Researching Shirley Williams
Research the background of Shirley Williams using the links below. We hope you find this information useful!
![]() | Did you know that in the 1881 UK census there were 215128 people with the Williams surname? In that year Williams was ranked number 3 for popularity in the UK. |

The name Shirley means "country meadow" and is of English origin.
Records of Shirley Williams on Ancestry
Ancestry is a major source of information if you are filling out the detail of Shirley Williams in your family tree. Many large databases are available to search covering from births, deaths and marriages, military records, census records and immigration records with many other smaller collections too. Free trials are normally available and are a good way to fill out a lot of your tree quickly.
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Ancestry.com Global records search results for Shirley Williams. |
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Ancestry.com US records search results for Shirley Williams. |
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Ancestry.co.uk UK records search results for Shirley Williams. |
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Ancestry.ca Canadian records search results for Shirley Williams. |
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Ancestry.com.au Australian records search results for Shirley Williams. |
DNA
Sometimes you can run into a brick wall in your tree and you just don't have enough evidence to make that next step back in time. A DNA test can sometimes help to make a link to a particular family name if you find you share common DNA with people who have the same or similar surnames as each other. If you are lucky then you may get a match within a few generations and discover some Williams ancestors. Additionally, the modern DNA test can give you a breakdown of your ethnic mix - you may be surprised at the results!
Have you reached a brick wall in your Williams Tree?
Birth, Death and Marriage Records for Shirley Williams and the Williams Family History
Birth, Death and Marriage records are often the best method of making the links to the Williams Genealogy that will form part of your family tree. Although records vary from country to country, they are normally the most formal record of a person's relations. From the sources below you will be able to find a birth record and, from that, a birth certificate can be ordered which lists the names of the mother and father, taking you back another generation in your tree. A marriage certificate may also list the names of the respective fathers of the bride and groom which may then help you to find them earlier in life on a census record enabling you to fill out more detail in the Williams family tree.
Explore Parish Records for Shirley Williams at Find My Past.
Explore for the UK registered births, marriages and deaths of Shirley Williams using the FreeBMD database.
Investigate Genealogy Bank for Shirley Williams records.
Investigate MyHeritage for Shirley Williams information.
Check out the LDS Database for records about Shirley Williams.
Research the Williams surname using fold3 Military Archives and view images of original Williams Military records.
![]() | Did you know that there are currently 270138 people with the Williams surname in the UK? Williams is now ranked number 3 for popularity in the UK. |
Williams Family Tree Databases
Another way to build your tree quickly is to use the research other people have already done. This can help to confirm or refute your own deductions - however, be wary of taking this data at face value as other researchers may not have been as meticulous as you. Always try to back up deductions with some definitive sources rather than relying too heavily on others.
Explore the WikiTree database for user contributed records for Shirley Williams.
Study MyTrees for information on the Williams family and people looking to contact living Williams relations.
Study One Great Family for Williams records submitted by people who are already researching the Williams Family Tree.
Find Shirley Williams from Ireland on findmypast.ie
Williams Forums
There are a number of forums which are dedicated to rearching particular surnames. These can be good places to share your findings and also to tap into the knowledge that others may already have. These can sometimes be a good way of finding living relations as these tend not to show up on the other sources of information for privacy reasons.
Research the Williams surname using Genealogy.com forums .
![]() | Did you know that there are currently 2123734 people with the Williams surname in the USA? Williams is ranked number 3 for popularity in the USA. |
Miscellaneous Williams Databases
Investigate the Ellis Island Database for information on Shirley Williams. This database contains over 25 million immigration records detailing passengers arriving in the United States of America.
Some Famous People called Shirley Williams
Shirley Williams
Shirley Vivian Teresa Brittain Williams, Baroness Williams of Crosby, ( Catlin; 27 July 1930 – 11 April 2021) was a British politician and academic. Originally a Labour Party Member of Parliament (MP), she served in the Labour cabinet from 1974 to 1979. She was one of the "Gang of Four" rebels who founded the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in 1981 and, at the time of her retirement from politics, was a Liberal Democrat.
Williams was elected to the House of Commons for Hitchin in the 1964 general election. She served as Minister for Education and Science from 1967 to 1969 and Minister of State for Home Affairs from 1969 to 1970. She served as Shadow Home Secretary from 1971 and 1973. In 1974, she became Secretary of State for Prices and Consumer Protection in Harold Wilson's cabinet. When Wilson was succeeded by James Callaghan, she served as Secretary of State for Education and Science and Paymaster General from 1976 to 1979. She lost her seat to the Conservative Party at the 1979 general election.
In 1981, dismayed with the Labour Party's left-ward movement under Michael Foot, she was one of the "Gang of Four"—centrist Labour figures who formed the SDP. Williams won the 1981 Crosby by-election and became the first SDP member elected to Parliament, but she lost the seat in the 1983 general election. She served as President of the SDP from 1982 to 1987 and supported the SDP's merger with the Liberal Party that formed the Liberal Democrats.
Between 2001 and 2004, she served as Leader of the Liberal Democrats in the House of Lords and, from 2007 to 2010, as Adviser on Nuclear Proliferation to Prime Minister Gordon Brown. She remained an active member of the House of Lords until announcing her retirement in January 2016, and was a Professor Emerita of Electoral Politics at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University at the time of her death at age 90, having been one of the last surviving members of the Labour governments of the 1970s.
Source: Shirley Williams, Wikipedia, The Free EncyclopediaOther names that sound a bit like Williams
Family names can get corrupted over time, particularly where literacy was not as good. The following list contains some names that have similar sounds so you may want to also look at one or two of the more likely possibilites.
Wahling Walenciak Walensky Waling Wallenger Wallenscott Walling Wallingford Wallingsford Wallington Walmsley Wayling Wealans Wealens Wealleans Weallens Wehling Wellenkamp Wellens Wellensiek Wellenstein Welling Wellinger Wellings Wellington Wellmaker Wellons Welmaker Whaling Wheelans Wheeleans Wheeling Whelans Whelens Whellams Whellans Whellens Whillance Whillans Wholans Wieling Wielinga Wielingla Wilamowski Wilenski Wilensky Wiliams Willaims Willamowski Willams Willance Willans Willems Willemssen Willens Williamson Willihnganz Willims Willing Willingale Willingam Willington Willms Wilms Wilmshorst Wilmshurst Wolins Wolinsky Woliyniec Wollenzien Wollonscroft Woolens Woolensach Woollams Woolliams Woollons Woolums





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