WILLIAMS, ROWLAND: English Broad-church theologian; b. at Halkyn (12 m. e.s.e. of St. Asaph), Wales, Aug. 16, 1817; d. at Broad Chalke (7 m. w.s.w. of Salisbury), Wiltshire, Jan. 18, 1870. He studied at Eton and at King's College, Cambridge (B.A., 1841; M.A., 1844; B.D., 1851; D.D., 1857), where he was fellow 1839-59, and classical tutor 1842-50. During 1843-46 he was instrumental in averting the proposed amalgamation of the sees of St. Asaph and Bangor, publishing in the press a number of remonstrances against the measure. In 1848 he won the Muir prize for a preliminary essay on the comparative merits of Christianity and Hinduism. From 1850 until 1862 he was vice-principal and professor of Hebrew at the theological college of St. David's, Lampeter, Wales. Despite the most uncompromising opposition on account of his liberal views regarding the interpretation of Scripture, his administration of the college was aggressive and successful. In Dec., 1854, he was appointed select preacher at Cambridge, though his sermons there were quickly interrupted by his father's death. In 1858 he accepted the living of Broad Chalke, whither he removed in 1862. In 1860 he contributed Bunsen's Biblical Researches to the famous Essays and Reviews, which resulted in his trial for heterodoxy before the Court of Arches (see Essays and Reviews). His principal works were, Rational Godliness (London, 1855), sermons preached at Cambridge and at St. David's College; Christianity and Hinduism Compared (1856), his greatest work; The Hebrew Prophets Translated . . . with Introduction and Notes (2 parts, 1866-71); Broad Chalke Sermon-Essays (1867); Owen Glendower: a Dramatic Biography . . . and Other Poems (1870); and Psalms and Litanies (1872).
Bibliography: His Life and Letters was published by his widow, 2 vols., London, 1574. Consult: John Owen, in Contemporary Review, Apr., 1870; C. K. Paul, Biographical Sketches. London, 1883; DNB, lxi. 450-453; literature under Essays and Reviews. The Judgment of S. Lushington in the Court of Arches was published, London, 1882.
WILLIAMS, SAMUEL WELLS: Congregational layman and sinologue; b. at Utica, N. Y., Sept. 22, 1812; d. at New Haven, Conn., Feb. 16, 1884. In 1831 he entered Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute at Troy, N. Y.; went to Canton, China, in 1833 as a printer for the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions; there he was editor, contributor to, and printer of The Chinese Repository, 1838-51; removed to Macao, 1835, to complete the printing of Medhurst's Hokkeen Dictionary, 1835; visited Japan, 1837, and translated into Japanese Genesis and Matthew; began to print Bridgman's Chinese Christomathy, to which he contributed one-half, 1837-38; he was away from China, 1844-48, spending three years in America, where he was instrumental in raising funds for a full font of Chinese type; was interpreter to Commodore Perry's Japan expeditions, 1853-54; became secretary and interpreter of the U. S. Legation, Peking, 1855; assisted Minister Reed in negotiating the treaty with China, 1858. He made two more visits to America, and in 1877 he returned to become professor of the Chinese language and literature at Yale University. He had been charge d'affaires nine times during his term as secretary and interpreter in China. His great work
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Bibliography: F. W. Williams (his son), Life and Letters of S. Wells Williams, New York, 1888.
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