Laurence Frederic Rushbrook Williams, (1890–1978) was a British historian and civil servant who spent part of his working life in India, and had an abiding interest in Eastern culture.

Life and work

Williams was an Examination Fellow of All Souls' College, Oxford, between 1914 and 1921. He built up a school of Mughal studies at the University of Allahabad, where he worked as professor of Modern Indian History between 1914 and 1920. He was briefly Eastern Services Director of the BBC, and also worked on the editorial staff of The Times (London) between 1944 and 1955. He acted as a government advisor on Middle East and Asian affairs, and contributed to publications like the Royal Central Asian Society Journal and the Encyclopædia Britannica. He became interested in Sufism through his contact with Sirdar Ikbal Ali Shah and later edited an anthology of contributions to a symposium in honor of the work of the noted Sufi author, Idries Shah.

Works

Williams wrote several works on India, Asia and the Middle East, among them the following: