Francis Williams (polymath)

[3] The Williams family's status as free, property-owning black people set them apart from other Jamaican inhabitants, who were at the time mostly white colonists and enslaved Africans.

Although it was rare for black people in the 18th century to receive an education, Francis Williams and his siblings were able to afford schooling due to their father's wealth.

This story holds that the Duke paid for Williams to attend an English grammar school and then continue at the University of Cambridge, a narrative likely originating from Montagu's relationships with Job Ben Solomon and Ignatius Sancho.

[9] Long's History of Jamaica contains a note about the possible attribution of "Welcome, Brother Debtor", a folk tune that gained popularity in Britain during the 18th century, to Williams or to Wetenhall Wilkes.

[11][3] The Assembly, which comprised elected white planters, was alarmed at the success with which Williams argued his case, and how he secured the dismissal of Brodrick's attempts to prosecute him.

[11][3] Rash councils now, with each malignant plan, Each faction, in that evil hour began, At your approach are in confusion fled, Nor while you rule, shall raise their dastard head.

[14] In 2024, academic Fara Dabhoiwala published a reevaluation of the painting, drawn from scans and x-rays of the portrait, which revealed that the work is likely to have been commissioned by Williams himself c.1760 to commemorate his computing and observing the trajectory of Halley’s comet over Jamaica in 1759.