In 1885 he established Newington's first science laboratory believing that education should include 'some of the graces and amenities of life without neglecting the realities'.
In 1892 the College Council decided that the combined position of president and headmaster should be held by a clergyman and Williams resigned his post.
In 1894 Williams became a lecturer and in 1896 the foundation Professor of Classics and English Literature at the newly established University of Tasmania.
During part of that time he was Dean of the Faculty of Arts and served as a trustee of the State Library of Tasmania from 1921 to 1936.
These included editions of Thackeray and Dryden, and notes on Twelfth Night, Macbeth, King Lear and The Tempest.