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DIAMONDS UNLIMITED by P.H.E. BURGESS
Published by The Adventure Club, UK - 1960

In this remarkable autobiography ex-Chief Inspector Percy Burgess of the C.I.D. tells of the challenge he accepted when he became Chief Security Officer of the Williamson Diamond Mine at Mwadui, Tanganyika. As he suspected, pressure of circumstances had virtually forced his appointment upon Dr. Williamson, owner of reputedly the world's richest diamond mine; and in a place where scarcely any security organisation existed Burgess set to work to bring some order out of chaos. This book is of the tremendous difficulties Burgess had to face and overcome - with little help, it may be said, from Dr. Williamson, the brilliant Canadian geologist who discovered and owned the mine. From the absorbing background of Diamonds Unlimited emerges the first full-length portrait of Dr. Williamson, the eccentric individualist who was potentially one of the world's richest men and yet an oddly simple, unpredictable and perverse personality. The objectivity and perception of a London policeman in one of the strangest and remotest parts of Africa throw new light on some problems of the continent and bring to life without exaggeration or romanticism a picture of a extra-ordinary man in extraordinary circumstances.

THE DIAMOND SEEKER - The story of John Williamson by JOHN GAWAINE
Published by MACMILLAN South Africa - 1976

John Williamson, a Canadian graduated brilliantly in Geology from McGill University in Montreal, obtaining a B.A., M.Sc., and Ph.D. all in the space of four years. He was a man with a dream, and the faith and tenacity to carry on beyond all reasonable human limits to prove his conviction - that a rich diamond pipe existed south of Lake Victoria in Tanganyika. Year after year with his two faithful African helpers, he toiled under the pitiless sun in the fever-ridden Territory, suffering appalling privations as his debts mounted and prospects faded. THE DIAMOND SEEKER is the story of Williamson's supreme dedication and courage that at times kept him just one step ahead of despair in the face of almost insurmountable odds until success beyond all measure at last crowned his efforts. Success, however, that would have been thwarted as it lay within reach, but for the love of a beautiful woman and the material support of an Asian lawyer. Success, too that brought prosperity and benefits to impoverished Tanganyika, made a major contribution to the British was effort in the Second World War, and earned Williamson a vast personal fortune. This stranger-than-fiction true story gives an enthralling insight into the great and complex personality of John Williamson - the brilliant academic and bar-room practical joker, ruthless yet extravagantly generous, tough rugged and tender, the loner and the life-and-soul of the party, the womaniser and idealist who could command lifelong devotion from a woman, yet never married. Men loved or hated him, but none could ever ignore him.

Knave of Diamonds written by Mona Fourie
Published by Arthur H. Stockwell Ltd, Ilfracombe, Devon

A pen portrait of the late diamond tycoon, world famous Dr John Thorburn Williamson, "Knave of Diamonds", has been written by a personal friend of many years standing. The authors aim has been to show the human and understanding side of the man, as opposed to the mythical figure, sometimes depicted in the press and elsewhere as a ruthless, power-mad tyrant. Mrs Fourie's book contains many humorous and even moving anecdotes of her life at Mwadui, in Tanganyika, from the early days until the death of Dr Williamson in January 1958. She has written it, she says to his memory, and many of his ex-employees in whichever part of the globe they now may be, will find it an interesting, amusing, and worth-while souvenir of "Doc".

Mona Fourie lived on the mine in the very early days and
was close to Dr Williamson.