{{Short description|English nonconformist author and lawyer}} {{Use dmy dates|date=September 2019}} {{Infobox person | honorific_prefix = Sir | name = John Bickerton Williams | image = Sir John Bickerton Williams.png | birth_date = 4 March 1792 | death_date = {{d-da|21 October 1855|4 March 1792}} | occupation = Author, Attorney | spouse = Elizabeth Robins (27 December 1813) | children = 5 }}
'''Sir John Bickerton Williams''' (4 March 1792 – 21 October 1855) was an English nonconformist author and lawyer. He was knighted by Queen Victoria in 1837.
== Life == Williams was born at Sandford Hall, at West Felton, Shropshire in the United Kingdom on 4 March 1792, the son of William Williams and Hannah Bickerton. Early in his life, his parents moved to Wem in Shropshire. He received his early education at the free school (now Thomas Adams School) in Wem. He became a member of the congregational church at Wem in the autumn of 1809. Williams began to gather a large collection of manuscripts by Phillip and Matthew Henry and other nonconformist theologians. He spent his leisure time writing.<ref name=":0" />
Williams studied law and he became an apprentice on 17 February 1806 to an attorney in Wem. After a residence in Liverpool from 1811 to 1815, he was admitted an attorney on 23 January 1816. William moved to Shrewsbury and commenced a law practice.
=== Marriage === Williams married Elizabeth Robins on 27 December 1813. He had three sons and two daughters.<ref name=":1" />
=== Political career === On the passing of the Municipal Reform Act in 1835, Williams was elected an alderman of Shrewsbury, and in November 1836 was appointed mayor.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1LDPAAAAMAAJ&q=The+Gentleman's+Magazine+and+Historical+Chronicle+volume+1855|title=The Gentleman's Magazine and Historical Review|last=|first=|date=1855|publisher=Bradbury, Evans|isbn=|location=|pages=656–657|language=en}}</ref> In that capacity he presented an address to the Duke of Sussex at Kimnel Park.<ref name=":0" />
On 19 July 1837, at the duke's request, he was knighted at St. James's Palace by Queen Victoria. He was the first to be knighted by the Queen in her reign.<ref name=":1" /> He was elected F.S.A. in 1824, and a fellow of the American Antiquarian Society in 1838, and received the degree of LL.D. from Middleburg College, Vermont, U.S.A., in 1831.
=== Death === Williams retired from law practice at Shrewsbury in March 1841 and moved back to Wem where he lived at The Hall, a Georgian house in New Street.<ref>{{cite book|last=Dickins|first=Gordon|title=An Illustrated Literary Guide to Shropshire|year=1987|publisher=Shropshire Libraries|pages=82,118|isbn=0-903802-37-6}}</ref> He died at Wem on 21 October 1855 and was buried in the cemetery in Chapel Street on the 27th. His widow died at Wem on 23 February 1872 and was buried in the cemetery in Chapel Street.<ref name=":0">{{DNB|wstitle= Williams, John Bickerton |volume= 61 |last= Fletcher |first= W.G.D |author-link= |pages= 431-432 |year= |short=1}}</ref>
== Bibliography == *Eighteen Sermons of the Rev. Philip Henry (1816) *Memoirs of the Life and Character of Mrs. Sarah Savage eldest daughter of the Rev. Philip Henry (1818) * Memoirs of Mrs. Hulton (1820) *The miscellaneous works of the Rev. Matthew Henry 1830 * [https://archive.org/stream/memoirsoflifecha00willuoft?ref=ol#page/n6/mode/2up Memoirs of Sir Matthew Hale, Knight, Lord Chief Justice of England (1835)] * Letters on Puritanism and Nonconformity * Gleanings of Heavenly Wisdom; or, the Sayings of John Dod, M.A., and Philip Henry, M.A. (1851)
== References == {{Reflist}}
=== Sources === {{DNB|first=William George Dimock|last=Fletcher|wstitle=Williams, John Bickerton|volume=61}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, John}} Category:1792 births Category:1855 deaths Category:English knights Category:English lawyers Category:English male writers Category:Writers from Shrewsbury