Tom Williams

Who was Tom Williams?

Thomas Williams was a Welsh rugby union forward who played club rugby for Cardiff and Pontypridd and international rugby for Wales. A solicitor by profession, Williams would later become a national selector for the Welsh Rugby Union. Williams was also responsible for suggesting the singing of the Welsh national anthem in a match in 1905, the first time a national anthem was sung before a sporting event.

Williams was born in Llwynypia into a farming community in the Rhondda Valley and in his early years he lived in at the Tonypandy Inn. A solicitor by trade, he trained for his profession in Pontypridd, probably under Spicketts. Williams was the uncle of Wales international and British Lion Willie Llewellyn.