Born 18 March 1879 son of Thomas Williams and Elizabeth Agnes his wife, Pontypridd, Glamorganshire. He married, 8 April 1902, Mabel Escott Melluish but had no children. Known in railway circles as ' the man who achieved a schoolboy's ambition to run a railway ', Sir William was educated in Cardiff and began his career with the Rhymney Railway Company in 1893 as a junior clerk. He was put in charge of the Traffic Department in 1905, and his great opportunity came when, on the grouping of the railways to form the major companies' network in 1922, he was appointed by the Great Western Railway as its Assistant Divisonal Superintendent at Cardiff. For his contribution to a lifetime of railway service in Wales and his civic service to Cardiff he received a knighthood in 1930. A year later he retired. He entered local politics in 1913 when he was elected to the Cardiff City Council, and was deputy Lord Mayor 1921-22. In 1928-29 he was Lord Mayor of the City of Cardiff and in 1954 was honoured with the Freedom of the City. He died 28 June 1961.
Published date: 2001
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