Captain Charles Romer WILLIAMS Croix de Guerre
4th (Royal Irish) Dragoon Guards attached to No. 2 Company, Welsh Guards and Special List of Interpreters, Intelligence Corps

Date of birth: 2nd November 1885
Date of death: 1st November 1926

Died aged 40
Unknown
Charles Romer Williams was born was born at 30 Upper Berkeley Street, Marylebone in London on the 2nd of November 1885 the son of Romer Williams JP DL, a gentleman and former solicitor, and Dorothea Louisa (nee Williams) Williams of 30 Upper Berkley Square, and of Newnham Hall, Daventry in Northamptonshire. He was christened at St Mary’s Church, Marylebone on the 20th December 1885.

He was educated at Hazelwood School until April 1899 where he was a member of the Choir and was a member of the Football XI in 1898. The school magazine wrote the following of his 1898 footballs season: - "A very useful goal keeper, with a head on his shoulders and plenty of nerve."

He went on to Eton College where he was in Mr. H. Broadbent's House from April 1889 to July 1904. He was a member of the Eton College Hounds from 1900 and was their Master in 1904. He later wrote of his time as Master of Hounds at Eton: -

"I had a very nice lot of hounds when I was Master, about twenty couple as far as I can remember, and only had one real bit of bad luck, having three hounds killed on the railway near Burnham Beeches station one day. I was the first Master to hunt during the Winter Half, but no "field" was allowed, only self and whips. During the Christmas holidays I took the hounds home to Northamptonshire, and we had great sport, though they went terribly fast in that grass country. One night, coming home, Champion got cramp in the stomach and fell off the "hound van", and I nearly drove over him and put an end to his career. The best hunt I had was from near Butts to Beaconsfield Common - a point of about eight miles, I suppose. The best day was an invitation meet at Colonel Van de Weyer's - the other side of the river. We caught the first hare in the river after a good hunt of about an hour, then a second one in the open after a very fast and straight twenty minutes or do, and finally yet a third also in the open after a wonderful hunt of about two hours. But all this is in the diary, and I may now be exaggerating. The invitation meets at Wooburn, Col. Gilbey's place, always used to kill me. Those hills were the devil! Col. Gilbey's son Ronald was my first whip, and I generally used to throw the horn at him, as he was a far better runner than I. Not many masters came out as a rule, but Mr Robeson and Mr Slater were fairly regular attendants, if I remember rightly: also "Havvy" on horseback. I never missed a single day all the time I was at Eton. Seasons 1900 - 1904. I believe my year was the last of the old Norfolk jacket livery, and I was sorry they changed it - especially the buttons to brass ones. Next time I come to Eton I will seek you out and will tell you anything else you want to know. Anyway I'd rather be Master of the E.C.H. than anything else. Wouldn't you?"

On leaving school he went into publishing and became a Freemason, being admitted to The Foxhunter's Lodge from the 9th of May 1907 until 1921.

He was commissioned a Temporary 2nd Lieutenant on the General List on the 6th of August 1914 and he embarked for France on the 16th of August attached to the 4th (Royal Irish) Dragoon Guards. He was promoted to temporary Lieutenant on the 6th of October 1914.

In January 1915 the Hazelwood School magazine reported: - "Beagling for Officers at the Front: - The good stock of hares on Belgian soil has been too much for the sporting officers of the Cavalry Brigades and Lieutenant Charles Romer Williams, O.H., of the 4th Dragoon Guards, has accordingly obtained a pack of beagles, which are now at the front. He returned home to Newnham Hall, Northamptonshire last week, and was fortunate in securing the loan of the pack of Mr. Ernest Robinson, of Liscombe, Leighton Buzzard who, as soon as he heard of Mr. Williams' requirements, offered to lend his beagles, expressing the hope that the officers and men at the front would enjoy good sport with them. Lieutenant Romer Williams was once Master of the Eton Beagles, and the borrowed pack could not be in more capable hands."

The borrowed beagles were taken to France for the use of the officers of the 2nd Cavalry Brigade during the hare hunting season.

On the 21st of January 1915 he was appointed as Aide de Camp to Captain Geoffrey Hardinge Phipps-Hornby of the 9th (Queen’s) Royal Lancers. He transferred to the Welsh Guards and was attached to the General Headquarters of the French Army as a Liaison Officer in May 1916. He returned to the Welsh Guards with the rank of Lieutenant on the 20th of July 1917, with seniority from the 16th of June 1917 and served with them in France from the 12th of December 1917. He was promoted to General Staff Officer Grade 3 and was promoted to Temporary Captain on the 19th of April 1918. He relinquished his rank and appointment as a Staff Officer on the 31st of January 1919 and was awarded the Croix de Guerre, which was announced in the London Gazette of the 21st of July 1919.
He was wounded twice during the war, once by gas, and was demobilised on the 31st of January 1919. He was promoted to Captain in the Reserve of Officers on the 10th of November 1920.

He was married to Eleanor (the widow of Captain Charles Gordon Bell RAF) at the Chapel Royal, Savoy on the 18th of February 1919.

On leaving the army he went to work as a partner at Thomas Agnew & Sons, printers, publishers and dealers in fine art. He left the company when the partnership was dissolved on the 31st of December 1921. He later moved to the United States where he worked as an art dealer and publisher.

He died in New York in November 1926. Following his death his wife was remarried to Mr Oliver Smith in 1935.
Went on to Eton College

Back