Charles Williams, Baron Williams of Elvel
Life Peerage | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Chairman of the Price Commission | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
In office 1977–1979 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Personal details | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Born | Charles Cuthbert Powell Williams 9 February 1933 Oxford, England | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Died | 30 December 2019 London, England | (aged 86)||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Political party | Labour | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Spouse | Jane Gillian Portal | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Alma mater | Christ Church, Oxford London School of Economics | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Profession | Businessman | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Cricket information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Batting | Right-handed | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Role | Batsman | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Domestic team information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Years | Team | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
1952–1955 | Oxford University | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
1954–1959 | Essex | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
FC debut | 4 June 1952 Oxford University v Sussex | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Last FC | 7 August 1959 Essex v Gloucestershire | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Career statistics | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Source: CricketArchive, 21 August 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Charles Cuthbert Powell Williams, Baron Williams of Elvel,
Early life
Williams was born on 9 February 1933, the son of Dr
He was educated at
Cricket career
A right-handed middle order batsman, Williams played 87 first-class cricket matches, 40 of them for Essex and 42 for Oxford University.[7]
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
In 1953, Williams played regularly for the university side and in the match against
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.[7] 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.[12][13] He was not successful in the University Match, batting just once and scoring 14.[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.[15] "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."[15]
Williams started the season well with 120 in the first match, against Gloucestershire.[16] 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.[17] 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.[18] 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.[7]
In 1956 and 1957, Williams was on
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.[22] In 1959, he reappeared for four matches, but with no success, and these were his final first-class matches.
Williams had been an amateur cricketer and played for the Gentlemen against the Players. Social change after the Second World War led to a reaction against the cricketing concept of amateurism, often disparaged as "shamateurism", and in 1963 all first-class cricketers became nominally professional as, in effect, "Players". The last edition of the annual Gentlemen v Players fixture was at Scarborough in September 1962. The events leading to the abolition of amateurism are described by Williams in his 2012 book, Gentlemen & Players, appropriately subtitled The Death of Amateurism in Cricket.
Business career
Williams worked for
Public service
In the 1964 General Election, Williams stood unsuccessfully for Parliament as the Labour Party candidate for Colchester. In 1976 he unsuccessfully attempted to become the Labour candidate for the Vauxhall constituency.[23]
From 1988 to 1990, Williams was chair of the
Personal life
In 1975, he married Jane Gillian Portal (1929−2023). His stepson is the Most Revd and Right Hon Justin Welby, the 105th Archbishop of Canterbury. Welby described him as a supportive stepfather.[27] Williams died from heart disease at his home in Chelsea, London, on 30 December 2019, at the age of 86.[28]
Works
- 1993: The Last Great Frenchman: A Life of General de Gaulle
- 1996: Bradman: An Australian Hero
- 2000: Adenauer: The Father of the New Germany
- 2005: Elizabeth Longford Prize for Historical Biography
- 2009: Harold Macmillan
- 2012: Gentlemen & Players: The Death of Amateurism in Cricket
References
- ^ "Lord Williams of Elvel – obituary". The Daily Telegraph (UK). 5 January 2020.
- ^ "Lord Williams of Elvel obituary". The Times (UK). 7 January 2020.
- Charles Moore (8 April 2016). "Winston Churchill's right-hand man and an affair to shake the Establishment". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 10 April 2016.
- ^ People of Today, Debrett's Ltd, 2006, p. 1746
- ^ Burke's Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage, 107th edition, vol. 3, ed. Charles Mosley, Burke's Peerage Ltd, 2003, p. 4182
- ^ Who's Who, 90th edition, H. O. Addison et al, A. & C. Black, 1938, p. 3632
- ^ a b c "First-class Batting and Fielding in Each Season by Charles Williams". cricketarchive.com. Retrieved 19 August 2009.
- ^ "Oxford University v Sussex". cricketarchive.com. 4 June 1952. Retrieved 19 August 2009.
- ^ "Sussex v Oxford University". cricketarchive.com. 21 June 1952. Retrieved 19 August 2009.
- ^ "Oxford University v Free Foresters". cricketarchive.com. 13 June 1953. Retrieved 19 August 2009.
- ^ "Oxford University v Cambridge University". cricketarchive.com. 4 July 1953. Retrieved 19 August 2009.
- ^ "Oxford University v Lancashire". cricketarchive.com. 12 May 1954. Retrieved 21 August 2009.
- ^ "Oxford University v Hampshire". cricketarchive.com. 2 June 1954. Retrieved 21 August 2009.
- ^ "Oxford University v Cambridge University". cricketarchive.com. 3 July 1954. Retrieved 21 August 2009.
- ^ a b "The Universities in 1955". Wisden Cricketers' Almanack (1956 ed.). Wisden. pp. 662–663.
- ^ "Oxford University v Gloucestershire". cricketarchive.com. 30 April 1955. Retrieved 21 August 2009.
- ^ "Oxford University v Cambridge University". cricketarchive.com. 2 July 1955. Retrieved 21 August 2009.
- ^ "Leicestershire v Essex". cricketarchive.com. 17 August 1955. Retrieved 21 August 2009.
- ^ "Warwickshire v Combined Services". cricketarchive.com. 13 June 1956. Retrieved 21 August 2009.
- ^ "Yorkshire v MCC". cricketarchive.com. 29 August 1956. Retrieved 21 August 2009.
- ^ "Gentlemen v Players". cricketarchive.com. 1 September 1956. Retrieved 21 August 2009.
- ^ "Essex in 1955". Wisden Cricketers' Almanack (1959 ed.). Wisden. p. 323.
- ^ Chris Mullin, Hinterland, 2017
- ^ "No. 48059". The London Gazette (Supplement). 8 January 1980. p. 290.
- ^ "No. 50136". The London Gazette. 28 May 1985. p. 7379.
- ^ "Appointments to the Privy Council" (Press release). Prime Minister's Office, 10 Downing Street. 7 January 2013.
- ^ Welby, Justin (8 April 2016). "Justin Welby on his secret father: 'What has changed? Nothing'". The Daily Telegraph.
- required.)
External links
- Portraits of Charles Williams, Baron Williams of Elvel at the National Portrait Gallery, London
- "DodOnline". Archived from the original on 3 October 2006. Retrieved 18 March 2007.
- Lord Williams of Elvel – UK Parliament