Born in Birkenhead, where he went to school, Williams was admitted to the faculty of medicine at the University of Edinburgh aged only sixteen.
[1] After the Second World War, Williams wrote many articles and lectured in India and North America.
He organized several Commonwealth conferences on tuberculosis and also served as secretary of a government committee which allocated money to patients who needed overseas health care.
[1] Williams published four novels, six biographies, and Requiem for a Great Killer, the story of the fight against tuberculosis.
He died in 1974, not long after retiring from his post as Director General of the Chest and Heart Association.