[4] He was commended for his bravery when serving aboard HMS Terrible in the Naval Brigade off South Africa during the Second Boer War and in China during the Boxer Rising.

[5] On 25 April 1915 during the landing on V Beach, Cape Helles, Gallipoli, Turkey, Williams, with three other men (George Leslie Drewry, Wilfred St. Aubyn Malleson and George McKenzie Samson) was assisting the commander (Edward Unwin) of their ship, HMS River Clyde (previously the SS River Clyde) at the work of securing the lighters.

He held on to a rope for over an hour, standing chest deep in the sea, under continuous enemy fire.

He was eventually seriously wounded by a shell, later dying whilst his rescue was being effected by the commander who described him as the bravest sailor he had ever met.

[1] There are two memorials to him in Chepstow – a painting by Charles Dixon of the events in the Dardanelles, hanging in St Mary's Church; and a naval gun from the German submarine SM UB-91 presented by King George V, which stands in the town's main square beside the war memorial.