Parker Williams
Parker Williams was a Welsh-born coal miner and political figure in British Columbia. He represented Newcastle in the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia from 1903 to 1918 as a Socialist and later as an independent Socialist and was British Columbia's first socialist MLA.
He was born in 1872 and worked as a coal miner in Wales, Alberta and Washington state. Williams also worked on railways in Ontario and British Columbia. In 1891, he married Eleanor Price. Williams lived in Nanaimo. In 1917, he resigned his seat in the assembly after he was named a commissioner for the Worker's Compensation Board and he served in that function until he retired in April 1943. He also was responsible for administering the Mothers Pension Act and the Old Age Pension Act. Williams died at the age of 85 on his farm near Ladysmith.
