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WILLIAMS, Sir Hugh, 8th Bt. (1718-94), of Nant, Caern.
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Biography Detail
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Family and Education
b. 1718, 1st s. of Col. Griffith Williams of Arianws, Llangelynnin, by Mary, da. of Robert Williams of Roe. m. 28 June 1760, Emma, da. and h. of Thomas Rowlands of Caerau, Llanfair-yng-Nghornwy, Anglesey and Plas y Nant, Betws Garmon, Caern., wid. of James Bulkeley†, 6th Visct. Bulkeley [I], 2s. 2da.; step-fa. of Thomas James Bulkeley†, 1st Baron Bulkeley. suc. fa. 1725; cos. Sir Robert Williams as 8th Bt. Nov. 1745; his w. at Nant 1770.
Offices Held
Entered army 1739; capt. 34 Ft. 1744; maj. 6 Ft. 1756; maj. 85 Ft. 1759; lt.-col. 53 Ft. 1761, half-pay 1764.
Constable, Beaumaris Castle July 1761-d; mayor, Beaumaris 1776, 1787, 1793.
Biography
Williams owed his seat for Beaumaris to his stepson the 1st Baron Bulkeley, whose family interest he thus maintained. Like Bulkeley, he supported Pitt’s administration, but without making any mark in the House. His diaries reveal that he took his seat on 7 Feb. 1791, ‘went to the House too late for division’ on 10 Feb. and attended ‘a long debate’ on 6 May. He was listed among opponents of repeal of the Test Act in Scotland at that time. He further attended regularly from March to May 1792, finding the debate on slave trade abolition ‘tedious’ and approving hostility to reform of Parliament ‘at this time’, 30 Apr. No further attendance is indicated and, with increasing ill health, Williams found himself frequently ‘at home all day, no company’. His major preoccupation, to judge by these pathetic documents, was the daily direction of the prevailing wind. He died 19 Aug. 1794.
UCNW, Baron Hill mss 5349, 5350; CJ, xlviii. 348.
