Charles Williams, Baron Williams of Elvel
Encyclopedia
Charles Cuthbert Powell Williams, Baron Williams of Elvel CBE
(born 9 February 1933) is a manager and Labour peer. In his 20s he played first-class cricket
while at university and for several seasons afterwards.
The son of N. P. Williams and Muriel de Lérisson Cazenove, he was educated at Westminster School
and at Christ Church, Oxford
, where he received a Bachelor of Arts
in literae humaniores in 1955 and a Master of Arts
. Williams was further educated at the London School of Economics
, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Science
in 1964. Between 1955 and 1957, he served as Subaltern in the Headquarter of the King's Royal Rifle Corps
in Winchester
and in the 1st Battalion in Derna in Libya
.
matches, 40 of them for Essex
and 42 for Oxford University
.
He made his first-class debut for Oxford University about halfway through the 1952 university cricket season and hit 53 in his first match, against Sussex
in The Parks. In the return match at Worthing
, he made 74, but he did not retain his place and he was not selected for the University Match against Cambridge
. When the university cricket season was over, Williams played for Oxfordshire
in the Minor Counties.
In 1953, Williams played regularly for the university side and in the match against Free Foresters, an itinerant amateur side of varying quality whose matches against the universities were considered first-class at this time, he made his first century, scoring 115 in a match ruined by rain. In the University Match, he made 40 and 5 as Oxford lost by two wickets in a close finish.
The 1954 season saw Williams achieve 1,000 runs in the season for the first time: he finished with 1128 at an average of 30.48 runs per innings. He was particularly successful for Oxford University, batting generally at No 3 and scoring 115 against Lancashire
and then an unbeaten 139 followed by 89 in the second innings in the match against Hampshire
. He was not successful in the University Match, batting just once and scoring 14. Later in the summer, he played in 11 matches for Essex, but his highest score for the county was only 54.
Williams was captain of the Oxford University cricket team in his final year at the university, 1955. The team was not successful, failing to win any of its first-class matches, and Williams' captaincy attracted some criticism in Wisden Cricketers' Almanack
. "The weather was certainly against them, and in all their ten home games none was played through without some interference from rain and, altogether, nine and a half days of playing time were lost," Wisden wrote. "That in itself may have undermined the determination of the side, though a more likely handicap to the individual players was the length of time C. C. P. Williams took to decide who would be in the XI to meet Cambridge. The freshmen were particularly affected and when the weeks passed and they were still playing for their places none of them was able to relax and play a natural game."
Williams started the season well with 120 in the first match, against Gloucestershire
. But his form declined and Oxford had the worse of a drawn University Match, though Williams' own second innings 47 not out helped save the game for his side. After the university season was over, he again played for Essex, and scored his first century in County Championship
cricket, making 119 and sharing a fourth-wicket partnership of 200 with Doug Insole
in the match against Leicestershire
at Leicester
. The 1955 season was, in all, Williams' most successful: he made 1219 runs at an average of 31.25, both his highest seasonal aggregate and average.
In 1956 and 1957, Williams was on National Service
. In the 1956 season, he played a couple of matches for the Combined Services cricket team
, making an unbeaten 125 in the match against Warwickshire
. There were also a few matches in this season for Essex and one for MCC
at Lord's; at the end of the season, he played in two matches at the Scarborough Festival
, one for MCC against Yorkshire
in which he was used unsuccessfully as an opening batsman, and the second the Gentlemen v Players
match in which he made 0 and 1. These were his only games of representative cricket. In 1957, he played no first-class cricket at all.
Williams returned to first-class cricket in the second half of the 1958 season, playing 10 matches for Essex and adding what Wisden called "extra stability" to the county's batting. In 1959, he reappeared for four matches, but with no success, and these were his final first-class matches.
branch of the Bank of London and Montreal
and from 1966 to 1970, he was manager of mergers and acquisitions of Eurofinance SA Paris. For Baring Bros & Co. Ltd
, he worked between 1970 and 1977, as managing director from 1971. From 1977 to 1979, he was chairman of the Prices Commission
and from 1985 to 1992 director of Mirror Group Newspapers plc. Between 1979 and 1982, he was managing director of Henry Ansbacher & Co. Ltd and between 1982 and 1985 of Henry Ansbacher Holdings.
. For the Campaign for the Protection of Rural Wales (CPRW), he was president between 1989 to 1995, and has been immediate past president and vice-president as well as president of its Radnor
branch since 1995. Made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire
(CBE) in 1980, he became a life peer
with the title Baron Williams of Elvel, of Llansantffraed in Elvel in the County of Powys
on 22 May 1985. He sits for Labour
in the House of Lords
.
, the Very Reverend Justin Welby
.
Harold Macmillon (2009)
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
(born 9 February 1933) is a manager and Labour peer. In his 20s he played first-class cricket
First-class cricket
First-class cricket is a class of cricket that consists of matches of three or more days' scheduled duration, that are between two sides of eleven players and are officially adjudged first-class by virtue of the standard of the competing teams...
while at university and for several seasons afterwards.
The son of N. P. Williams and Muriel de Lérisson Cazenove, he was educated at Westminster School
Westminster School
The Royal College of St. Peter in Westminster, almost always known as Westminster School, is one of Britain's leading independent schools, with the highest Oxford and Cambridge acceptance rate of any secondary school or college in Britain...
and at Christ Church, Oxford
Christ Church, Oxford
Christ Church or house of Christ, and thus sometimes known as The House), is one of the largest constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England...
, where he received a Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
in literae humaniores in 1955 and a Master of Arts
Master of Arts (Oxbridge)
In the Universities of Oxford, Cambridge and Dublin, Bachelors of Arts of these universities are admitted to the degree of Master of Arts or Master in Arts on application after six or seven years' seniority as members of the university .There is no examination or study required for the degree...
. Williams was further educated at the London School of Economics
London School of Economics
The London School of Economics and Political Science is a public research university specialised in the social sciences located in London, United Kingdom, and a constituent college of the federal University of London...
, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Science
Bachelor of Science
A Bachelor of Science is an undergraduate academic degree awarded for completed courses that generally last three to five years .-Australia:In Australia, the BSc is a 3 year degree, offered from 1st year on...
in 1964. Between 1955 and 1957, he served as Subaltern in the Headquarter of the King's Royal Rifle Corps
King's Royal Rifle Corps
The King's Royal Rifle Corps was a British Army infantry regiment, originally raised in colonial North America as the Royal Americans, and recruited from American colonists. Later ranked as the 60th Regiment of Foot, the regiment served for more than 200 years throughout the British Empire...
in Winchester
Winchester
Winchester is a historic cathedral city and former capital city of England. It is the county town of Hampshire, in South East England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government district, and is located at the western end of the South Downs, along the course of...
and in the 1st Battalion in Derna in Libya
Libya
Libya is an African country in the Maghreb region of North Africa bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Sudan to the southeast, Chad and Niger to the south, and Algeria and Tunisia to the west....
.
Cricket career
A right-handed middle order batsman, Williams played 87 first-class cricketFirst-class cricket
First-class cricket is a class of cricket that consists of matches of three or more days' scheduled duration, that are between two sides of eleven players and are officially adjudged first-class by virtue of the standard of the competing teams...
matches, 40 of them for Essex
Essex County Cricket Club
Essex County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh national cricket structure, representing the historic county of Essex. Its limited overs team is called the Essex Eagles, their team colours this season are blue.The club plays most of its home games...
and 42 for Oxford University
Oxford University Cricket Club
Oxford University Cricket Club is a first-class cricket team, representing the University of Oxford. It plays its home games at the University Parks in Oxford, England...
.
He made his first-class debut for Oxford University about halfway through the 1952 university cricket season and hit 53 in his first match, against Sussex
Sussex County Cricket Club
Sussex County Cricket Club is the oldest of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Sussex. The club was founded as a successor to Brighton Cricket Club which was a representative of the county of Sussex as a...
in The Parks. In the return match at Worthing
Worthing
Worthing is a large seaside town with borough status in West Sussex, within the historic County of Sussex, forming part of the Brighton/Worthing/Littlehampton conurbation. It is situated at the foot of the South Downs, west of Brighton, and east of the county town of Chichester...
, he made 74, but he did not retain his place and he was not selected for the University Match against Cambridge
Cambridge University Cricket Club
Cambridge University Cricket Club is a first-class cricket team. It now plays all but one of its first-class cricket matches as part of the Cambridge University Centre of Cricketing Excellence , which includes Anglia Ruskin University...
. When the university cricket season was over, Williams played for Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire County Cricket Club
Oxfordshire County Cricket Club is one of the county clubs which make up the Minor Counties in the English domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Oxfordshire and playing in the Minor Counties Championship and the MCCA Knockout Trophy...
in the Minor Counties.
In 1953, Williams played regularly for the university side and in the match against Free Foresters, an itinerant amateur side of varying quality whose matches against the universities were considered first-class at this time, he made his first century, scoring 115 in a match ruined by rain. In the University Match, he made 40 and 5 as Oxford lost by two wickets in a close finish.
The 1954 season saw Williams achieve 1,000 runs in the season for the first time: he finished with 1128 at an average of 30.48 runs per innings. He was particularly successful for Oxford University, batting generally at No 3 and scoring 115 against Lancashire
Lancashire County Cricket Club
Lancashire County Cricket Club represents the historic county of Lancashire in cricket's County Championship. The club was founded in 1864 as a successor to Manchester Cricket Club and has played at Old Trafford since then...
and then an unbeaten 139 followed by 89 in the second innings in the match against Hampshire
Hampshire County Cricket Club
Hampshire County Cricket Club represents the historic county of Hampshire in cricket's County Championship. The club was founded in 1863 as a successor to the Hampshire county cricket teams and has played at the Antelope Ground from then until 1885, before moving to the County Ground where it...
. He was not successful in the University Match, batting just once and scoring 14. Later in the summer, he played in 11 matches for Essex, but his highest score for the county was only 54.
Williams was captain of the Oxford University cricket team in his final year at the university, 1955. The team was not successful, failing to win any of its first-class matches, and Williams' captaincy attracted some criticism in Wisden Cricketers' Almanack
Wisden Cricketers' Almanack
Wisden Cricketers' Almanack is a cricket reference book published annually in the United Kingdom...
. "The weather was certainly against them, and in all their ten home games none was played through without some interference from rain and, altogether, nine and a half days of playing time were lost," Wisden wrote. "That in itself may have undermined the determination of the side, though a more likely handicap to the individual players was the length of time C. C. P. Williams took to decide who would be in the XI to meet Cambridge. The freshmen were particularly affected and when the weeks passed and they were still playing for their places none of them was able to relax and play a natural game."
Williams started the season well with 120 in the first match, against Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire County Cricket Club
Gloucestershire County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh national cricket structure, representing the historic county of Gloucestershire. Its limited overs team is called the Gloucestershire Gladiators....
. But his form declined and Oxford had the worse of a drawn University Match, though Williams' own second innings 47 not out helped save the game for his side. After the university season was over, he again played for Essex, and scored his first century in County Championship
County Championship
The County Championship is the domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales...
cricket, making 119 and sharing a fourth-wicket partnership of 200 with Doug Insole
Doug Insole
Doug Insole CBE is a former English cricketer, who played for Cambridge University, Essex and in nine Test matches for England, five of them on the 1956-57 tour of South Africa, where he was vice-captain to Peter May...
in the match against Leicestershire
Leicestershire County Cricket Club
Leicestershire County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh national cricket structure, representing the historic county of Leicestershire. It has also been representative of the county of Rutland....
at Leicester
Leicester
Leicester is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands of England, and the county town of Leicestershire. The city lies on the River Soar and at the edge of the National Forest...
. The 1955 season was, in all, Williams' most successful: he made 1219 runs at an average of 31.25, both his highest seasonal aggregate and average.
In 1956 and 1957, Williams was on National Service
National service
National service is a common name for mandatory government service programmes . The term became common British usage during and for some years following the Second World War. Many young people spent one or more years in such programmes...
. In the 1956 season, he played a couple of matches for the Combined Services cricket team
Combined Services cricket team
The Combined Services cricket team represents the British armed forces. The team played at first-class level in England for more than forty years in the mid-twentieth century. Their first first-class match was against Gentlemen of England at Lord's in 1920, while their last was against Oxford...
, making an unbeaten 125 in the match against Warwickshire
Warwickshire County Cricket Club
Warwickshire County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Warwickshire. Its limited overs team is called the Warwickshire Bears. Their kit colours are black and gold and the shirt sponsor...
. There were also a few matches in this season for Essex and one for MCC
Marylebone Cricket Club
Marylebone Cricket Club is a cricket club in London founded in 1787. Its influence and longevity now witness it as a private members' club dedicated to the development of cricket. It owns, and is based at, Lord's Cricket Ground in St John's Wood, London NW8. MCC was formerly the governing body of...
at Lord's; at the end of the season, he played in two matches at the Scarborough Festival
Scarborough Festival
The Scarborough Festival is an end of season series of cricket matches featuring Yorkshire County Cricket Club which has been held in Scarborough, on the east coast of Yorkshire, since 1876. The ground, at North Marine Road, sees large crowds of holiday makers watching a mixture of first class...
, one for MCC against Yorkshire
Yorkshire County Cricket Club
Yorkshire County Cricket Club represents the historic county of Yorkshire as one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure....
in which he was used unsuccessfully as an opening batsman, and the second the Gentlemen v Players
Gentlemen v Players
The Gentlemen v Players game was a first-class cricket match that was generally played on an annual basis between one team consisting of amateurs and one of professionals . The first two games took place in 1806 but the fixture was not revived until 1819. It was more or less annual thereafter...
match in which he made 0 and 1. These were his only games of representative cricket. In 1957, he played no first-class cricket at all.
Williams returned to first-class cricket in the second half of the 1958 season, playing 10 matches for Essex and adding what Wisden called "extra stability" to the county's batting. In 1959, he reappeared for four matches, but with no success, and these were his final first-class matches.
Business career
Williams worked for British Petroleum Co. Ltd from 1958 to 1964. From 1964 to 1966, he was personal assistant to the manager of the GuatemalaGuatemala
Guatemala is a country in Central America bordered by Mexico to the north and west, the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, Belize to the northeast, the Caribbean to the east, and Honduras and El Salvador to the southeast...
branch of the Bank of London and Montreal
Bank of London and Montreal
The Bank of London and Montreal was a joint venture between Bank of London and South America , an affiliate of Lloyds Bank, and Bank of Montreal...
and from 1966 to 1970, he was manager of mergers and acquisitions of Eurofinance SA Paris. For Baring Bros & Co. Ltd
Barings Bank
Barings Bank was the oldest merchant bank in London until its collapse in 1995 after one of the bank's employees, Nick Leeson, lost £827 million due to speculative investing, primarily in futures contracts, at the bank's Singapore office.-History:-1762–1890:Barings Bank was founded in 1762 as the...
, he worked between 1970 and 1977, as managing director from 1971. From 1977 to 1979, he was chairman of the Prices Commission
Prices Commission
The Prices Commission was set up in the UK under the Counter-Inflation Act 1973, alongside the Pay Board, in an attempt to control inflation. The Conservative government of Edward Heath, elected at the 1970 UK general election, had previously abolished the Prices and Incomes Board in November...
and from 1985 to 1992 director of Mirror Group Newspapers plc. Between 1979 and 1982, he was managing director of Henry Ansbacher & Co. Ltd and between 1982 and 1985 of Henry Ansbacher Holdings.
Public service
From 1988 to 1990, Williams was chair of the Academy of St Martin-in-the-Fields and from 1989 to 1999 busby trustee of Westminster SchoolWestminster School
The Royal College of St. Peter in Westminster, almost always known as Westminster School, is one of Britain's leading independent schools, with the highest Oxford and Cambridge acceptance rate of any secondary school or college in Britain...
. For the Campaign for the Protection of Rural Wales (CPRW), he was president between 1989 to 1995, and has been immediate past president and vice-president as well as president of its Radnor
Radnor
Radnor may refer to various places:United Kingdom* Radnorshire, Wales* New Radnor, Powys, Wales* Radnor Wood, Clun, Shropshire, EnglandUnited States* Radnor, Indiana* Radnor Township, Peoria County, Illinois* Radnor, Ohio...
branch since 1995. Made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
(CBE) in 1980, he became a life peer
Life peer
In the United Kingdom, life peers are appointed members of the Peerage whose titles cannot be inherited. Nowadays life peerages, always of baronial rank, are created under the Life Peerages Act 1958 and entitle the holders to seats in the House of Lords, presuming they meet qualifications such as...
with the title Baron Williams of Elvel, of Llansantffraed in Elvel in the County of Powys
Powys
Powys is a local-government county and preserved county in Wales.-Geography:Powys covers the historic counties of Montgomeryshire and Radnorshire, most of Brecknockshire , and a small part of Denbighshire — an area of 5,179 km², making it the largest county in Wales by land area.It is...
on 22 May 1985. He sits for Labour
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
in the House of Lords
House of Lords
The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster....
.
Personal life
Since 1975, he has been married to Jane Gillian Portal. He has a stepson: the current Dean of LiverpoolDean of Liverpool
The Dean of Liverpool is based in Liverpool, UK and is head of the Chapter of Liverpool Cathedral.The deanery is currently vacant following the departure in October 2011 of The Very Reverend Justin Welby to become Bishop of Durham. The Acting Dean is the Canon Precentor, the Reverend Canon Myles...
, the Very Reverend Justin Welby
Justin Welby
Justin Portal Welby became the Bishop of Durham and the fourth most senior cleric in the Church of England on 29 September 2011. He was previously the Dean of Liverpool Cathedral.-Early life and education:...
.
Works
- The Last Great Frenchman: a life of General de Gaulle (1993)
- Bradman: an Australian Hero (1996)
- Adenauer: the Father of the New Germany (2000)
- Pétain (2005). Winner of the 2006 Elizabeth Longford Prize for Historical Biography
Harold Macmillon (2009)