[2][3][4] After the death of William's father in 1804, his mother moved with her younger children to Southwell, Nottinghamshire, where she opened a school for young girls.

[4] Williams entered Magdalen Hall (later Hertford College, Oxford), in 1822 as a prospective CMS trainee.

[7] On 11 July 1825, Williams married Jane Nelson of Newark-on-Trent, Nottinghamshire, a teacher at his mother's school.

[5] On 12 August they embarked on Sir George Osborne to sail to Sydney, Australia, then on to Paihia, Bay of Islands, where they arrived on 25 March 1826.

They had been made prisoner when the captain of the whaler left Waiapu, (the locality of the present day town of Ruatoria), after a confrontation with the Ngāti Porou.

[24] In January 1834 the schooner Fortitude carried the timber frame for a house, so that James Preece, his wife and John Morgan could establish the Puriri mission.

[24] Between July and November 1834, Williams and Alfred Nesbit Brown walked through the Thames and Waikato regions.

In January 1838, he walked from East Cape to Tūranga, Poverty Bay with William Colenso, Richard Matthews and James Stack.

These journeys convinced William of the need to establish a CMS mission on the East Coast in the Gisborne area.

[7][25] During these journeys William found that Māori Christian teachers had started a school at Rangitukia and a chapel at Whakawhitirā.

[31] The first mission station was built on the banks of the Waipaoa River and was named Kaupapa (to plan; first stage or step).

[17] By 1840 there were about 20 Māori religious teachers in the East Cape and Poverty Bay districts, one of these was Anaru Matete from Rongowhakaata who was thought to have helped Williams set up the Tūranga Church Missionary Society station.

[35][36] George Augustus Selwyn, the first Anglican bishop of New Zealand, appointed Williams as Archdeacon of the East Cape diocese on 27 November 1842.

[1] The CMS missionaries appointed to the diocese included: George Adam Kissling and Margaret Kissling at Kawakawa (Hicks Bay) from 1843 to 1846;[37] Charles and Hannah Baker at Uawa (Tolaga Bay) from 1843 to 1851; James and Elizabeth Hamlin at Wairoa from 1844 to 1864; William and Elizabeth Colenso at Waitangi (Ahuriri, Napier) from 1844, until William Colenso was removed in 1852;[38] and Thomas Samuel Grace at Tūranga from 1850 to 1853.

The Māori were: at Waiapu, Rota Waitoa, Raniera Kawhia and Mohi Turei; at Tokomaru, Matiaha Pahewa; at Wairoa, Tamihana Huata; at Tūranga, Hare Tawhaa; at Table Cape, Watene Moeka; at Maketu, Ihaia Te Ahu.

[44][45] The Waiapu Māori Church, representing the district from Hicks Bay to Table Cape (Kahutara Point), Māhia Peninsula, met at Turanganui on 30 October 1870.

Williams ordained Hare Tawhaa of Turanganui and Mohi Turei of Rangitukia as priests, and Wi Paraire of Hicks Bay and Hone Pohutu as deacons.

[26][49] In 1847 Williams published a pamphlet that defended the role of the Church Missionary Society in the years leading up to the signing of the Treaty and in relation to the war in the north that was started by Hōne Heke.

[51][53] The First Taranaki War, from March 1860 until 1862 resulted in the East Cape and Poverty Bay area became increasingly unsettled.

The Ngāti Kaipoho chief Raharuhi told Governor Thomas Gore Browne that the Māori did not recognise Queen Victoria's claim to rule over them and that the lands which the settlers in Poverty Bay had obtained should be returned.

[58] In July 1868, Te Kooti and a band of Hauhau escaped from the Chatham Islands and returned to the East Coast.