John Williams

Born at Lampeter, Cardiganshire, on March 25, 1727, he trained for the ministry at Carmarthen Academy and went on to serve congregations in Stamford, Wokingham, and Sydenham. He later became librarian of Dr. Williams’s Library in London, a role that suited his reputation as a learned and thoughtful man.

He wrote across a wide range of subjects, including theology, education, and history. One of his best-known works explored the tradition that Prince Madog of Wales reached America long before Columbus, a subject that kept his name alive with later readers interested in Welsh history and legend.

Remembered as both a minister and an author, he belonged to the world of eighteenth-century Protestant dissent, where preaching, scholarship, and public debate often went hand in hand. The surviving sources emphasize his learning and steady service more than dramatic personal detail, but they present him as a serious writer with broad intellectual interests.