page_title: Jane Williams
section_title: Relationship with Edward Williams
hierarchical_section_title: Jane Williams / Relationship with Edward Williams
caption_attribution_description: William' Self Portrait
context_page_description: Jane Williams was a British woman best known for her association with the Romantic poet Percy Bysshe Shelley. Jane was raised in England and India, before marrying a naval officer and settling in London. She soon left him for another military officer, Edward Ellerker Williams. After Edward and she left England for Italy, they became acquainted with Percy and Mary Shelley. Though she never had a romantic relationship with Shelley, near the end of his life he became deeply infatuated with her and addressed several of his poems to her. After Shelley and Edward Williams perished in a boating accident, she lived with Thomas Jefferson Hogg, also a close friend of Shelley, and had two children with him. The rest of her life was spent as a housewife in London.
context_section_description: After John Johnson left on a voyage in May 1817 Jane decided to leave him for Edward Ellerker Williams, to whom she may have been introduced by John. Williams was an Eton College graduate who had served in the Navy before becoming a lieutenant in the 8th Dragoons. Edwards had inherited enough money from his father, a military historian and descendant of Oliver Cromwell, to allow them to live comfortably. Although they never legally married, she became his common-law wife and began referring to herself as Mrs. Jane Williams. Their relationship initially drew disapprobation from their families, with Jane's brother and Edward's stepmother reproaching them for their decisions. Jane's brother later apologised, and declared Johnson a "vile fellow". Edward's stepmother, however, always resented Jane. Though long distance mail moved very slowly then, Jane and her husband exchanged angry letters shortly after she left him for Edward. When John returned to London in late 1818, he made no attempt to force Jane to return to him, although it was his legal right to do so.
  Jane and Edward decided to leave London in 1819 after listening to Edward's friend Thomas Medwin discuss his travels of Europe. They travelled to Geneva in September 1819 and stayed in a house that Medwin had found for them. By the time they arrived, Jane was four months pregnant. In February 1820, she gave birth to their first child, Edward Medwin Williams. That summer, Jane became pregnant again. Medwin left Geneva in September 1820 to visit his cousin, Percy Shelley, in Pisa. Jane and Edward then travelled to France for several months, before joining Medwin and the Shelleys in Pisa in January 1821.
caption: Self-drawn sketch of Edward Williams
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