Laurence Frederic Rushbrook Williams, CBE, FRSA (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.[1]
Williams was an Examination Fellow of All Souls' College, Oxford, between 1914 and 1921.[2][3] He built up a school of Mughal studies at the University of Allahabad,[4] where he worked as professor of Modern Indian History between 1914 and 1920.[1] He was briefly Eastern Services Director of the BBC,and also worked on the editorial staff of The Times (London) between 1944 and 1955.[1] He acted as a government advisor on Middle East and Asian affairs,[5] and contributed to publications like the Royal Central Asian Society Journal and the Encyclopædia Britannica.[4]
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.[6]
Williams wrote several works on India, Asia and the Middle East, among them the following: