Williams was the son of John Williams, a landowner in
Bleadon,
Somerset, England. He studied at
Jesus College, Oxford, where he
matriculated in 1810 and obtained degrees of
BA in 1814 and
MA in 1820. He was ordained before obtaining his MA, and was a curate in
Avebury,
Wiltshire before becoming
rector of Bleadon and
Kingston Seymour, Somerset, in 1820. He was elected as a
Fellow of the
Geological Society of London in 1828, writing papers between 1831 and 1849, mainly on the geology of the west of England, particularly
Cornwall and
Devon. He explored the caves of the
Mendip Hills and helped with
Banwell bone cave. In his parish life, he objected to music in church services and was criticised for the lack of a village school in Bleadon as well as for his scruffy personal appearance. Williams died on 7 September 1850. ==References==