Sir Joshua Strange Williams (19 September 1837 – 22 December 1915) was a New Zealand lawyer, politician, Supreme Court judge and university chancellor.

[2] Williams entered at Lincoln's Inn in January 1857, and was called to the English Bar in November 1859.

He arrived in Dunedin, New Zealand in 1861 on the Derwentwater, moved to Christchurch almost immediately, and in the following year went into partnership with Thomas Smith Duncan, then provincial solicitor, an office which he himself subsequently held for several years.

[1] Williams sat in the Canterbury Provincial Council representing the Heathcote electorate in 1862 and 1863 and from 1866 to 1871.

[1][5] In January 1871, Williams gave up practice and was land registrar of the Canterbury district until 1872 and Registrar-General of Land for the whole of New Zealand from the latter year until 1875, in which year he was appointed puisne judge for Otago.