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George Williams (ymca)




Sir George Williams ( 1821 - 1905 ), was the founder of the YMCA .

Williams was born on October 11 , 1821 , on a farm in Dulverton, Somerset , England . As a young man, he described himself as a "careless, thoughtless, godless, swearing young fellow," but eventually became a devout Christian .

He went to London and worked in a Draper 's shop. Appalled by the terrible conditions in London for young working men, he gathered a group of his fellow drapers together to create a place that wouldn't tempt young men into sin. That place was the YMCA .

Williams was knighted in 1894 by Queen Victoria . After his death in 1905 , he was commemorated by a stained-glass window in the Nave of Westminster Abbey . Sir George Williams is buried in St. Paul's Cathedral .
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