Charles Duane Williams was born on Saturday, August 11th, 1860 in Radnor, Pennsylvania. He was an American lawyer who died in the sinking of Titanic. He was the son of Duane Williams en Alice Norris.
Williams is generally regarded the main driving force behind the foundation of the International Tennis Federation in 1913. There are two versions of what he actually did. According to one version, he addressed the president of the Swiss Lawn Tennis Federation, Charles Barde, whom he told of his idea to found an international umbrella association for tennis. Barde then told this to the president of the French tennis organization, Henry Wallet. According to another version, Williams wrote a letter to Wallet directly in October 1911, proposing to hold an international tennis tournament at Paris (the French Championships were only open to players from French clubs at that time). As the Wimbledon Championships were seen as the world championships on grass courts, he proposed to introduce a world championships on clay. Williams' letter led to the introduction of the World Hard Court Championships at Paris in 1912. The tournament's organizing committee consisting of delegates from several countries later evolved the International Lawn Tennis Federation, which was founded on March 1, 1913 at Paris.
In April 1912, Williams planned to return to the United States along with his son, Richard Norris Williams ("Dick"), a in order to visit his wife, Lydia Biddle Williams-White. Both men boarded the RMS Titanic at Cherbourg, as First Class passengers.
After the collision with the iceberg on April 14 at 11:40 P.M., Charles and Richard went to the bar, only to find out it was closed. They asked a steward if he could open up but the steward said it was against regulations. Charles handed an empty flask to Richard. Richard's grandson Quincy II has since inherited this flask.
During the sinking, Charles and Richard were on the Boat Deck. When the Titanic made a dive forward and her bridge disappeared under water, they jumped into the water and started swimming away. Richard was swimming ahead of Charles when the forward funnel began to fall. Richard saw the funnel collapse, killing his father.
Richard would survive the sinking in Collapsible A and later go on to become a famous American tennis player.