Sir William Emrys Williams,
CBE
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations,
and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...
(5 October 1896 – 30 March 1977) was
editor-in-chief of
Penguin Books from 1936 to 1965 and an educationalist and powerhouse of popular education in the 20th century. A close collaborator with
Allen Lane, Penguin's founder, for over thirty years, Williams was the cultural force behind Penguin Books' success and was the creator of the Pelican imprint.
Pre-War Career
Williams was born in Manchester. He became devoted to
lifelong learning and cultural democracy and had close connections with and involvement in many different enterprises in popular education, in particular through his role as Secretary of the
British Institute of Adult Education (BIAE), a role in which Williams began in 1925.
Williams wanted to turn the BIAE into a more influential, dynamic voice in the debate about adult education, and to engage a wider audience in that debate.
It was with this goal in mind that Williams founded the ''Arts for the People'' scheme in 1934. The scheme brought important works of art to gallery-less towns and to working-class audiences and later stimulated the formation of the
Arts Council, of which Williams was Secretary-General from 1951 to 1953.
[Williams, W. E. (Ed.) ''A Book of English Essays''. A Pelican Book published by Penguin Books. First published 1942. Reprinted 1954.]
Williams was also involved with the
Workers' Educational Association
The Workers' Educational Association (WEA), founded in 1903, is the UK's largest voluntary sector provider of adult education and one of Britain's biggest charities. The WEA is a democratic and voluntary adult education movement. It delivers lea ...
(WEA), from which the BIAE became independent in 1925: Williams was editor - at times controversially - of the WEA journal, ''The Highway'', between 1930 and 1939.
World War Two
During the Second World War, Williams insisted - despite some controversy - on the right to education, in particular in current affairs, for servicemen and women, and so in mid-1941 Williams established the
Army Bureau of Current Affairs (ABCA) and ran it for the duration of the war. For this role, he became known as ''ABCA Bill''.
The ABCA was a programme of general education for citizenship for servicemen and women: officers attended courses on conducting discussions groups, and these were started as hourly sessions each week. Such was the response that ABCA rapidly expanded resulting in photographic display; wall newspapers articles written by the men themselves; and an "Anglo American Brains Trust". The ABCA is often credited with having an impact on the result of the 1945 General Election and played an important part in post-war period during the building of the "new peace".
After the war and under the auspices of the
Carnegie Trust
The Carnegie United Kingdom Trust is an independent, endowed charitable trust based in Scotland that operates throughout Great Britain and Ireland. Originally established with an endowment from Andrew Carnegie in his birthplace of Dunfermline ...
, Williams transformed the ABCA into the Bureau of Current Affairs, moving their offices to Piccadilly in London and continued their activities in peace-time with the assistance of several ABCA contributors including the artists
James Boswell
James Boswell, 9th Laird of Auchinleck (; 29 October 1740 ( N.S.) – 19 May 1795), was a Scottish biographer, diarist, and lawyer, born in Edinburgh. He is best known for his biography of his friend and older contemporary the English writer S ...
.
In 1940, Williams was instrumental in the establishment, by
royal charter, of the
Committee for the Encouragement of Music and the Arts (CEMA), to help promote and maintain British culture. CEMA was government funded and was chaired initially by
Lord De La Warr
Earl De La Warr ( ) is a title in the Peerage of Great Britain. It was created in 1761 for John West, 7th Baron De La Warr.
The Earl holds the subsidiary titles of Viscount Cantelupe (1761) in the Peerage of Great Britain, Baron De La Warr ...
,
President of the Board of Education and by
John Maynard Keynes
John Maynard Keynes, 1st Baron Keynes, ( ; 5 June 1883 – 21 April 1946), was an English economist whose ideas fundamentally changed the theory and practice of macroeconomics and the economic policies of governments. Originally trained in ...
from 1941.
By 1945, 46 art organisations were funded by CEMA and in 1946 CEMA was re-chartered as the
Arts Council, with Williams as the Council's first Secretary General.
Later career
A regular broadcaster, Williams was talks critic of ''
The Listener''; radio critic of ''
The Observer''; and television critic of the ''
New Statesman''. Before he took to criticism, Williams was himself a successful broadcaster and televisor. He was a Trustee of the
National Gallery.
In 1942, he edited ''A Book of English Essays'', and in 1957 an enlarged edition.
In 1973, he published ''Allen Lane : a personal portrait'' (about A. Lane, 1902–1970).
Williams was appointed a
CBE
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations,
and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...
in 1946 and
knighted
A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood finds origins in the Gr ...
in 1955.
A portrait of Williams is held by the
National Portrait Gallery, London
The National Portrait Gallery (NPG) is an art gallery in London housing a collection of portraits of historically important and famous British people. It was arguably the first national public gallery dedicated to portraits in the world when it ...
and a bronze bust of his portrait is held in the
Arts Council art collection.
Personal life
Williams had a turbulent personal life combining a happy marriage to the economist
Gertrude Rosenblum Williams and a twenty-year relationship with
Estrid Bannister. He died in Aylesbury, and his secretary, Joyce Lyon, burned his memoirs the night after his death, before taking her own life.
Notes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, William Emrys
British book editors
1896 births
1977 deaths
Radio critics
Knights Bachelor
Commanders of the Order of the British Empire