George Williams (YMCA) place was the YMCA, which he founded on 6 June 1844. It promoted Muscular Christianity. One of the earliest converts and contributors to the new association was George's employer, George Hitchcock. It also provided a safe place for young men and women. Williams was knighted by Queen Victoria in her 1894 Birthday Honours. 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. Sir George Williams University in Montreal, which was founded by the YMCA, was named in commemoration of Williams; it was
George Fownes George Fownes George Fownes, FRS (14 May 1815 in London – 31 January 1849 in Brompton, Kent) was a British chemist. He attended the Palace School in Enfield. He obtained his PhD at Giesen, in Germany. From 1842 he was chemistry professor at the Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain, and from 1846 at University College, London. He was also secretary of the Chemical Society of London. In 1844, he published a chemistry textbook. In 1842, he had been awarded the Royal Agricultural Society's prize for his essay "Food of Plants". In 1844, he received the first Actonian Prize (of 100