[1] He arrived in New South Wales around 1890 and settled in Broken Hill,[2] where he worked on mining machinery, before conducting an auctioneering and agency business.
He was a prominent member of the labor movement, holding various offices including president, vice-president and auditor of the Amalgamated Miners' Association, and president and secretary of the Alma branch of the Political Labour League.
[2] There was a bitter contest to be the Labour candidate for the district of Alma in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly at the 1901 election.
[6] Alma was abolished in the 1904 re-distribution of electorates following the 1903 New South Wales referendum, which required the number of members of the Legislative Assembly to be reduced from 125 to 90 and was split between Broken Hill and Sturt.
[7] Williams chose to contest Sturt but was easily defeated by the Labour candidate Arthur Griffith.