Sir John Williams

Sir John Williams (1840-1926) was born in Gwynfe, Carmarthenshire. While living in London he was a friend to Queen Victoria and acted as her Court Physician. He retained his ties to Wales however, and was actively involved in fundraising for a Welsh hospital in South Africa during the Boer War as well as driving the Welsh national campaign for the eradication of tuberculosis. He was a strong advocate for a National Library in Wales, and by his death had donated his entire collection of more than 25,000 books, the Peniarth manuscripts and Llanstephan manuscripts (amongst others) and a very large sum of money to the National Library of Wales in Aberystwyth. Williams' book collection became the founding collection for the National Library which was in its infancy at the time. Williams died on 24th May 1926.