Richard Williams (Royal Marines officer)

Colonel Commandant Sir Richard Williams KCB (1764–1839) was a career British officer of the Royal Marines active during the American Revolutionary War, the French Revolutionary Wars, the Napoleonic Wars, and the War of 1812.

Sir Richard Williams is notable for being the first commanding officer of the Royal Marine Artillery, and for subsequently commanding the Portsmouth Division of Royal Marines during 1827–1835.

In American history he is remembered as the senior ranking officer of the Royal Marines to serve on the British North America and West Indies Station during the War of 1812.

Historian Paul Harris Nicolas (1790–1860), himself a former Royal Marine officer and the author of the two-volume Historical Record of the Marine Forces (1845), paid tribute to William's firm hand in controlling the conduct of his troops on foreign soil. Williams would not condone looting on the part of those under his command.

Williams joined the Marines in 1778 at the age of 14 as a second lieutenant. He was the older brother of Samuel Williams (1766–1824), who also served with distinction in the Royal Marines. Both Richard and Samuel Williams were the sons of Brevet Lieutenant Colonel (and Major) Bartholomew Williams (died 1797) of H. M. Marine Forces.

In the course of the American Revolutionary War, which involved Great Britain in war against France, Spain, and the Dutch Republic, Richard Williams served at sea, and was promoted to first lieutenant in the Marines in 1781. On 6 July 1782, while serving aboard the HMS Sultan, Williams was wounded in the naval Battle of Negapatam (1782), which opposed British and French fleets off the southeastern coast of India.

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