Denys Williams


Sir Denys Ambrose Williams, KCMG, GCM was a Chief Justice of Barbados. He served as an acting governor-general from 19 December 1995 until 1 June 1996.

Life and career

Williams was born to George C. Williams and Violet Williams. He studied at Combermere School and Harrison College in Barbados, won a Barbados Scholarship in 1949 and went on to study law at Oxford University, subsequently being admitted to the English Bar at the Middle Temple.
He then returned to the West Indies, spending some time working for the West Indies Federation based in Trinidad, before returning to Barbados and being admitted as a Magistrate. He was appointed a judge, at the time the youngest judge in the Commonwealth at the age of 37. He subsequently became Chief Justice of Barbados and was one of the longest serving judges in the Commonwealth, retiring in 2001.

Personal life

Sir Denys died at age 84 on 7 August 2014. He and his wife, Lady Carmel Williams, had six children.