WILLIAMSON, SIR JOSEPH, second son of Rev. Joseph Williamson, Vicar of Bridekirk, Cumberland; bapt. 4 Aug 1633; adm.; Min. Can. (aged 16) 1650; Queen’s Coll. Oxford, bateller, matr. 18 Nov 1650; BA 2 Feb 1653/4; MA 1657 (incorp. Cambridge 1659); DCL 1674; Fellow, Queen’s Coll. 1657- Dec 1678; Under-Secretary, Secretary of State’s Office Jul 1660 – Sep 1674; Keeper of State Papers from 31 Dec 1661; Secretary to Sir Henry Bennet (afterwards 1st Earl of Arlington) (qv) 1662; adm. and called to bar, Middle Temple 25 Nov 1664; editor, The London Gazette, of which the first number was published 5 Feb 1666; Extra Clerk, Privy Council 9 May 1666-72, Clerk of the Council in Ordinary 24 Jan 1671/2 – res by 16 Sep 1674; MP Thetford 22 Oct 1669-81, 1685-7, Rochester 1690-1701; knighted 24 Jan 1671/2; adm. Lincoln’s Inn 1 Mar 1671/2; one of the three plenipotentiaries to the Congress of Cologne 1673-4; Secretary of State Sep 1674 – Feb 1678/9; Privy Councillor 11 Sep 1674; a Commissioner of the Admiralty 29 Sep 1674 – Feb 1678/9; refused to allow Daniel Skinner (qv) to publish Milton’s Latin State Letters and the treatise De Doctrina Christina, 1676; committed to the Tower of London by the House of Commons for passing commissions in favour of certain recusants, but promptly released by the King 1678; reappointed to Privy Council 21 Nov 1696; Joint Plenipotentiary at Congress of Nimeguen 1697; Envoy at the Hague 1697-9; FRS 20 May 1663 (one of the original Fellows), President 30 Nov 1677 – 30 Nov 1680; Master, Clothworkers’ Co. 1676; Recorder of Thetford 1682; an industrious and methodical man of affairs; befriended Dr. Lancelot Addison, who named his son Joseph after him; a great benefactor to Queen’s Coll. Oxford; m. Dec 1678 Catherine, widow of Lord O’Brien (son of 7th Earl of Thomond), and dau. of George Stuart, Lord D’Aubigny; d. 3 Oct 1701. Buried in Duke of Richmond’s vault, Henry VII’s Chapel, Westminster Abbey. DNB.