My friend Chris Williams, who has died of a heart attack aged 61, was a historian of Wales and its radical traditions who rose to be head of the school of history, archaeology and religion at Cardiff University and then head of Celtic studies and social sciences at University College Cork. He also wrote about Welsh history, including in his book Democratic Rhondda (1996), but was perhaps best known for his editing of the posthumous diaries of the Welsh actor Richard Burton.
His 2012 edition of the diaries did not please those who wanted them to include only tittle-tattle: typically, Chris aimed to ensure that Burton’s life and background were thoroughly explained and contextualised; it was the work of a real scholar.
Chris was born in Newport, in Gwent, to Josephine (nee Rogers), a music teacher, and Peter, a bank manager. He went to Churchfeld school in Swindon (now known as the Lawn Manor academy) before joining the army with the Duke of Edinburgh’s Royal Regiment. But he disliked the military life and left after a year to study modern history at Balliol College, Oxford, by which time his politics were already of the left. At Oxford he met Siobhan McClelland, another Balliol historian; they married in 1985, had a son, Harri, and Chris also became a father to Philip, Siobhan’s son from a previous relationship.
After Oxford Chris took a doctorate at Cardiff University under the cultural historian Dai Smith, whose imaginative, wide-ranging interpretation of Welsh culture and history profoundly influenced him.
His first job, in 1986, was as an associate lecturer at the Open University, after which he briefly became a lecturer at Coleg Harlech, an adult education college in Gwynedd, before moving to Cardiff University in 1988, rising to be a senior lecturer there. He remained at Cardiff until 2001, after which he was a sociology professor at the University of Glamorgan (2001-04) and Swansea University (2005-13) before returning to Cardiff. In 2017 Chris moved to University College Cork, where he remained until his death.
Chris’s other books included Capitalism, Community and Conflict: the South Wales Coalfield, 1898-1947 (1998), and Labour Party in Wales 1900-2000 (2001), which he co-edited. He was also a co-editor of, and a contributor to, volumes four and five of The Gwent County History (2009 and 2011).
His interests were wide, also including the history of mountaineering and political cartoons. He leaves unfinished books on both subjects along with an incomplete study of Newport in the 19th century.
Chris was a man of great warmth and fun, a loyal friend and remarkably down-to-earth.
His marriage to Siobhan ended in divorce in 1993. He is survived by his second wife, Sara (nee Spalding), whom he married in 2003, and their two sons, Samuel and Owen, and by Harri and Philip.
