Dr Williams's Library

Dr Williams's Library stands as a monument to the legacy of the English Dissenters, those individuals who stood apart from the established Church of England to practice their faith according to their own conscience. The institution began with the death of the Reverend Daniel Williams in seventeen sixteen, a prominent Presbyterian minister who bequeathed his extensive personal collection of over seven thousand books to his trustees. He intended for this gift to serve as a public library for ministers, students, and any others dedicated to theological study, fulfilling his desire to create what he hoped would become the most complete library in London.