Henry Overton Wills III


Henry Overton Wills III of Kelston Knoll, near Bath in Somerset, was a prominent and wealthy member of the Bristol tobacco manufacturing family of Wills which founded the firm of W. D. & H. O. Wills. As a philanthropist his best-known act was the funding of the University of Bristol, founded in 1909, of which he became the first Chancellor.

Origins

He was the eldest of the 18 children of Henry Overton Wills II by his first wife Isabella Board. He was a first-cousin of William Henry Wills, 1st Baron Winterstoke, the first Chairman of Imperial Tobacco, formed by the merger of the family's original business with twelve other tobacco firms. He was the elder brother of Sir Edward Payson Wills, 1st Baronet of Hazelwood and Clapton-in-Gordano and of Sir Frederick Wills, 1st Baronet of Northmoor. His younger half-brother was Sir Frank William Wills, Knight, Lord Mayor of Bristol.

Career

Wills entered the family firm of W. D. & H. O. Wills in 1846, but retired from active association with the business in 1880, due to poor health. When the formation of Imperial Tobacco greatly increased the family’s wealth, various members began to contribute significant amounts of money to local causes. The most significant of these was announced in 1908 by his eldest son Sir George Alfred Wills, 1st Baronet, when he read a letter from his father promising £100,000 to fund a university at Bristol if a royal charter for the purpose could be obtained within two years. With the charter and further funding quickly obtained, the University of Bristol was founded in 1909 with Henry as its first Chancellor.

Marriage and children

In 1853 at Plymouth in Devon he married Alice Hopkinson, by whom he had issue including:
He died on 4 September 1911 at Kelston Knoll and was buried in Arnos Grove Cemetery in Bristol, where survives his monument, together with many others of the Wills family. His estate was valued at £5,214,821, about £520 million in today's money.

Legacy

The Wills Memorial Building, one of the landmark buildings of Bristol University, was built in Henry's honour by his sons George and Harry. One of the Wills' family homes, Downside House in Bristol, is now a hall of residence known as Wills Hall for the university.