Dr. Williams Library has the largest and best collection of English nonconformist material in the world. Located at 14 Gordon Square, the library owes its origins to the rambling 18 page will of Dr. Daniel Williams dated 1711 and proved 1716. Dr. Williams= estate (probably acquired at the death of his first wife) was valued at ,50,000. His books were left to his trustees in hopes that it would become Athe compleatest library in London.@ In 1699, Dr. Williams had purchased the library of Dr. William Bates, to which he added.

Dr. Williams did not leave an endowment for the library, however, and the trustees collected funds from wealthy Dissenters (there were many at the time) and erected the building in Red Cross Street that housed the collection for many years. In 1729, estate trustees appointed a librarian and caretaker for the books. In 1736, Dr. Williams= building became the headquarters for dissenting Londoners and remained so for 100 years. Some 50,000 nonconformist births were recorded there prior to the compulsory law requiring registration of births, marriages and deaths in 1836. In 1805, an order was obtained from the Court of Chancery allowing ,50 to be spent annually on the library. Through the years, the library has been threatened with closure, but has survived and continues to grow. It is an important library for nonconformist research.

Dr. Daniel Williams was born about 1643 in Wrexham, Denbighshire. His family was apparently well-connected. The Civil War had just begun and his parents sympathized with Parliament and Presbytery. There was a Puritan school in the area and Quakers visited the neighborhood. He became a Presbyterian preacher at age 20. The difficulties took Daniel to Ireland, where he was domestic chaplain to the Countess of Meath. He preached in Drogheda and in Dublin. In 1675, he married the widowed sister of the Countess of Meath. In 1687, he went to London and soon became a leader of the nonconformists there. By 1690, he was in trouble, charged with immorality. He was cleared by a jury of 60 London ministers. Daniel=s wife died in 1698, and he remarried another widow, Jane Barkstead in 1701. In 1709, as his health began to fail, he was made a D.D. by Glasgow and Edinburgh Universities. He died 16 Jan 1716. There is a lengthy biographical sketch of him in the Dictionary of National Biography, volume 61.

The Family History Library (FHL) has eight volumes of the catalog of books in Dr. Williams= Library. The catalogs (942.1/L1 A3d and A3dr) take the collection up to 1970. The registers of births were closed in 1837 and transferred to the Register General in 1840. They are now among the nonconformist records at the Public Records Office, Chancery Lane. The FHL has filmed the records and they have been extracted. The catalog entry for these records is confusing. There is an index to the certificates as well as abstracts and the certificates. The abstract shows the number of the certificate, the child's name, when registered, the parents= names, witnesses and the time of birth. The certificates show where the birth took place as well as all information in the abstract. The volumes of certificates are arranged alphabetically, with:

Volume A being those births recorded before the registers were started (as early as 1716).

Volume B is from 28 March 1739 to May 1792

Volume C from 1792 to 1805

Volume D from 29 May 1805 to 15 April 1812

Volume E from 16 April 1812 to 3 December 1816

Volume F from 3 Jan 1817 to 29 September 1820

Volume G from 1820 to 1824.

The index is on FHL film # 1482452.