Edward Ellerker Williams
Encyclopedia
Edward Ellerker Williams (22 April 1793 - 8 July 1822) was a retired army officer who became friends with Percy Bysshe Shelley
Percy Bysshe Shelley
Percy Bysshe Shelley was one of the major English Romantic poets and is critically regarded as among the finest lyric poets in the English language. Shelley was famous for his association with John Keats and Lord Byron...

 in the final months of his life and died with him.

Early life

Edward Williams was born in India, the son of an East India Company's army officer, John Williams. His family sent him to England where he attended Eton College
Eton College
Eton College, often referred to simply as Eton, is a British independent school for boys aged 13 to 18. It was founded in 1440 by King Henry VI as "The King's College of Our Lady of Eton besides Wyndsor"....

, and then, at the age of 14, he entered the Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...

. His father died at sea in 1809, and with a comfortable settlement from the will
Will (law)
A will or testament is a legal declaration by which a person, the testator, names one or more persons to manage his/her estate and provides for the transfer of his/her property at death...

, Williams joined the Eighth Light Dragoons of the East India Company's army in India as a cornet in 1811.

He served under his half-brother and was promoted to Lieutenant in 1813. Williams's Sporting Sketches during a Short Stay in Hindustane contains drawings and journal descriptions of places and events during a leave of absence he took in 1814. The original copy of this notebook is in the Bodleian Library
Bodleian Library
The Bodleian Library , the main research library of the University of Oxford, is one of the oldest libraries in Europe, and in Britain is second in size only to the British Library...

 at the University of Oxford
University of Oxford
The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...

. He remained with his regiment until 1817 and retired on half-pay on 28 May 1818. During his time in India he met and served with Thomas Medwin
Thomas Medwin
Thomas Medwin was an early 19th century English poet and translator, who is chiefly known for his biographies of his cousin Percy Bysshe Shelley and his recollections of his close friend Lord Byron.-Early life:...

, the cousin of Shelley.

Williams returned to England, taking with him the wife of another army officer, Jane Johnson
Jane Williams
Jane Williams may refer to:*Jane Williams *Jane Williams Subject of poems by Percy Bysshe Shelley*Jane Williams , Welsh writer*Jane Williams, Baroness Williams of Elvel...

, née Cleveland (1798–1884), who told him her husband mistreated her and that she was justified in leaving him. Some time before September 1818 she began using the name Jane Williams, and hereafter they presented themselves as Mr. and Mrs. Williams.

Friendship with Medwin and Trelawny

In 1819 Medwin (left) returned to London and persuaded the Williamses to travel with him to Geneva
Geneva
Geneva In the national languages of Switzerland the city is known as Genf , Ginevra and Genevra is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie, the French-speaking part of Switzerland...

, where they lived until September 1820. In February Jane and Edward's first child, Edward Medwin (d.1897), was born. Williams also wrote an article on big game hunting for a Swiss encyclopaedia, Bibliotèque universelle des sciences, belles-lettres, et des arts.

Medwin left, and the Williamses moved first to Chalon
Chalon
The Chalon are one of eight divisions of the Ohlone people of Native Americans who lived in Northern California. Chalon is also the name of their spoken language, listed as one of the Ohlone languages of the Utian family...

 and then to Italy, where they met with Medwin again in January 1821 in Pisa
Pisa
Pisa is a city in Tuscany, Central Italy, on the right bank of the mouth of the River Arno on the Tyrrhenian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa...

. Medwin introduced them to Shelley's circle, and Williams became a close companion of Shelley, writing a play under his tutelage, The Promise, or a Year, a Month and a Day, which he sent to Covent Garden, although it was rejected. The Williamses' second child, Jane Rosalind (d.1880), was born on 16 March.

Williams met Lord Byron
George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron
George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron, later George Gordon Noel, 6th Baron Byron, FRS , commonly known simply as Lord Byron, was a British poet and a leading figure in the Romantic movement...

 in November 1821 and Edward John Trelawny
Edward John Trelawny
Edward John Trelawny was a biographer, novelist and adventurer who is best known for his friendship with the Romantic poets Percy Bysshe Shelley and Lord Byron. Trelawny was born in England to a family of modest income but extensive ancestral history...

 in January 1822. Shelley became very affectionate towards Jane Williams, addressing many of his poems to her.

Death

On 1 July 1822, Williams and Shelley, along with a friend, Daniel Roberts, and a young Cornish boatman, sailed Shelley's boat, Don Juan, to Leghorn
Livorno
Livorno , traditionally Leghorn , is a port city on the Tyrrhenian Sea on the western edge of Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Livorno, having a population of approximately 160,000 residents in 2009.- History :...

 to see Leigh Hunt
Leigh Hunt
James Henry Leigh Hunt , best known as Leigh Hunt, was an English critic, essayist, poet and writer.-Early life:Leigh Hunt was born at Southgate, London, where his parents had settled after leaving the USA...

. Shelley, Williams and the young Cornishman set sail back on 8 July, but the boat sank in a squall, and they were drowned. Their bodies washed ashore, and Williams was recognized by Trelawny by a boot and a scarf. They were buried until Trelawny obtained permission to cremate them, and Williams's body was burnt in Tuscany on 15 August. Williams's ashes were carried back to England by Jane, where eventually, she became the partner of another friend of Shelley, Thomas Jefferson Hogg
Thomas Jefferson Hogg
Thomas Jefferson Hogg was a British barrister and writer best known for his friendship with the Romantic poet Percy Bysshe Shelley. Hogg was raised in County Durham, but spent most of his life in London. He and Shelley became friends while studying at University College, Oxford, and remained close...

. On her death his ashes were buried with her in Kensal Green Cemetery
Kensal Green Cemetery
Kensal Green Cemetery is a cemetery in Kensal Green, in the west of London, England. It was immortalised in the lines of G. K. Chesterton's poem The Rolling English Road from his book The Flying Inn: "For there is good news yet to hear and fine things to be seen; Before we go to Paradise by way of...

.

Williams kept a daily journal of his activities, which has since produced information on the lives of Shelley, Byron and Trelawny. A pencil sketch from Williams's journal in 1821 is the only good likeness of the poet.

The close relationship between the Williamses and Shelleys has been recorded in Williams's Journal, Mary Shelley's Journal, Trelawny's Recollections, the Letters of the Shelleys and Byron, and also in many biographies about the members of Shelley's Pisan Circle.

Journal and Notebooks

Williams produced at least four journals or notebooks in addition to Sporting Sketches during a Short Stay in Hindustane. The original copies can be viewed at three libraries:

Journal (21 October 1821 – 4 July 1822) recording his day-to-day activities during the eight month period before the fatal drowning accident on 8 July 1822 is part of the Special Manuscript Collection at the British Library
British Library
The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom, and is the world's largest library in terms of total number of items. The library is a major research library, holding over 150 million items from every country in the world, in virtually all known languages and in many formats,...

, London (Add. 36622).

Notebook (circa. 1819 – 1822) containing many sketches, botanical specimens, fragments of poems, and one particular pencil portrait that might be of Shelley is now part of the Donald Prell
Donald Prell
Donald B. Prell is a venture capitalist and futurist who created Datamation, the first magazine devoted solely to the computer hardware and software industry.-Early life:...

 Collection of Edward John Trelawny at the Honnold/Mudd Special Collections at the Libraries of the Claremont Colleges
Claremont Colleges
The Claremont Colleges are a prestigious American consortium of five undergraduate and two graduate schools of higher education located in Claremont, California, a city east of downtown Los Angeles...

, Claremont, California.
http://ccdl.libraries.claremont.edu/cdm4/browse.php?CISOROOT=/joe

Notebook (28 May – 2 June 1819) recording his travels on the continent with his friends and family is a manuscript in the Pforzheimer Collection at the New York Public Library
New York Public Library
The New York Public Library is the largest public library in North America and is one of the United States' most significant research libraries...

 (call number S’ANA 0399)

Journal (18 April - 2 December 1807) Holograph manuscript Log of HMS Superb
HMS Superb
Eleven ships of the Royal Navy have borne the name HMS Superb, or HMS Superbe:*HMS Superb was a 64-gun third rate, previously the French ship Superbe...

 in the Pforzheimer Collection (call number S'ANA 0153)

External links

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