Ethel Carleton Williams was born in Sheffield, West Yorkshire, in 1884, the daughter of Professor William Carleton Williams. She was educated at Sheffield High School and, from 1903 to 1907, at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford, where she obtained 2nd Class Honours in history. (In c.1907 she and her parents moved to Broomsgrove, Goring, where she remained for the rest of her life.) From 1915 to 1918 she was a VAD nurse at the Reading War Hospital and the Royal Free Hospital and published an account of her experiences in 'Wards in Wartime' (1916). She was secretary of the Berkshire War Agricultural Committee between 1918 and 1920, and in World War II she worked for the Ministry of Munitions and was a speaker for the Ministry of Information. Ethel Carleton Williams was a member of the Berkshire Archaeological Society from 1912 and was its Vice-President in 1962. She was also a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries and was awarded the Reginald Taylor Medal by the British Archaeological Society. Her publications included travel and guide books, for example, 'Companion into Oxfordshire' (1935) and 'The Church and Priory Goring on Thames' (1948), and historical works, for example, 'Bess of Hardwick' (1959) and 'My Lord of Bedford' (1963). She also published articles in the Journal of the British Archaeological Association, the Berkshire Archaeological Society's journal and Blackwood's Magazine. Ethel Carleton Williams died on 15 September 1972.
The sources used to write this introduction were: information from the depositor; obituaries in The Oxford Times 8 December 1972, p.7, the Brown Book [Lady Margaret Hall Magazine] December 1973, pp. 4-5 and The Berkshire Archaeological Journal vol. 67, 1973-4, p. 96; entries in various editions of the published register of Lady Margaret Hall.
The documents catalogued here were mainly deposited in 1992 as accession 3531 and consist of a typescript, illustrations and pamphlets relating to an unpublished book about the Dance of Death, c.1938, and a typescript and illustrations for an unpublished biography of Lady Jane Dormer, c.1965. The newscuttings' volume (P223/3/N/1) was donated by a family member in July 2002 (accession 5020).
Catalogued by Elizabeth A. Finn, August 1995, with additions by Mark Priddey, July 2022