Harold S. Williams

Who was Harold S. Williams?

Harold Stannett Williams, OBE, was an Australian who spent most of his adult life in Japan. Born in Hawthorn, Victoria, he studied medicine at the University of Melbourne. At his father's urging he also received Japanese language lessons from a Mr Inagaki, who ran a local laundry business. In 1919 Harold Williams visited Japan on holiday to improve his Japanese, but deferred his return to Australia, as he found an interesting position with a foreign business firm. From this beginning he went on to pursue a highly successful commercial career in Japan. While on leave in 1935 he visited New Zealand, where he met and married Gertrude Fortune MacDonald, better known as Jean. Together they returned to live in Japan.