Born on 11 April 1910 in Cardiff, the third child and only son of Obadiah Williams, a mining engineer, and his wife, Ruth Williams, an hereditary freeman of the borough of Llantrisant, Glamorganshire, Emlyn was educated at Cardiff High School, the Welsh National School of Medicine and St Bartholomew's Hospital. After qualifying in 1933 he carried out numerous resident appointments; at Cardiff where he was house surgeon to Lambert Rogers; in London at the Royal Postgraduate Medical School he was house surgeon to Grey Turner; and at the Royal Surrey County Hospital where he was resident surgical officer. During the second world war, he served in the Royal Navy as surgical specialist with the rank of Lieutenant-Commander and he received the Volunteer Reserve Decoration. After release from service in 1946 he came to Hampstead General Hospital as surgical registrar to Sir Heneage Ogilvie, Clifford Morson and O V Lloyd-Davies. Two years later he was appointed to the consultant staff of the hospital, which subsequently became incorporated into the Royal Free Hospital teaching group. He also held clinical assistant appointments at St Peter's and St Mark's hospitals. Emlyn Williams married on 30 April 1940 Zoe Irene, daughter of Major Richard Ralph Baldwin Wall, Royal Artillery, and granddaughter of Surgeon-General Thomas Frederick Wall, MD, attached to the Royal Inniskillen Fusiliers. They had four sons, of whom the eldest qualified in medicine at the Middlesex Hospital. Emlyn was a man of ideal surgical temperament; confident, imperturbable, conscientious, clear-thinking and a perfectionist in all he did. He was a great family man and found most relaxation in his Pembrokeshire holiday home, sailing and fishing with his children. He was a keen sportsman and played in the Welsh Rugby trials. He was fond of golf, gardening, music and painting. He died on 5 April 1976, aged 65.