.Francis Williams was born around 1700 to John and Dorothy Williams to a in Jamaica. John Williams had been freed and within ten years was able to acquire property. As free blacks the Williams family were increasingly in the minority as Jamaica's sugar industry, which relied on forced labour of Africans grew over the course of the 18th century. Even less common were educated black people. However John Williams' independent wealth ensured that Francis and his brothers received an education.
A story later evolved suggesting that Francis was the subject of a social experiment devised by the Duke of Montagu who wished to show that black individuals - with the right education - could match the intellectual achievements of whites. The Duke is reported to have sponsored Francis to travel to England to undertake an English education at a grammar school and then at Cambridge University. However, Francis does not appear in the university's records and his family's wealth would have probably made the Duke's support unnecessary.
Example of his poetry:
An Ode to George Haldane
Rash councils now, with each malignant plan,
Each faction, in that evil hour began,
At your approach are in confusion fled,
Nor while you rule, shall raise their dastard head.
Alike the master and the slave shall see
Their neck reliv'd, the yoke unbound by thee.