tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25785671009123402152024-03-13T03:55:56.075-07:00William Smith WilliamsWilliam Smith Williams recognised the genius of Charlotte Bronte and became her mentor. He was part of a circle of writers, artists and thinkers, including John Ruskin and Thomas Carlyle. He greatly admired Turner. With his wife, Margaret, he produced a line of talented men and women. He was the son of a Wax and Tallow Chandler. I am his great great nephew and I have written his biography entitled Charlotte Brontë’s Devotee PhilWriterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15299134545473860221noreply@blogger.comBlogger34125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2578567100912340215.post-9574030499766254002022-08-21T11:46:00.000-07:002022-08-21T11:46:03.803-07:00Charlotte Bronte and the Great Exhibition of 1851<p> A Great Exhibition at the Crystal Palace, celebrating industrial advances, had been promoted from July 1949 by Prince Albert and Sir Henry Cole, the same man who had encouraged William Smith Williams in his paper on lithography. It went through many and long arguments. Some people, such as Ruskin, had serious reservations about the benefit of industry. Others were writing about its very clear disadvantages in terms of urban poverty. All strands of industry from both Great Britain and elsewhere were to exhibit their wares. In the early part of 1851 Richard Williams, William’s brother, was acting as Secretary to the group of Surgical Instrument makers preparing their displays for the Great Exhibition. He was running the office of Weiss & Co at 62 The Strand. For the exhibition, Weiss had produced a most marvellous instrument comprising 1,851 knives. This was clearly a bit of showing off. Yet, behind the scenes, advances were being made in surgery with the work of Lister and others and the makers of instruments took up the challenge to keep pace. </p><p>Charlotte Brontë’s relationship with the Exhibition was perhaps characteristic. On 17 April 1851 she wrote to George Smith’s mother to say, ‘I was nursing a comfortable and complacent conviction that I had quite made up my mind not to go to London this year: the Great Exhibition was nothing – only a series of bazaars under a magnified hothouse.’ She did though go, as she wrote to her father on 31 May 1851</p><p>Yesterday we went to the Crystal Palace – the exterior has a strange and elegant but somewhat unsubstantial effect – The interior is like a mighty Vanity Fair - the brightest colours blaze on all sides – and ware of all kinds – from diamonds to spinning jennies and Printing Presses are there to be seen – It was very fine – gorgeous – animated – bewildering… </p><p>The Great Exhibition drew both great praise and harsh criticism. A wonderful series of lithographs were produced by Lowes Dickinson’s firm and this is available for us to see on the British Library website. Lowes Dickinson later married William Smith Williams's eldest daughter.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrlSj_aW2-fgBq5VeXE0rS00pp3whJApMilRLND5EQGhtpzC9Th0A3GhpD1JVebUEz3GcJ4aYkyyjeZTZvK2W3qgyWISHQ-yuIy4yYnthXoySInFj5-D8pf3mOwOAkjolfiwIMliFVtMNjaN_1azkVwW89mKwA-z9pzJAOoxp3vG5PJgE4R9YfQuWkvA/s800/Blade_Cross%20800pxl%20copy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="674" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrlSj_aW2-fgBq5VeXE0rS00pp3whJApMilRLND5EQGhtpzC9Th0A3GhpD1JVebUEz3GcJ4aYkyyjeZTZvK2W3qgyWISHQ-yuIy4yYnthXoySInFj5-D8pf3mOwOAkjolfiwIMliFVtMNjaN_1azkVwW89mKwA-z9pzJAOoxp3vG5PJgE4R9YfQuWkvA/s320/Blade_Cross%20800pxl%20copy.jpg" width="270" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;">The blade cross produced by Weiss whose image this is.</div><p>I explored the catalogue of the Great Exhibition for my book How Britain Shaped the Manufacturing World published by and available from <a href="https://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/How-Britain-Shaped-the-Manufacturing-World-Hardback/p/21375" target="_blank">Pen & Sword</a>.</p><div><br /></div>PhilWriterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15299134545473860221noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2578567100912340215.post-4352717905341694232022-05-22T07:10:00.003-07:002022-05-22T07:12:09.070-07:00William's brother - the manufacturer<p>Richard, William's brother, exhibited at the Great Exhibition of 1851. He managed the business of Weiss & Son at 62 The Strand, just over the road from where he was born.</p><p>Weiss made surgical instruments. Lindsey FitzHarris has written a fascinating book on 19th surgery entitled <i>The Butchering Art</i>, and I draw on this to paint a picture of the world Richard Williams sought to serve. When he started out, surgery was largely a matter of dexterity. There were no anaesthetics, and so speed in operation was of the essence. There were no antiseptics and experience had also taught surgeons that the only operations, where the patient had any real chance of survival, were those as least invasive as possible, and, even then, the patient was more likely to die than live. Richard would have witnessed the opening of the Charing Cross Hospital, not far from Weiss’s premises. He may have witnessed operations, which were often public spectacles with a great deal of blood and gore. He would have been aware of the great strides made in anaesthetics in the 1840s in Edinburgh which saved patients the agony of experiencing the knife. It was a world that was progressing on many fronts and only a few years later antiseptics would begin to be used. </p><p>I have looked through the catalogue of the Great Exhibition to write my latest book, <i><a href="https://www.philiphamlynwilliams.co.uk/2022/04/how-britain-shaped-manufacturing-world.html" target="_blank">How Britain Shaped the Manufacturing World</a></i>. It is to be published by <a href="https://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/How-Britain-Shaped-the-Manufacturing-World-Hardback/p/21375" target="_blank">Pen & Sword</a> in June 2022. </p><p>Bronte lovers will know what Charlotte thought of the Great Exhibition, as she wrote to her father on 31 May 1851:</p><p>‘Yesterday we went to the Crystal Palace – the exterior has a strange and elegant but somewhat unsubstantial effect – The interior is like a mighty Vanity Fair - the brightest colours blaze on all sides – and wares of all kinds – from diamonds to spinning jennies and Printing Presses are there to be seen – It was very fine – gorgeous – animated – bewildering…'</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjruqzJhceYhsTGpq-KBmQjIYBdLBa6mnDPOiOGK82pLM0CIalDB_qy3enmLLW4a8P8LqcAILNJxVHjbEbafFgU1xlfqx66JEQbLaODvtGtjnmLpmFajeMpNNm6ikJp9iO5U0HDdFUJUcA3wOUDFg6DEeDT-HCogPMqecZS7lEFrcR1WRfgfMzTKlPdkQ/s1417/JW-The-Strand-Bldng-small-web%20(1)%20copy.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1189" data-original-width="1417" height="269" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjruqzJhceYhsTGpq-KBmQjIYBdLBa6mnDPOiOGK82pLM0CIalDB_qy3enmLLW4a8P8LqcAILNJxVHjbEbafFgU1xlfqx66JEQbLaODvtGtjnmLpmFajeMpNNm6ikJp9iO5U0HDdFUJUcA3wOUDFg6DEeDT-HCogPMqecZS7lEFrcR1WRfgfMzTKlPdkQ/s320/JW-The-Strand-Bldng-small-web%20(1)%20copy.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p>PhilWriterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15299134545473860221noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2578567100912340215.post-23468363410222941322022-02-27T08:43:00.002-08:002022-02-27T08:50:58.344-08:00 Charlotte Bronte's Devotee - by chapter<p><b>Childhood </b></p><p>I explore William Smith Williams's <a href="https://www.williamsmithwilliams.co.uk/2018/12/williams-family.html" target="_blank">family background</a>, which I share, and then what we know of his childhood above his father's business on London's strand</p><p><b>Apprenticeship</b></p><p>William's father and mother had died before his was fourteen, but his father provided for an apprenticeship for him and his brother, my great grandfather. William was apprenticed to a small publishing house who published Keats among others. William was clearly much impressed by Keats for one of the few pieces of his writing is poem in praise of the poet. He made lifelong friends with </p><p><b>Hullmandel Years</b></p><p>On completing his apprenticeship, William went to work for the pioneering Lithographer, Charles Hullmandel in London's Soho. He clearly gained a deep understanding of the technique but also the artists who used it, for another of his surviving pieces of writing is <a href="https://www.williamsmithwilliams.co.uk/2018/11/the-society-of-arts-22-december-1847.html" target="_blank">a remarkable paper</a> he presented to the Society of Arts in 1847. William also wrote on art and theatre for a number of magazines. I quote examples of his writing.</p><p><b>The House of Smith, Elder</b></p><p>William was to move from Hullmandel to another publishing house and I tell of its history. </p><p><b>The Bronte Years – Jane Eyre</b></p><p>William is best known as the Reader at Smith, Elder who recognised the potential Charlotte Bronte showed in The Professor and then the genius in Jane Eyre.</p><p><b>The Bronte Years - Friendship</b></p><p>William and Charlotte became friends, as is clear from letters she wrote to him and which he kept. Sadly his letters to Charlotte have not been discovered. Much of the correspondence concerns William's concerns about his daughters. I write of William's <a href="https://www.williamsmithwilliams.co.uk/2020/03/william-smith-williams-and-women.html" target="_blank">modern attitude to women</a>. The family lived in Kensington with George Lewis as their neighbour. Lewes would become the lifelong companion of George Eliot.</p><p><b>The Bronte Years – Art and Tragedy</b></p><p>William's <a href="https://www.williamsmithwilliams.co.uk/2019/02/william-smith-williams-and-his-love-of.html" target="_blank">passion for art </a>is shared with Charlotte but she suffers the tragedy of the death of her siblings.</p><p><b>The Bronte Years – Cornhill Parcels</b></p><p>Charlotte is conscious that her knowledge of the world falls short of many of her contemporary authors. William seeks to address this by sending parcels of carefully chosen books, in effect a course in humanities.</p><p><b>The Bronte Years - Cooling</b></p><p>Charlotte's books, Shirley and Villette are published but the correspondence between Charlotte and William display a cooling in their relationship which comes to an end with Charlotte's marriage and, of course, then her death.</p><p><b>The Cornhill</b></p><p>A new challenge for William is in support of Thackeray as editor of the Cornhill Magazine, Smith Elder's answer to the periodicals being published by competitors.</p><p><b>The Ruskin Years</b></p><p>William had quite probably met John Ruskin when he worked for Hullmandel. Smith, Elder had published Ruskin's works on art and architecture. William takes up <a href="https://www.williamsmithwilliams.co.uk/2019/03/william-smith-williams-and-john-ruskin.html" target="_blank">the Ruskin relationship</a> when the latter turned his skills to political economy. I explore these books and William's contributions.</p><p><b>Home Life</b></p><p>William retired months before his death at age 75. I write of his family relationships and his final publishing project for his friend from their early twenties, poet Charles Wells.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj8bVfltCk2ZqknTq-kLqWQufZHoQ3Ak5Fz-wmeO3ZnN3v5bxdZTmOMUPxEoN4lh9stJsLt5T4GIy3WaVNasMZzOLjUpYlpVBVtkzaTk8x9qHmevzu7JS4C9_fOHbkK74SgZlyzu3lm4zlNnMPqt6j3dsyWsTIxZ3657yT2xc2_FUZCNhbxG-XoAmlnLA=s960" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="720" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj8bVfltCk2ZqknTq-kLqWQufZHoQ3Ak5Fz-wmeO3ZnN3v5bxdZTmOMUPxEoN4lh9stJsLt5T4GIy3WaVNasMZzOLjUpYlpVBVtkzaTk8x9qHmevzu7JS4C9_fOHbkK74SgZlyzu3lm4zlNnMPqt6j3dsyWsTIxZ3657yT2xc2_FUZCNhbxG-XoAmlnLA=s320" width="240" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">You can buy Charlotte Bronte's Devotee in <a href="https://www.williamsmithwilliams.co.uk/p/buying-charlotte-brontes-devotee.html" target="_blank">paper back or on Kindle</a>. </div><br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p> </p>PhilWriterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15299134545473860221noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2578567100912340215.post-16334392417497481932021-12-05T04:25:00.003-08:002021-12-05T04:27:40.123-08:00I’m thrilled that you are finding this blog helpful<p> I have been reading some of the comments left on this blog. I am thrilled that people are finding my research of some use. I thoroughly enjoyed discovering the life of my great great uncle. </p><p>You can find more in the <a href="http://www.williamsmithwilliams.co.uk/2019/03/accepted-manuscript-of-article.html" target="_blank">article</a> in Brontë Studies and, of course, in the <a href="http://www.williamsmithwilliams.co.uk/p/charlotte-brontes-devotee-book.html" target="_blank">book</a> Charlotte Brontë’s Devotee. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7hCI3Q5NFLM/XVP_iS-pGaI/AAAAAAAAFrM/Zp7PXJP_6R00lmjpy2-3eGsuGQkVjd07wCPcBGAYYCw/s960/IMG_8087.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="720" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7hCI3Q5NFLM/XVP_iS-pGaI/AAAAAAAAFrM/Zp7PXJP_6R00lmjpy2-3eGsuGQkVjd07wCPcBGAYYCw/s320/IMG_8087.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p>PhilWriterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15299134545473860221noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2578567100912340215.post-72846424324130614882021-03-12T02:22:00.005-08:002021-03-12T03:56:56.902-08:00William Smith Williams, Charlotte Bronte and Kensington <p>William Smith Williams' family moved to 3 Campden Hill Terrace (now 98 Campden Hill Road), Kensington in 1844. Critic, George Henry Lewes, was their neighbour and a friendship grew between the two families and that of Thornton Hunt, the son of the writer, Leigh Hunt. Lewes would later become the long term partner of George Eliot. The writer, Julia Kavanagh, lodged with the Williams at the house on Campden Hill. I explore more about William's relationships with Lewes, Hunt and Kavanagh in my <a href="http://www.williamsmithwilliams.co.uk/p/buying-charlotte-brontes-devotee.html" target="_blank">book</a>.</p><p>In July 1848, Charlotte and Anne Bronte visited the Williams family at Campden Hill. Charlotte writes:</p><p>[We] then went home with Mr Williams to tea - a saw his comparatively humble but neat residence and his fine family of eight children - his wife was ill. A daughter of Leigh Hunts’ was there - she sung some little Italian airs which she had picked up amongst the peasantry in Tuscany. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3YbKar7jNr0/XxvMpatzgwI/AAAAAAAAHc8/x8qz0XO8tCI2mRHxEocqqWynzQuTrFItwCPcBGAYYCw/s2048/FEA406A2-F6B8-41C0-860D-E384D6AB24B9.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3YbKar7jNr0/XxvMpatzgwI/AAAAAAAAHc8/x8qz0XO8tCI2mRHxEocqqWynzQuTrFItwCPcBGAYYCw/s320/FEA406A2-F6B8-41C0-860D-E384D6AB24B9.jpeg" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p> </p>PhilWriterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15299134545473860221noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2578567100912340215.post-74965333811968607832020-12-23T00:14:00.002-08:002020-12-23T00:14:58.167-08:00William’s brother and 19th century surgery<p>William Smith Williams’s elder brother was my great grandfather, Richard.</p><p>As boys they lived on London’s Strand, then a busy road in a crowded new urban area. Very nearly opposite their dwelling, above their father’s wax and tallow chandler business, were the premises of John Weiss, Surgical Instrument Makers. </p><p>One of my treasured possessions is the signed cover of a copy of the catalogue of the Great Exhibition presented to my great-grandfather by the members of the Surgical and Anatomical Committee Class X, ‘as a slight token of the services rendered by him as Secretary’. Richard managed the business of John Weiss & Son, manufacturers of surgical instruments at 62 The Strand, and, I like to think, offered his services for the exhibition.</p><p>For the exhibition, John Weiss & Son had produced a most marvellous instrument comprising 1,851 knives. This was clearly a bit of showing off. Yet, behind the scenes, advances were being made in surgery with the work of Lister and others, and the makers of instruments were taking up the challenge to keep pace. Lindsey FitzHarris has written a fascinating book on 19th surgery entitled <i>The Butchering Art</i>, and I draw on this to paint a picture of the world Richard Williams sought to serve. When he started out, surgery was largely a matter of dexterity. There were no anaesthetics, and so speed in operation was of the essence. There were no antiseptics and experience had also taught surgeons that the only operations, where the patient had any real chance of survival, were those as least invasive as possible, and, even then, the patient was more likely to die than live. Richard would have witnessed the opening of the Charing Cross Hospital, not far from Weiss’s premises. He may have witnessed operations, which were often public spectacles with a great deal of blood and gore. He would have been aware of the great strides made in anaesthetics in the 1840s in Edinburgh which saved patients the agony of experiencing the knife. It was a world that was progressing on many fronts and only a few years later antiseptics would begin to be used. Weiss & Son are still in business. I imagine Richard’s son, Alfred my grandfather at age nineteen, visiting the exhibition and being inspired by all he saw. He would go on to register a number of patents during his varied career including that for a life raft for which he won a number of awards. It was an age of invention.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MVBhREkKB3A/XCc14uygoeI/AAAAAAAAE-A/iienqeo17ZUQVgNI0k_gmakLLqlRQX9YgCPcBGAYYCw/s341/Richard%2BWilliams.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="341" data-original-width="225" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MVBhREkKB3A/XCc14uygoeI/AAAAAAAAE-A/iienqeo17ZUQVgNI0k_gmakLLqlRQX9YgCPcBGAYYCw/s320/Richard%2BWilliams.jpg" /></a></div><br /><p style="text-align: center;">Richard Williams</p><div><br /></div>PhilWriterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15299134545473860221noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2578567100912340215.post-23305406250739570612020-10-21T23:04:00.000-07:002020-10-21T23:34:20.337-07:00Charlotte Brontë’s Devotee by his great great nephew Philip Hamlyn Williams - Lincoln Civic Trust<p>“The mysterious publisher William Smith Williams has always been the unsung hero of the Brontë Story. Not only did he discover Jane Eyre, he was Charlotte Brontë’s friend and supporter. In a fascinating book Smith Williams is at last brought to life thanks to the forensic skills of his great, great nephew.” </p><p>Biographer, Rebecca Fraser, kindly wrote this on reading the draft of the book I had been working on for the last fourteen years and on which I had the pleasure of speak to the open meeting of the Civic Trust on 29 November 2019.</p><p>The book tells story of Charlotte Brontë’s relationship with William Smith Williams who, as the Reader at her publisher Smith, Elder & Co, recognised her genius. But, who was he? William was a radical Victorian, friend to many of the giants of 19th century art and literature: Thackeray, Thomas Carlyle, Elizabeth Gaskell, George Eliot and the Rossettis. Through him we gain an insight into the world of publishing, the art and science of lithography and the controversial thinking of John Ruskin on women’s education, politics and economics. He was a family man and, with his wife Margaret, produced a line of remarkable progeny.</p><p>Whence had he come and wither did he go? Charles Dickens and George Meredith were also publishers’ Readers and their stories are well known, but what of William Smith Williams?</p><p>I found a true Renaissance man as at home with art as with literature, with science as with politics. His childhood had been spent in the crowded courts bordering London’s Strand. He was orphaned at age fourteen and then largely self educated. He was an apprentice publisher and then a lithographer before joining Smith, Elder. He wrote a poem in praise of John Keats and presented a paper to the Society of Arts on Lithography. Following his all too few years of friendship with Charlotte Bronte, he mentored many other writers. One such, Frederick Wicks, wrote this if him:</p><p>‘Thrusting back his massive growth of white hair, he would clasp his hands nervously in thought before delivering his opinion, and then would follow in short, pregnant sentences a perfect flood of light upon the matter in hand. He was never content with general commendation and approval, but always gave good, sound reasons and sufficient cause for all he thought. Among the many pregnant phrases that fell to my lot was one of extraordinary value as a check to the exuberance of youth. “You need,” he said, “restraint – not that which checks, but that which guides the literary faculty.”’</p><p>He edited the 1861 Selections of the Writings of John Ruskin and then supported Ruskin in the publication of his works on political economy. Of interest to the citizens of Lincoln is a letter John Ruskin wrote to the then Mayor, WT Page, on 22 January 1883 the original of which is in the Lincolnshire Archives. We all know what Ruskin said about Lincoln Cathedral; well, it is in this letter:</p><p>‘I have always held (and am prepared against all comers to maintain my holding) that the Cathedral of Lincoln is out and out the most precious piece of architecture in the British islands, and—roughly—worth any two other cathedrals we have got.’</p><p>He said rather more which may make us shudder:</p><p>‘The town of Lincoln is a lovely old English town, and I hope the Mayor and Common Council men won’t let any of it (not so much as a house corner) be pulled down to build an Institution or a Market—or a Penitentiary or a Gunpowder and Dynamite Mill—or a College—or a Gaol—or a Barracks—or any other modern luxury.’</p><p>But also set a challenge:</p><p>‘It might possibly make the upper students of the art classes look up a good many things that they would be the better for knowing, if the Town Council were to offer a prize for a design to be painted or frescoed in the Town Hall, of the most pathetic and significant scene in all British history—the first real “Union of Scotland and England”—in the funeral procession of Bishop Hugh—when the King of England (John), barefoot, bore the coffin, with three Archbishops, and the King of Scotland followed, weeping. The prize might be open to all students born between Lincoln and Holy Isle?—or better, perhaps, between Tweed and Trent?’ </p><p>William Smith Williams was buried in Kensal Green cemetery with his wife, one son and two daughters and son in law celebrated portrait painter, Cato Lowes Dickinson under a memorial designed by AC Gill. His daughter, Anna, was a celebrated concert soprano. One grandson, Sir Arthur Lowes Dickinson, was a founding partner of Price Waterhouse in the USA, another, Goldie Lowes Dickinson, was one of the thinkers behind the League of Nations.</p><p>Charlotte Brontë’s Devotee may be found at Lindum Books on Bailgate. </p><p>This article is reproduced from the Civic Trust annual report</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-p0WUpQs2J6o/X5EgfeXeV8I/AAAAAAAAH98/hPUilxeuq6ARdxLavTICCr54rtjuzzeqwCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/E248515A-7B36-4369-990C-4BBC4611FF4B.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="360" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-p0WUpQs2J6o/X5EgfeXeV8I/AAAAAAAAH98/hPUilxeuq6ARdxLavTICCr54rtjuzzeqwCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/E248515A-7B36-4369-990C-4BBC4611FF4B.jpeg" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p> </p>PhilWriterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15299134545473860221noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2578567100912340215.post-54923633875734780582020-09-22T04:26:00.006-07:002020-09-22T12:49:59.437-07:00A wonderful review of Charlotte Brontë's Devotee in Brontë Studies<p>I couldn't be more thrilled than to read the review of Charlotte Bronte's Devotee in the autumn edition of Brontë Studies written by its editor, Amber Adams. In her editorial piece, she refers to him as 'that splendid man William Smith Williams'.</p><p>Bronte Society Members can access the review through the members area of the <a href="https://www.bronte.org.uk" target="_blank">website</a>. Otherwise, it is available to read through <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14748932.2020.1794643" target="_blank">Taylor and Francis on-line</a>.</p><p>Here is the opening paragraph of the review:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-SmAsi2jHc9Q/X2oapyBDEWI/AAAAAAAAHvU/bQ8am_bC1jo26qNt6yKONcvYgQYZ-LCewCLcBGAsYHQ/s698/Screenshot%2B2020-09-22%2Bat%2B16.33.51.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="428" data-original-width="698" height="245" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-SmAsi2jHc9Q/X2oapyBDEWI/AAAAAAAAHvU/bQ8am_bC1jo26qNt6yKONcvYgQYZ-LCewCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h245/Screenshot%2B2020-09-22%2Bat%2B16.33.51.png" width="400" /></a></div>You can buy Charlotte Brontë’s Devotee by following this <a href="https://amzn.to/2YII2sk" target="_blank">link</a> <br /><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><p><br /></p>PhilWriterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15299134545473860221noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2578567100912340215.post-89778899958123719972020-07-24T23:19:00.002-07:002020-07-24T23:47:17.251-07:00My William Smith Williams blogI am so pleased that this blog continues to welcome a good number of visits each day. <div>I have included in it my research into the life of William Smith Williams as it progressed over four years of exploring archives. The fruits of that research were gathered together, first, in the article I wrote for <a href="http://www.williamsmithwilliams.co.uk/2019/03/accepted-manuscript-of-article.html">Brontë Studies</a>, and this has been downloaded a gratifying number of times. </div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.williamsmithwilliams.co.uk/2019/03/accepted-manuscript-of-article.html" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="60" data-original-width="468" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-J5SUGGejvJA/XJSuduENWfI/AAAAAAAAFUo/9XGrjsyAI1cfUPU_tdoAEO7t63CMO89QgCPcBGAYYCw/s320/BBB00C65-E005-418D-9EB2-2FA4C50856BE.gif" width="320" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>There is then the book itself which has received some wonderful reviews, and is available in both <a href="https://amzn.to/2YII2sk">paperback</a> and <a href="https://amzn.to/2Kicz8d">Kindle</a> editions. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3YbKar7jNr0/XxvMpatzgwI/AAAAAAAAHc4/lMv9k8IacyA3WeAsMLiw25xoCsvKQ7RMgCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/FEA406A2-F6B8-41C0-860D-E384D6AB24B9.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3YbKar7jNr0/XxvMpatzgwI/AAAAAAAAHc4/lMv9k8IacyA3WeAsMLiw25xoCsvKQ7RMgCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/FEA406A2-F6B8-41C0-860D-E384D6AB24B9.jpeg" /></a></div><div>William’s home in Kensington where he and his family entertained Charlotte Brontë </div>PhilWriterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15299134545473860221noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2578567100912340215.post-44205673243312155832020-04-04T03:05:00.001-07:002020-04-04T03:37:38.695-07:00Reduced price of Kindle edition until Easter<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<span style="background: white; color: #1c1e21; font-size: 10.5pt;">I have reduced the price of <a href="https://amzn.to/2Kicz8d" target="_blank">the Kindle edition</a> for the period up until Easter in case there are Brontë lovers, stuck at home at the moment, who are quite interested in William Smith Williams, but not interested enough to buy the paperback at £9.95!</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt;">My purpose in writing the book was to get William’s story better known. In this, I was thrilled to have had an article accepted by Brontë Studies, which has now been downloaded over 100 times; <a href="http://www.williamsmithwilliams.co.uk/2019/03/accepted-manuscript-of-article.html" target="_blank">my blog on the article</a> has had 900 views. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.5pt;">Here is <a href="https://amzn.to/2Kicz8d" target="_blank">the link to Amazon.</a> </span><br />
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PhilWriterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15299134545473860221noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2578567100912340215.post-68061486731543101522020-03-23T14:51:00.001-07:002020-03-24T02:39:48.485-07:00Belgravia and WilliamCharlotte Bronte wrote of seeing William and some of his children at a Ball. Having seen William's relatively modest house, I wondered what such an event might have been like. If you are watching Julian Fellows’ Belgravia on ITV, you may gain a sense of the social life on the fringe of which William and his family lived.<br />
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I was fascinated to find another connection with my current work in progress which, amongst much else, looks at aspects of the industrial revolution. Fellows has a character who as a young man owns a cotton mill in Manchester importing raw cotton from India. I am discovering the huge impact that the cotton industry had.<br />
A third connection is with another of my books, <a href="https://philwritermacrobert.blogspot.com/2015/10/the-story-of-macroberts-reply.html" target="_blank">MacRoberts Reply.</a> Alexander MacRobert went as a young man in 1870 to Cawnpore in India (known as the Manchester of India) where he grew the British India Corporation with interests in all manner of textiles.PhilWriterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15299134545473860221noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2578567100912340215.post-19369893852264049942020-03-14T05:46:00.000-07:002020-03-14T05:46:50.378-07:00William Smith Williams and WomenWilliam Smith Williams was a son of the 19th century, and so we may expect to see in him attitudes from a society where women are viewed as second class. Is this though what the evidence reveals? In my writing of Charlotte Bronte’s Devotee (CBD) I came across quite a lot which sheds helpful light.<br />
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His mother died when he was aged ten, or thereabouts. He had an older brother, my great grandfather. His father was in business with a woman, Mary Nethersole the widow of the former owner of their wax and tallow chandler’s business. He had an aunt, Rebecca, but I found no evidence of contact with her. He had an extended family in Oxfordshire; certainly one maiden aunt, great-aunt Susanna, is mentioned. The truth is we know little of his childhood until he came within the embrace of the Hill family at Broxbourne. The father, Francis Hill, was a rather austere school master and cleric. He and his wife had four daughters, one of whom, Margaret, William married and another became the wife of William’s close friend, Charles Wells. I see the close relationship with the Hill family underscored when William and Margaret return to Broxbourne for the baptisms of their first three children. They became William’s family.<br />
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During his apprenticeship, William met John Keates and his poem about Keats, written after his death, perhaps offers ambiguity in its import. William writes ‘Mixt admiration fills my heart, not can I tell which most to love – the Poet or the Man’. (CBD p.30.) A decade later, William was in a social circle with radicals George Lewes and Thornton Hunt, and there are suggestions of a somewhat alternative way of life in the form of open marriage, certainly enjoyed by Lewes until he became the long term partner of George Eliot. (CBD p.66.)<br />
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We know most about William from the letters Charlotte Bronte wrote to him. Although she was writing as Currer Bell to disguise her gender, I believe that, from early on, William suspected that she was a woman. I infer from her letters that he treated her in every sense as an equal, unlike George Lewes whose laboured attention to her gender caused her great annoyance. (CBD p.140.) Women move to the centre stage when he writes to her about his four daughters, most particularly the profession they should follow, since he clearly does not want them to be beholden to a husband. He wants for them, independence.<br />
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There is perhaps a contrast when William thinks of his wife, and that he observes the absence of close friendship. (CBD p.139.) It may be that Margaret didn’t have close friends, or perhaps that William was too busy to notice. We do know that Margaret had strong family relationships as evidenced by letters to sisters in New Zealand. William would have experienced nothing of this kind.<br />
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We see William having professional relationships with a number of women. Mrs Lynn Linton was critical of him, perhaps for not publishing her manuscript. (CBD p.66) Elizabeth Gaskell looked to him for reassurance. (CBD p.180) He had a portrait of George Eliot on the wall of his office. (CBD p.184). In 1874 Millicent Fawcett wrote to William to ask his advice on publishing her novel, Janet Doncaster, asking whether she should publish it anonymously given her other writing on Political Economy. (CBD p.210)<br />
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Possibly the most difficult area comes with John Ruskin for whom William published his later writing on political economy and education, particularly the education of women. It is here where we confront attitudes that are so far adrift from contemporary thinking that it is difficult to get near. Having said this, Ruskin was advocating the education of women and not just for the home. (CBD p.205) It was only that it was education different to that available for men.<br />
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We can finally look at William’s legacy for evidence. (CBD ch12.) Jane Eyre shines bright at his belief in talent irrespective of gender. His youngest daughter was a celebrated and well regarded concert soprano. His eldest daughter was wife to a celebrated portrait painter Lowes Dickinson and mother to equally celebrated sons, Sir Arthur, an accountant, and Goldie one of the thinkers behind the League of Nations. For Goldie, his mother was the perfect woman. William’s two other daughters lived their adult lives as independent women, one a widow and the other divorced, but both gainfully employed.<br />
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Margaret Dickinson</div>
PhilWriterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15299134545473860221noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2578567100912340215.post-28147826941818529322020-02-10T07:23:00.000-08:002020-02-10T07:50:11.898-08:00Review in Brontë Gazette<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
I was thrilled by this review in the Brontë Gazette:</div>
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I reproduce this with permission from the Brontë Society. Patsy Stoneman is an acclaimed literary critic who specialises in 19th-century English novel. She is Reader in English at the University of Hull.<br />
You can buy Charlotte Brontë's Devotee from <a href="https://www.bronte.org.uk/bronte-shop/biography/566/charlotte-bronte%E2%80%99s-devotee-william-smith-williams-friend-and-mentor" target="_blank">The Bronte Society</a> and on <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1092844066/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_taft_p1_i6" target="_blank">Amazon</a>.<br />
<br />PhilWriterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15299134545473860221noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2578567100912340215.post-10171620660679989172019-11-27T03:16:00.001-08:002019-11-27T03:18:53.290-08:00Review of Mother of the Brontës by Sharon WrightSharon Wright’s <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Mother-Bront%C3%ABs-When-Maria-Patrick/dp/1526738481/ref=sr_1_1?crid=33RG4S6CKQQOV&keywords=sharon+wright+brontes&qid=1574853414&sprefix=sharon+wright+%2Caps%2C141&sr=8-1" target="_blank">Mother of the Brontë</a>s is a book as sensitive as it is thorough.<br />
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It is, in truth, a love story, and, as with so many true love stories, the end is desperately sad. In arriving at this point, though, Sharon weaves a most engaging tale, drawing on Maria’s wonderful letters. I found myself laughing at them, as I read about half forgotten feelings in romance conducted by letter. She paints a lively picture of 18th century Penzance for the well to do. Her images of early 19th century travel are as vivid, as they are uncomfortable. Her Yorkshire is cold and grey, with the occasional break in the cloud to reveal Maria's wonderful social grace.<br />
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Having read it, I can much better understand Charlotte, scarred as she was by witnessing so much pain and sadness at such a young age. I can also sympathise more with Patrick. It is a ‘must’ for Bronte fans.<br />
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<br />PhilWriterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15299134545473860221noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2578567100912340215.post-4851970083055624622019-09-25T07:38:00.005-07:002020-09-22T22:58:25.324-07:00Reviews of Charlotte Bronte's Devotee<div class="a-row a-spacing-micro" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0.4rem; width: 335px;">
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<div><span style="color: #111111; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>Amber Adams, editor of Brontë Studies wrote a lovely review in the October 2020 edition volume 45 issue 4. Y</b></span><b style="color: #111111; font-family: times, "times new roman", serif;">ou can read it by following this <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14748932.2020.1794643" target="_blank">link</a>, or by accessing through the members area of the Bronte Society website. </b></div><div><span style="color: #111111; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div>
<span style="color: #111111; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>Sharon Wright writes on Twitter:</b></span><br />
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<span style="color: #111111; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">I enjoyed this illuminating biography of Charlotte Brontë’s publisher & friend William Smith Williams. Philip Hamlyn Williams @WSWilliams1 presents his great, great uncle as an erudite, liberal & likeable man at the heart of the 19th-century </span><br />
<span style="color: #111111; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">book world. Fascinating. </span><br />
<span style="color: #111111; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span><span style="color: #111111; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>Patsy Stoneman writing in the Bronte Gazette</b></span><br />
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<span style="color: #111111; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>Karen Walker writes on Facebook:</b></span><br />
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<span style="color: #111111; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">I have just finished reading my copy of Charlotte Bronte's devotee, What a thoroughly enjoyable and learned read. Lovely to read the correspondence between William and Charlotte. Absolutely brilliant book, would HIGHLY recommend it. Also many thanks to Philip for my signed copy.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #111111; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(17, 17, 17);"><b>Brontë biographer, Rebecca Fraser, wrote:</b></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #111111; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><br style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, "Palatino Linotype", Palatino, serif; font-size: 15.84000015258789px;" /></b><span style="background-color: #fff9ee; color: #222222; font-family: "georgia" , "utopia" , "palatino linotype" , "palatino" , serif; font-size: 15.84000015258789px;">“The mysterious publisher William Smith Williams has always been the unsung hero of the Brontë Story. Not only did he discover Jane Eyre, he was Charlotte Brontë’s friend and supporter. In a fascinating book Smith Williams is at last brought to life thanks to the forensic skills of his great, great nephew.” Rebecca Fraser</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #111111; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>An 'Amazon Customer' posted this review:</b></span><br />
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<span style="color: #111111; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>I found this a very readable book, one that I could relax with.</b> </span><br />
<span style="color: #111111; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">It was fascinating to learn how closely involved William Smith Williams had been in bringing the talents of "Currer Bell" (Charlotte Bronte) to the British public. Reading about the difficult task of being a Reader for the publishers, whereby he always gave constructive criticism of books which he had not recommended for publication as well as for those which he had recommended, made me realise how many, many hours he must have spent with huge numbers of manuscripts. To have been really honest with Charlotte Bronte about her subsequent books after the success of "Jane Eyre" would undoubtedly have been very hard.</span><br />
<span style="color: #111111; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">This book, while focussing mainly on his relationship with Charlotte Bronte, shows how involved he also was with other well known authors such as Ruskin and Thackeray. It gives the modern reader a snapshot of life in early Victorian England and provides a mine of information about Smith William's direct descendants and relatives, food for thought in an age fascinated by family trees.</span><br />
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<span class="a-size-base review-title-content a-color-base a-text-bold" data-hook="review-title" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; line-height: 1.35;"><b>Lily's Mum </b>posted on Amazon:</span></div>
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<span class="a-size-base review-title-content a-color-base a-text-bold" data-hook="review-title" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #111111; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; line-height: 1.35;"><b>A delightful and well-researched book on a fascinating man</b></span><br />
<span style="color: #111111; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">I struggle to think of anyone who wouldn't be interested in this story because so many people seem to be connected to him. Do you have an interest in the Bronte family? Ruskin? Rossetti? Thackeray? Lawrence Alma-Tadema? George Eliot? Mrs Gaskell? All crop up in this tale of publishing and friendships, with a healthy dose of sudden death and dodgy marriages thrown in to boot.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #111111; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">I love how much detail there is in here. I was tickled by the fact that in the early years of the nineteenth century, the road between Westminster and London was beset with highwaymen so MPs had to travel in groups for their own safety. From the first, Williams was a man of connections, counting John Keats as a schoolmate and from his first foray into publishing could count Thomas Carlyle amongst his friends with correspondence from Dickens.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #111111; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Of course, it's for his friendship with Currer Bell (or Charlotte Bronte, as she is more usually known) that we acknowledge Williams today. His recognition and encouragement of Charlotte's talent from the first builds a close and lasting friendship. Reading her letters to him (treasured and preserved by the family) are a treat and make you wish that his letters had also been kept. Indeed, the one we have reminded me of the treatment of the one letter from Fanny Cornforth quoted in Paull F. Baum's book of Rossetti's letter to Fanny. The Bronte Encyclopedia suggested that this letter from Williams to Charlotte showed Williams to have 'no great skill in writing and that the ambitions which frustrated him so were based more on fantasy than fact' which is a sweeping statement for one letter, especially one written on the occasion of Emily Bronte's death. It is obvious from Charlotte's responses to his other letters over many years that his letters brought her joy.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #111111; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">One of the unexpected joys of the book are Charlotte's comments on being a woman at the time, many of them offered while Williams still (on the face of it) believed he was corresponding with a gentleman. On the subject of female further education, Charlotte was enthusiastic - 'Whenever I have seen families of daughters sitting waiting to be married, I have pitied them from my heart.' I absolutely loved the comments she got back from Poet Laureate Robert Southey after sending him some of her poems - 'Literature cannot be the business of a woman's life, and it ought not to be ... the daydreams in which you habitually indulge are likely to induce a distempered state of mind.' Well, he's a keeper.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #111111; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">This is an easy read because the tone of the narrative is so friendly and conversational from a writer who obviously loves his subject and wants you to love it too. I feel I know figures in literary history just that bit better after reading this and my opinion of Charlotte Bronte has risen greatly. I knew pretty much nothing of Williams beyond his part in Bronte's publishing life but found his achievements as fascinating as his personal life. The friendship he shared with Charlotte was not all plain sailing especially with Mrs Williams (at least in the perception of Charlotte) and one quote from Charlotte on friendship really struck a chord with me:</span><br />
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<span style="color: #111111; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">'In the matter of friendship I have observed that disappointment here arises chiefly - not from liking our friend too well - or thinking of them too highly - but rather from an over-estimate of their liking for and opinion of us.'</span><br />
<span style="color: #111111; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">In these times of on-line, written friendships, I find that to be unfortunately true and wise words indeed.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #111111; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">You can find this <a href="http://fannycornforth.blogspot.com/2019/09/review-charlotte-brontes-devotee.html" target="_blank">review </a> also on the blog of </span><b style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif;">Kirstie Stonell Walker, a</b><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">uthor and student of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, </span><br />
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<span class="a-size-base review-title-content a-color-base a-text-bold" data-hook="review-title" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; line-height: 1.35;"><b>Cheryl Pivac</b> posted this on Amazon New Zealand. Cheryl is descended from William's wife's family and let me have some wonderful family letters:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Some books you read once... this book I read twice.</span></div>
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<span class="review-text-sub-contents" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">The second time I got even more from this book a wonderful insight into a truly gentle man of great wisdom and ideals.</span></div>
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<span class="review-text-sub-contents" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Philip has made William Smith Williams come alive within the pages of this book. Well done!"</span></div>
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<b style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif;"><br />Fran Manning</b><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> is William's great (3x) granddaughter and she wrote this:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">“Thank you so much for transporting me back into the lives of our family and their friends, and into the streets and homes of mid Victorian London and to Haworth Parsonage. As a result I now feel that I know my 3 x Great Grandfather, his family and some of his friends as real people. I can also feel the environment in which they lived and the passions that drove them in their daily lives. </span></div>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">The extensive research, attention to detail, entertaining and reader-friendly style, and honesty in reporting made it a wonderful read. I found the skilful connections you made of events and people at a particular time to their appearances in previous or later chapters very helpful”. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">The Library of Bishop Grosseteste University has included the book in their display for the Lincoln Book Festival 2019.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">PwC mailing to former partners</span><br />
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PhilWriterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15299134545473860221noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2578567100912340215.post-91559833619738621162019-09-02T11:23:00.000-07:002019-09-02T11:23:32.317-07:00John Ruskin revisited A fascinating reassessment of the importance of John Ruskin has come in two excellent books published this year.<br />
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Suzanne Fagence Cooper has approached the subject from her art history background. <i><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/See-Clearly-Why-Ruskin-Matters/dp/1787476987/ref=pd_bxgy_14_img_2/260-8477621-5979910?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=1787476987&pd_rd_r=417d1358-6a8b-42c7-b035-f4457afcafe2&pd_rd_w=3fGJo&pd_rd_wg=1ETVS&pf_rd_p=7a9d3b22-47b7-4932-be38-57f4219c3325&pf_rd_r=TTE75H9JBXR44AXDJGK0&psc=1&refRID=TTE75H9JBXR44AXDJGK0" target="_blank">To See Clearly: Why Ruskin Matters </a></i>is a beautiful, intriguing book.<br />
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Andrew Hill is a Financial Times Journalist and, in <i><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ruskinland-Andrew-Hill/dp/1843681757/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=Ruskinland&qid=1567448239&s=gateway&sr=8-1" target="_blank">Ruskland: How John Ruskin Shapes Our World</a></i>, looks at Ruskin’s thinking on political economy. I am sure William would have approved.<br />
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The books also tell, amongst much more, of the influence of Ruskin on Charlotte Bronte. This influence came via William Smith Williams.<br />
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I have charted John Ruskin’s relationship with William Smith Williams who worked closely in the 1860s, editing The Selections of the Writings of John Ruskin published by Smith, Elder & Co in 1861.<br />
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http://www.williamsmithwilliams.co.uk/2019/03/william-smith-williams-and-john-ruskin.html<br />
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<br />PhilWriterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15299134545473860221noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2578567100912340215.post-81975872317069351232019-08-14T05:36:00.003-07:002021-05-17T05:21:53.284-07:00Charlotte Brontë's Devotee - the published book“The mysterious publisher William Smith Williams has always been the unsung hero of the Brontë Story. Not only did he discover Jane Eyre, he was Charlotte Brontë’s friend and supporter. In a fascinating book Smith Williams is at last brought to life thanks to the forensic skills of his great, great nephew.” Rebecca Fraser<br />
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The book tells the revealing story of Charlotte Brontë’s relationship with William Smith Williams who, as the Reader at her publisher Smith, Elder & Co, recognised her genius. But, who was he? William was a radical Victorian, friend to many of the giants of 19th century art and literature: Thackeray, Thomas Carlyle, Elizabeth Gaskell, George Eliot and the Rossettis. Through him we gain an insight into the world of publishing, the art and science of lithography and the controversial thinking of John Ruskin on women’s education, politics and economics. He was a family man and, with his wife Margaret, produced a line of remarkable progeny.<br />
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Whence had he come and wither did he go? Charles Dickens and George Meredith were also publishers’ Readers and their stories are well known, but what of William Smith Williams?<br />
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I was spurred on my quest by words from a letter his brother in law, Robert Hill, wrote on his death: ‘There were complementary notices of his death in nearly all the papers. Nobody could have been more universally beloved or respected than he was.’ I read the obituaries and they were indeed full of praise and affection. One sentence in the Publishers Circular in particular caught my attention: ‘The truth is that Mr Williams’ previous education had fitted him to be a judge of good work, and he was singularly fair and unbiased.’ I had to discover what this ‘previous education’ had been, but also what else he had done to merit such fulsome praise and, indeed, who were those people who loved and respected him.<br />
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I found a true Renaissance man as at home with art as with literature, with science as with politics. His childhood had been spent in the crowded courts bordering London’s Strand. He was orphaned at age fourteen and then largely self educated. He was an apprentice publisher and then a lithographer before joining Smith, Elder. He wrote a poem in praise of John Keats and presented a paper to the Society of Arts on Lithography. Following his all too few years of friendship with Charlotte Bronte, he mentored many other writers. One such, Frederick Wicks, wrote this if him:<br />
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‘Thrusting back his massive growth of white hair, he would clasp his hands nervously in thought before delivering his opinion, and then would follow in short, pregnant sentences a perfect flood of light upon the matter in hand. He was never content with general commendation and approval, but always gave good, sound reasons and sufficient cause for all he thought. Among the many pregnant phrases that fell to my lot was one of extraordinary value as a check to the exuberance of youth. “You need,” he said, “restraint – not that which checks, but that which guides the literary faculty.”’<br />
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He edited the 1861 Selections of the Writings of John Ruskin and then supported Ruskin in the publication of his works on political economy. He is buried in Kensal Green cemetery with his wife, one son and two daughters and son in law celebrated portrait painter, Cato Lowes Dickinson under a memorial designed by AC Gill. His daughter, Anna, was a celebrated concert soprano. One grandson, Sir Arthur Lowes Dickinson, was a founding partner of Price Waterhouse in the USA, another, Goldie Lowes Dickinson, was one of the thinkers behind the League of Nations.<br />
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<b>About the author</b><br />
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Following a career with Price Waterhouse and in the charity sector, I was awarded a First Class Degree in Humanities by Exeter University and then an MA in Professional Writing by University College Falmouth. My first two books were published by The History Press and a third is in progress. An article on his research into William Smith Williams was published by Brontë Studies in April 2019.<br />
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<b>The book</b><br />
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The book is available from Amazon by following this <a href="https://amzn.to/2YII2sk" target="_blank">link</a> and also from the Brontë Society. I would also be happy to supply the book direct.<br />
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<br />PhilWriterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15299134545473860221noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2578567100912340215.post-18653352521089327102019-08-03T01:33:00.002-07:002019-08-08T05:32:48.714-07:00The printer’s proof<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
To handle the proof copy of a book is a surprise and a delight. All those years of research, thought and composition finding a material form. This book, though, is self-published, since, whilst a number of publishers and indeed competition judges liked it, they did not think it sufficiently commercial. We shall see! </div>
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Self-publishing has necessitated paying a proof reader, happily a very good one; and, as I say in the introduction, any errors are mine alone. Self-publishing has also meant that I could not see the overall design until now. I am pleasantly surprised. I hope you are.</div>
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It has been a long time in the making. It was 2006 when Norman Penty contacted me because my name appeared in the family tree he had researched of William Smith Williams's family. Over the intervening years, I explored the family further. It was in Paris, in a hotel near the Pantheon where I read the chapters on William Smith Williams in Juliet Barker's <i><a href="http://julietbarker.co.uk/books/brontes.html" target="_blank">The Brontës</a></i>, when I began to realise just how little was known about this significant man in the Brontë story. This spurred me on.<br />
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I researched further and, as I say in the introduction, found his brother-in-law Robert Hill's letter telling of the obituaries of William. I loved my visits to the archives at Haworth, Lancaster and Edinburgh, finding in each the sort of gem that makes you want to shout out - not something approved of in archives. I made contact with William’s relatives in Australia and New Zealand and they let me have family letters and photographs. Brontë biographer and former chair of <a href="https://www.bronte.org.uk/" target="_blank">The Brontë Society</a>, <a href="https://www.curtisbrown.co.uk/client/rebecca-fraser" target="_blank">Rebecca Fraser</a>, read, liked and offered helpful suggestions to improve my draft. I was invited to write a paper on my research for <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/awxTtSvPhchPKsDFAAIM/full?target=10.1080/14748932.2019.1567167" target="_blank">Brontë Studies</a>, and thoroughly enjoyed my correspondence with its wonderful editor Amber Adams.<br />
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I will be speaking about Charlotte Brontë’s Devotee at the <a href="https://www.lincolnbookfestival.org/festival-programme/tea-and-treats-with-bronte-and-tennyson/" target="_blank">Lincoln Book Festival</a> in September.<br />
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The book is now available to buy on Amazon in <a href="https://amzn.to/2YII2sk" target="_blank">paperback</a> and <a href="https://amzn.to/2Kicz8d" target="_blank">Kindle</a> edition.PhilWriterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15299134545473860221noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2578567100912340215.post-87002883386946329682019-05-04T06:23:00.002-07:002019-05-04T06:24:22.509-07:00William Smith Williams and MusicWilliam’s youngest daughter, Anna, was born in Campden Hill Terrace in 1845. Many years later she spoke in an interview of the Smith Williams family household. She had by then become a celebrated concert soprano.<br />
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Her interviewer wrote that, ‘Mr Smith Williams was a man of an extreme romantic and artistic temperament. In the evening the small petted Anna would sit on a stool at his knee while he said to the older ones - “Now, girls, shall we have some Mozart?”<br />
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“I don’t like Mozart!” the little maiden would say. “Can’t we have some operatic music instead?” But Mozart invariably carried the day.’<br />
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Anna Williams age 18 from family photographs</div>
PhilWriterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15299134545473860221noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2578567100912340215.post-35937985922808972352019-03-23T00:36:00.001-07:002019-03-30T09:33:56.458-07:00William Smith Williams and John RuskinWilliam Smith Williams is best known as the reader at Smith, Elder and Company who discovered and mentored Charlotte Brontë.<br />
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Less familiar is his relationship with John Ruskin. He edited the 1861 Selections of Ruskin’s Writings and then handled the publishing of Ruskin’s works on political economy until his retirement, after which Ruskin moved his publishing to George Allen.<br />
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Ruskin was of course best known for his writing on art; William’s passion for art was perhaps as great as that for literature. He wrote extensively on the subject, including a masterly paper which he, in collaboration with Sir Henry Cole, presented to the Society of Arts, entitled <i>On Lithography</i>.<br />
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William and Ruskin possibly first met when the former worked for lithographer, Charles Hulmandell and the latter with his father visited their Marlborough Street premises to collect a subscriber edition of Samuel Prout’s <i>Sketches in Flanders and Germany</i>.<br />
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When next they met it not clear. On 3 February 1844 a lengthy review of <i>Modern Painters</i> by a 'Graduate of Oxford' appeared in the <i>Athenaeum</i>. It was scathing. Who was this young pup saying such modern nonsense? William was, certainly in 1843, a regular contributor to the <i>Athenaeum</i> magazine; I have found some eight art and theatre reviews which he wrote that year. It is clear that William certainly would not have agreed with the scathing review. He shared with Ruskin a love of Turner, especially early Turner landscapes which they both felt followed the path set out by water-colourist, Samuel Prout whom they both admired.<br />
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William would later send a copy of <i>Modern Painters</i> to Charlotte Bronte to assist with the broadening of her mind.<br />
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Once William had joined Smith Elder, I feel sure they would have been in contact as Smith, Elder published Ruskin’s works on art and architecture. They became more closely connected after 1860 when Ruskin fell out with George Smith over the publication of articles on political economy in The <i>Cornhill.</i><br />
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The University of Lancaster is home to a wonderful <a href="https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/the-ruskin/" target="_blank">archive</a> of John Ruskin's work. I spent some time there looking at his diaries and some of the other manuscripts he left.<br />
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To me of greatest interest was the 1861 first edition of Selections from the writing of John Ruskin edited by William Smith Williams. It is an Aladdin's cave. It shows the breadth of his interest, from fine art, through architecture to political economy. William had followed Ruskin from the beginning and so was in the perfect position to make the Selections.<br />
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The Smith Elder archive at the National Library of Scotland contains some fascinating further material.<br />
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In the 1860s, Ruskin turned his attention to political economy and wrote a series of articles, together under the title <i>Unto the Last</i> for the <i>Cornhill</i> magazine, published by Smith, Elder. He then wrote further lectures which came together in a number of books. In the archive there are personal letters from Ruskin to William concerning the publication of these.<br />
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Ruskin wrote to WT Page, Mayor of Lincoln, that "I have always held (and am prepared against all comers to maintain my holding) that the Cathedral of Lincoln is out and out the most precious piece of architecture in the British islands,1 and—roughly—worth any two other cathedrals we have got."<br />
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An article on my research was published in <a href="http://www.williamsmithwilliams.co.uk/2019/03/accepted-manuscript-of-article.html" target="_blank">Brontë Studies</a> in April 2019 and shows that William Smith Williams was very much a Renaissance man who attracted both friendship and respect from many of the nineteenth century’s leading writers, artists and thinkers. He knew Carlyle, Thackeray, Elizabeth Gaskell, George Eliot, Ford Maddox Brown and the Rossetti’s among many others. He is buried in Kensal Green Cemetery with his friend and son in law Cato Lowes Dickinson, under a monument designed by AC Gill. Lowes Dickinson taught with Ruskin at the Working Men’s College.<br />
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With thanks to the Ruskin archive</div>
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<br />PhilWriterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15299134545473860221noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2578567100912340215.post-30239657507602799472019-03-19T04:19:00.001-07:002020-04-05T03:50:38.585-07:00Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Bronte StudiesWilliam Smith Williams: Charlotte Brontë’s First Devotee<br />
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Below is the link to an article I wrote for Bronte Studies. I have since published a book, Charlotte Bronte’s Devotee, telling the whole of what I discovered about this fascinating man. The article is but the bare bones. The book is available to <a href="http://www.williamsmithwilliams.co.uk/p/buying-charlotte-brontes-devotee.html?m=1" target="_blank">buy</a><br />
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The article explores some of what is known of William Smith Williams, the reader at Smith, Elder and Company, who discovered and mentored Charlotte Brontë. It traces his childhood, education and early career. His interest in art was perhaps as great as that in literature and the article explores a number of his writings on the subject. His correspondence with Charlotte Brontë is well known; less familiar is his relationship with John Ruskin on which this article seeks to shed some light. It will show that William Smith Williams was very much a Renaissance man who attracted both friendship and respect from many of the nineteenth century’s leading writers, artists and thinkers.<br />
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A preface to the article explains my interest:<br />
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Philip Hamlyn Williams’s interest in William Smith William stems from his irritation that William Smith Williams seemed to be dismissed by many Brontë biographers. He holds an MA in Professional Writing and in 2008, as a mature student, was awarded a First Class Degree in Humanities from the University of Exeter. He, previously, had pursued careers in professional services, principally as a partner in accountants Price Waterhouse and the not-for-profit sector. He is the author of two books on the how the British army was supplied in the two World Wars: War on Wheels and Ordnance, both published by The History Press, Gloucester, England.<br />
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Correspondence to: Philip Hamlyn Williams. Email: philhwilliams@gmail.com. Website: www.philwilliamswriter.co.uk.<br />
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The article, published by Taylor & Francis in Bronte on 18 March 2019, is available online:<br />
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The Kindle edition of the book is available by following this <a href="https://amzn.to/2Kicz8d" target="_blank">link</a> </div>
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PhilWriterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15299134545473860221noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2578567100912340215.post-31920910524639232702019-02-14T09:24:00.003-08:002019-02-14T09:24:31.499-08:00William Smith Williams and his love of artMost people know William Smith Williams as the man who discovered and mentored Charlotte Bronte. His passion for art was at least as strong as that for literature. He wrote on art for the <i>Athenaeum, Spectator</i> and <i>Examiner</i>; he presented a masterly paper <i>On Lithography</i> to the Society of Arts; he wrote a precursor to the Pre-Raphaelites in <i>John Bull</i> and on the place of art in design for <i>The Builder.</i> He was a friend of John Ruskin; he had hands involvement in publishing his later works; he edited the <i>Selections of the Writings of John Ruskin</i> published by Smith, Elder in 1861.<br />
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His obituary in the Publishers Circular said of his later years that:<br />
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He became so absorbed [in assessing the work of authors] that he ceased to write himself, and became more warmly friendly with many writers whose names are known to all the world and whose friendship and esteem he never lost. Amongst these may be named Leigh and Thornton Hunt, WM Thackeray, the Miss Brontës, John Ruskin, Miss Kavanagh, Mrs Parr (Holme Lee), Egerton Webbe, George Henry Lewes and many others including a great number of painters.<br />
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Charlotte Bronte clearly valued William's views on art as she wrote:<br />
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I had just read your article in the John Bull; it very clearly and fully explains the cause of the difference obvious between ancient and modern paintings. I wish you had been with us when we went over the Exhibition and the National Gallery; a little explanation from a judge of art would doubtless have enabled us to understand better what we saw; perhaps one day, we may have this pleasure.<br />
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As I said his paper <i>On Lithography</i> is masterful and has some wonderful illustrations.<br />
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With thanks to the RSA</div>
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I write more in my forthcoming article in Bronte Studies and, of course, in the draft of my biography of this true Renaissance man<br />
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PhilWriterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15299134545473860221noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2578567100912340215.post-66263474847213696222019-01-05T00:58:00.001-08:002023-11-27T00:26:32.360-08:00William Smith Williams - for Bronte StudiesThe title of this post is my current working title for my biography of William Smith Williams, with the strap line: Friend and mentor to Charlotte Brontë and a host of Victorian writers and artists<br />
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The name, William Smith Williams, will strike a chord with readers of Bronte biographies. He was the reader at Smith Elder &amp; Co who first spotted Charlotte’s genius. He then nurtured her talent, as is evident from the one hundred or so letters she wrote to him in the course of her short career.<br />
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But who was he? Whence had he come and whither did he go? A passage from a letter his brother in law, Robert Hill, wrote on his death urges exploration: ‘There were complementary notices of his death in nearly all the papers. Nobody could have been more universally beloved or respected than he was.’<br />
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I read the obituaries and they were indeed full of praise and affection for this quiet man. The Athenaeum wrote: ‘His literally taste was excellent, and he had great powers of discernment. His judgement and his opinion regarding the works was very highly valued, more especially by young authors.’ One sentence, in the Publishers Circular, in particular caught my attention: ‘The truth is that Mr Williams’ previous education had fitted him to be a judge of good work, and he was singularly fair and unbiased.’ I had to discover what this ‘previous education’ may have been.<br />
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I was helped in my search by the genealogical work carried out by Mr Norman Penty and written up in his booklet, The Discovery of Charlotte Brontë William Smith Williams 1800-1875 – a Genealogical Quest. In 2006 Mr Penty kindly contacted me and told me of the family tree that he had painstakingly researched. He contacted me because my name appears in the tree as the great grand son of WSW’s brother. The other huge source of help was from the late Margaret Smith’s edition of the letters of Charlotte Brontë. I visited the Brontë archive at Haworth, the Ruskin archive at Lancaster and the Smith Elder archive in Edinburgh, discovering in each place true gems. I have had access to some wonderful family letters.<br />
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My researches are bearing fruit and appear in an article for <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/awxTtSvPhchPKsDFAAIM/full?target=10.1080/14748932.2019.1567167" target="_blank">Bronte Studies</a> published in April 2019 and is now part of a biography which has been published - just follow this <a href="http://www.williamsmithwilliams.co.uk/p/buying-charlotte-brontes-devotee.html" target="_blank">link</a>. <br />
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PhilWriterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15299134545473860221noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2578567100912340215.post-67790224126079865662018-12-29T00:54:00.002-08:002021-05-10T04:55:37.312-07:00William’s FamilyWilliam Smith Williams was born in 1800 and was baptised the following year. His brother, Richard, had been born in the final year of the eighteenth century. Their parents, Richard and Mary, had married at St Dunstan, Stepney in 1791. Richard was in business as a wax and tallow chandler at 408 The Strand. The family had come from Wheatley near Oxford where they were fellmongers, quite possibly providing skins for Oxford Colleges.<div>
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Tragedy struck, with the brothers losing their parents in their teenage years. They emerge back onto the record in 1817 for William as be becomes apprenticed to publishers, Taylor & Hessey. Richard appears on the baptism register of his daughter, Mary Eliza, in 1819 when he is described as a surgeon's instrument maker. He went on to manage Weiss & Co, Surgical Instrument Makers, at 62 The Strand until retirement. Richard had married also a Mary and they had two further children, William and my grandfather Alfred Hamlyn Williams.<br />
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William Smith Williams married Margaret Hill in 1826 and they went on to have four sons: Frank, Robert, Richard and Thornton and four daughters: Ellen, Fanny, Louisa and Anna. They were each talented in their own way. I have written what is known of them in my biography of William Smith Williams.<br />
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Richard Williams<br />
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There was a family 'myth' that we were related to Oliver Cromwell, whose great-grandfather, Richard, had been born Williams but later changed his name to that of his maternal uncle, Thomas Cromwell.</div>
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</div>PhilWriterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15299134545473860221noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2578567100912340215.post-67215495881970610482018-11-15T09:09:00.000-08:002018-11-15T09:09:10.421-08:00The Society of Arts 22 December 1847On 22 December 1847 at the House of the Society of Arts at 8 John Adam Street, WSW gave his paper <i>On Lithography</i>. It was very well received.<br />
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I imagine the conversation. “Is this the man who has published Currer Bell’s Jane Eyre?” Indeed it was he and the firm he worked for, Smith, Elder&Co.<br />
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Forty years earlier he had lived with father, mother and brother (my great grandfather) at 408 The Strand. WSW’s brother managed the surgical instruments business of Weiss & Co at 62 The Strand which backs on to the RSA. Would Richard Williams have been there to hear his brother’s paper on 22 December 1847?<br />
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So I can imagine WSW going up the stairs of the RSA to the Great Room to the audience awaiting his paper, only there wouldn’t be the portrait or the list of Society Presidents for it wasn’t awarded its Royal Charter until 1848.<br />
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<br />PhilWriterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15299134545473860221noreply@blogger.com0