Edward Williams

Brigadier Edward Stephen Bruce Williams CBE (2 November 1892 – 20 January 1977) was a distinguished British Army officer whose career spanned 35 years. He also an English cricketer. Williams was a right-handed batsman who bowled right-arm slow and who occasionally kept wicket.

Early life Williams was born in Pinhoe, Devon, the son of Major-General Sir Hugh Bruce Williams (1865-1942), KCB, DSO (who in 1920 adopted the surname "Bruce-Wiliams", Bruce being his mother's maiden surname), of Chillies, near Crowborough, Sussex, who served with the Royal Engineers, and Mabel Augusta (1867-1945), daughter of stockbroker Stephen Heward, of Toronto, Canada (nephew of the politician and lawyer Sir John Robinson, 1st Baronet, of Toronto). He was later educated at Winchester College. There he played for the college cricket team.

Following this he undertook his military training at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, becoming a commissioned officer with the rank of second lieutenant on 20 September 1911. His service number was 1554. Among his fellow graduates were Montagu Stopford, also of the Rifle Brigade, John Evetts, Leslie Gordon Phillips, Kenneth Anderson and Eric Nares, all of whom would become general officers. He was assigned to the Rifle Brigade (The Prince Consort's Own), joining the regiment's 1st Battalion.

Military career First World War Williams received his first promotion on 17 April 1913, to that of a lieutenant. With the outbreak of the First World War in August 1914, Williams initially served with his battalion, which from November formed part of the 25th Brigade of the 8th Division, in France and Belgium from August to October 1914. He spent a brief period time with the Royal Corps of Signals in April 1915. On 15 May 1915 he was promoted to captain, while seeing action in the Gallipoli Campaign and, from October 1915 to March 1916, he served in Egypt. He returned to England in February 1918, where he was a brigade major in the Home Forces, where he ended the war. at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, a role he undertook for four years. Williams served in Malta in 1937, and in 1938 he became the Commanding Officer (CO) of the 2nd Battalion, Rifle Brigade. He went on to lead them in operations in British Palestine during the 1936–1939 Arab revolt. and, returning to the United Kingdom, placed in command of the 182nd Infantry Brigade, a second-line Territorial Army brigade, which formed part of the 61st Infantry Division, from February 1940 to July 1941, serving mainly in Northern Ireland on anti-invasion duties. Williams was honoured in King George VI's birthday honours, bestowing him a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) which he received on 2 June 1943. Following the end of the war, Williams was granted the rank of honorary brigadier on 30 December 1946, the date of which he retired from active service. Williams was an able batsman, were it not for his military career it can be assumed he would have played county cricket to some degree. In 22 matches for the Army, he 1,630 runs at a batting average of 45.27, which made him one of the Army's stand out players of the twenties. He made three centuries and seven half centuries for the Army. Williams had two stand out first-class seasons with the bat, scoring 366 runs in five innings at an average of 73.20. In that season he scored his maiden double century against Oxford University when opening the batting in the Army first-innings. His other standout season came in 1928 when he scored 344 runs at an average of 114.66, including his second double century and highest first-class score of 228.

Williams additionally played first-class cricket for the Free Foresters He also played a single first-class match for the Marylebone Cricket Club in 1933, against Oxford University.

Personal life Williams married Elizabeth Frances Chadwyck-Healey, daughter of Sir Charles Edward Heley Chadwyck-Healey, 1st Baronet on 14 April 1925. Elizabeth died in 1934, with the couple bearing no children.

Williams died in Winchester, Hampshire on 20 January 1977, at the age of 84.