, Oxford. Robert Williams was born and educated in
Aberdeen. Williams was closely associated, variously as an employee of, advisor to, and partner with
Cecil Rhodes in his many enterprises from the time of their first meeting in 1885 at the
De Beers diamond mine in
Kimberley until Rhodes's death in 1902. Williams planned and executed the creation of the
Benguela railway through then
Portuguese West Africa (now
Angola). In 1902, Williams took over the construction and completed the connection to
Luau at the border to the
Belgian Congo in 1929. Williams was the managing Director of
Tanganyika Concessions. founded in 1889. He promoted a market for European goods within southern Africa which was part of a change in trading from barter to currency. He was vice-president of the Belgian
Compagnie de Chemin de fer du Katanga (CFK) when it was founded in 1902. After
World War I he bought Park House, a mansion with several hundred acres of land at
Drumoak in
Aberdeenshire. He was granted the
Freedom of the City of Aberdeen, and was created a
baronet in 1928, of Park, Aberdeenshire. He also became a grand officer of the
Order of the Crown (Belgium) and commander of the
Royal Order of the Lion of Belgium and a knight commander of the
Portuguese order of Christ. ==See also==