Henry John Williams (8 February 1838 – 1 April 1919) was an English Anglican priest and activist for humanitarianism, animal rights and vegetarianism. He was the founder of the Order of the Golden Age; an international animal rights society.
Biography
Henry John Williams was born on 8 February 1838 in Whatley, Mendip. He was the son of Margaret Sophia and Hamilton John Williams, an Anglican priest. Williams had six brothers, including Howard Williams, the author of The Ethics of Diet and a vegetarian and fellow humanitarian.
Williams was married twice, first to Cecelia Frances D'Arblay Croft and then to a person, in July 1871, in Newport Pagnell, whose name has not been recorded.
At the age of 40, Williams was inspired by his brother Howard to become a vegetarian. He later published the pamphlet A Plea for a Broken Law, which made a case for vegetarianism from a theological point of view. In 1881, he founded the animal rights society, the Order of the Golden Age; it was constituted in 1882. Due to a lack of funds, the organisation was inactive until 1895, when Williams, Sidney H. Beard and others met and discussed how to remedy its dormancy. Williams wrote for the order's journal, The Herald of the Golden Age.
Williams was rector of Kinross, honorary president of the Scottish Vegetarian Society and a member of the Humanitarian League's Humane Diet department.
Williams died on 1 April 1919 in Aspley Guise, at the age of 81; Howard authored an obituary, which was published in the May 1919 edition of The Vegetarian Messenger and Health Review.