Benjamin Thomas Williams
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Benjamin Thomas Williams (19 November 1832 – 21 March 1890)[1] was a Welsh barrister, judge, and Liberal Party politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1878 to 1882.[2]
Williams was the eldest son of Thomas Rayson Williams, an Independent minister of Narberth Pembrokeshire, and his wife Mira Thomas, daughter of B R Thomas. He was educated at the Presbyterian College, Carmarthen (1846-1851), where he became a Unitarian, and Glasgow University (B.A. 1853, M.A. 1854), where he was senior prizeman in logic and silver medallist in metaphysics. In 1859, he was called to the bar at Gray's Inn and then went on the South Wales and Chester circuits. He was Recorder of Carmarthen from 1872 to 1878 and became a Queen's Counsel in 1875. He was for a while editor of the Law Magazine and was a J.P. for Pembrokeshire, chairman of the South Narberth School Board, and member of the councils of the University of Glasgow and the University College of Wales.[3]
In 1867, Williams sought to be nominated as a candidate for the second seat for Merthyr Boroughs and held a public meeting at Aberdare to support his candidature. He protested against the actions of Thomas Price in using this meeting to promote the candidature of Richard Fothergill.[4]
