Bill Williams (priest) explained

Harold Claude Noel Williams (6 December 1914^[1]  - 5 April 1990), commonly known as H. C. N. Williams or Bill Williams, was an Anglican priest and author.

Williams was born in Grahamstown, South Africa and educated at Graeme College (South Africa) and Durham University, where he was a Theological Exhibitioner at Hatfield College.^[2]

He was ordained in 1938 and began his ministry as a curate at St Mary with St Paul's Weeke near Winchester in England.^[3] From 1941 to 1949 he was Principal of St Matthew's College in South Africa. He then returned to England and held incumbencies at St Bartholomew's Hyde, Winchester^[4] and St Mary's, Southampton. In 1958 he became Provost of the Cathedral Church of St Michael, Coventry, a position he held for 23 years.^{[5] [6]}

Writings

• African Folk Songs, 1948
• Vision of Duty, 1963
• Twentieth Century Cathedral: An Examination of the Role of Cathedrals in the Strategy of the Church in the Changing Pattern of a Twentieth Century Community, 1964^[7]
• Coventry Cathedral and its Ministry, 1965^[8]
• Coventry Cathedral in Action, 1968^[9]
• Basics and Variables: The Future of the Church in the Modern World, 1970^[10]
• The Latter Glory: The Story of Coventry Cathedral, 1978^[11]
• Order My Steps in Thy Way, 1982
• Building A Community, 1990 (publ.2012)

Notes and References

1. Who was Who 1897-1990 London, A & C Black, 1991
2. Hatfield College . Durham University Calendar 1938-9 . 1939 . 411 . 9 November 2019.
3. Crockford's Clerical Directory, 1940-41, Oxford, OUP, 1941
4. Building a Community Docuracy Ltd., 2012
5. [The Times]
6. "Provost to retire". The Times, 29 May 1981, p14
7. Book: Harold C. N. Williams. Twentieth Century Cathedral: An Examination of the Role of Cathedrals in the Strategy of the Church in the Changing Pattern If a Twentieth Century Community. 1964. Hodder and Stoughton.
8. Book: Harold Claude Noël Williams. Richard Sadler. Coventry Cathedral. A Guide to Coventry Cathedral and Its Ministry... Photogr. by Richard Sadler..... 1966. Hodder & Stoughton.
9. Book: H. C. N. Williams. Coventry Cathedral in Action. 1968. Religious Education Press, Incorporated. 978-0-08-006317-1.
10. Book: H. C. N. Williams. Basics and Variables: The Future of the Church in the Modern World. 1970. Religious Education Press. 978-0-08-016117-4.
11. Book: H. C. N. Williams. The Latter Glory: The Story of Coventry Cathedral. 1982. Whitehorn Press.