, to parents Robert Wynne Williams and his wife Jane (née Lloyd). His uncle
Henry Wynn-Williams was the first to add "Wynn" to his surname, and his father then added "Wynne" to his surname. It is not clear where this originates from, and it could either refer to the old-English word for 'friend', Welsh for 'fair', or to the Reverend John Wynne who had baptised Sir
Charles Williams, his father's oldest surviving brother. Aged 8, Robert Wynn Williams was sent to
London to
Christ's Hospital to receive his education. Aged 15, he returned to New Zealand to train in
Christchurch under his uncle Henry as a lawyer. After he was admitted to the
Supreme Court of New Zealand at age 21, he practised as a lawyer for some time in
Auckland before declining health prompted him to move to Ireland. In 1890 he was working as a surveyor in
New South Wales before working as a solicitor for Thynne and Macartney in Brisbane in 1892. He headed to
Charters Towers in 1894 to start his own practice, specialising in mining and company law, operating this business up until his death in 1929. ==Political career==