Edward Williams

Edward Williams

Engraver born c1755

Possibly died in 1797

Edward Williams is generally descibed as a "fair engraver", and he is remembered for several prints after Rowlandson, most notably 'A College Scene', and another titled 'Polygamy', which is in the Royal Collection of the Queen of England. There is also an engraving by Williams of a drawing by Rowlandson's friend Henry Wigstead titled the 'The Country Vicar's Fireside', and another after John Hamilton Mortimer titled 'The Coke and Perkin' in a set of prints of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales that is in the collection of the British Museum. These engravings were all published from 1785 to 1787 by either John Raphael Smith or Thomas Prattent - Smith being the engraver who had apprenticed Edward William's brothers-in-law, James and William Ward.

Given the reputations of Edward Williams' friends - Rowlandson and Morland - we can surmise that Williams was a bit of a carouser. In fact, John Hassel tells a story in his 1806 biography on George Morland about a drinking adventure that Williams shared with Morland. Williams most likely died in 1797 or earlier, as Henry Morland, the father of George, died that same year, and he is said before his death to have asked Mary Ward's brother James the circumstances of Edward Williams' demise. The British Museum website gives Williams' death date as 1820, but this seems unlikely in light of Henry Morland's aforementioned enguiry.

...from http://www.mikesclark.com/genealogy/percy.html#mw