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Charles Williams, Baron Williams of Elvel

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The Lord Williams of Elvel

Member of the House of Lords
Lord Temporal
In office
22 May 1985  30 December 2019
Life Peerage
Chairman of the Prices Commission
In office
1977–1979
Personal details
Born
Charles Cuthbert Powell Williams

(1933-02-09)9 February 1933
Oxford, England
Died30 December 2019(2019-12-30) (aged 86)
Political partyLabour
Spouse(s)Jane Gillian Portal
Alma materChrist Church, Oxford
London School of Economics
Professionbusinessman

Charles Cuthbert Powell Williams, Baron Williams of Elvel, CBE, PC (9 February 1933 – 30 December 2019[1][2]) was a British businessman, cricketer and Labour life peer. He was a member of the House of Lords from 1985 until his death.

Cricket and writing

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Williams played first-class cricket for Oxford University from 1952 to 1955, and for Essex from 1954 to 1959. He appeared in 87 matches as a top-order right-handed batter, scoring 4,090 runs with a highest score of 139 not out. He completed six first-class centuries.[3] In later years, he became a writer. His works included biographies of Don Bradman, Charles de Gaulle, Konrad Adenauer, Philippe Pétain, and Harold Macmillan. In 2012, he wrote the partly autobiographical Gentlemen & Players: The Death of Amateurism in Cricket, which was published on 4 April 2013.[4]

He was the stepfather of Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury.[5]

References

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  1. "Lord Williams of Elvel – obituary". The Telegraph (UK). 5 January 2020.
  2. "Lord Williams of Elvel obituary". The Times (UK). 7 January 2020.
  3. "Charles Williams". CricketArchive. Retrieved 2 November 2025.
  4. "Gentlemen & Players: The Death of Amateurism in Cricket". Waterstones. Retrieved 2 November 2025.
  5. Moore, Charles (8 April 2016). "Winston Churchill's right-hand man and an affair to shake the Establishment". Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 10 April 2016.