Howard Williams (January 6, 1837 - September 21, 1931) was an English humanitarian and vegetarian campaigner, as well as a writer. He was well-known for writing The Ethics of Diet, a history of vegetarianism that influenced the Victorian vegetarian movement. Williams was born in Whatley, Mendip, on January 6, 1837, the fifth son of Reverend Hamilton John Williams and Margaret Sophia; one of his older brothers was the priest and animal rights and vegetarianism crusader Henry John Williams. He was home-schooled before going on to study history at St John's College, Cambridge, where he received his BA in 1860 and MA in 1863. Williams married Eliza Smith on November 20, 1860; she died in the early 1900s. Williams' first work, The Superstitions of Witchcraft, was published in 1865. Williams became a vegetarian and an anti-vivisectionist in 1872, and in 1883 he published The Ethics of Diet, a history of vegetarianism. Williams inspired and was a founder member of the Humanitarian League, which "opposed all avoidable suffering on any sentient being" in 1891. He served on the board for several years and wrote the "Pioneers of Humanity" section for the league's newspaper, which was eventually turned into a popular pamphlet.