Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 62.djvu/56

 at Drury Lane, and severely criticised the acting of Charles Kean. Among his other contributions in prose and verse were ‘Punch's Natural History of Courtship’ (illustrated by Sir John Gilbert), ‘Punch's Comic Mythology,’ ‘Information for the People,’ and skits such as ‘The Burst Boiler and the Broken Heart,’ and ‘The Uncles of England,’ in praise of pawnbrokers. In 1846 he wrote for the ‘Almanac,’ but his contributions were thenceforth infrequent.

Wills began his lifelong association with Dickens in 1846, when he became one of the sub-editors of the ‘Daily News’ under him. Soon afterwards he went to Edinburgh to edit ‘Chambers's Journal,’ but two years later returned to London to become Dickens's secretary. In 1849, on John Forster's suggestion, Wills was made assistant editor of ‘Household Words,’ and was given the same position by Dickens when, ten years later, ‘All the Year Round’ was incorporated with it. His business capacity was invaluable to Dickens, and he was one of the most intimate friends of the novelist in later life. At the end of 1851 Wills accompanied Dickens on his theatrical tour in connection with the Guild of Literature and Art, to the temporary success of which his exertions largely contributed.

In 1868, while Dickens was in America, Wills suffered concussion of the brain from an accident in the hunting field, and was disabled from his duties as editor of ‘All the Year Round.’ He never recovered, and retired from active work. The remaining years of his life Wills spent at Welwyn, Hertfordshire, where he acted as magistrate and chairman of the board of guardians. He died there on 1 Sept. 1880.

Wills edited, in 1850, ‘Sir Roger de Coverley by the Spectator,’ illustrated by engravings from designs by Frederick Taylor (1851, 16mo; Boston, Massachusetts, 1851, 12mo; reissued in the ‘Traveller's Library,’ 1856, 8vo).

Wills also published ‘Old Leaves gathered from Household Words’ (1860, 8vo), dedicated to Dickens. The book consists of thirty-seven descriptive sketches of places and events. In 1861 he issued a quarto volume, ‘Poets' Wit and Humour,’ illustrated by a hundred engravings from drawings by C. Bennett and G. H. Thomas. Two pieces, ‘A Lyric for Lovers’ and an ‘Ode to Big Ben,’ the latter of which originally appeared in ‘Punch,’ were from his own pen. The book was republished in 1882. Wills also republished under the title ‘Light and Dark’ some of his contributions to ‘Chambers's Journal.’ He was a fluent writer both in prose and verse, with a faint tinge of pedantry, which afforded Dickens much amusement. Douglas Jerrold was fond of exercising his wit at his expense, and Wills had enough humour to enjoy the situation. The Baroness Burdett-Coutts had for many years the advantage of Wills's judgment and experience in the conduct of her philanthropic undertakings.

Wills married Janet, youngest sister of William and Robert Chambers, the Edinburgh publishers. She was a woman of strong character, and a great favourite with Dickens, in whose correspondence her name frequently appears. She had an extensive knowledge of Scottish literature, and a large fund of anecdotes, and was for many years the centre of a wide literary and social circle. She died on 24 Oct. 1892. At her death the sum of 1,000l. accrued to the newspaper press fund, in which Wills had interested himself after the failure of the Guild of Literature and Art.



WILLS, WILLIAM JOHN (1834–1861), Australian explorer, the son of William Wills, a medical man, was born at Totnes, Devonshire, on 5 Jan. 1834, and educated at Ashburton school till 1850, when he was articled to his father, and at intervals from 1850 to 1852 studied medicine in London, both at Guy's and St. Bartholomew's hospitals. On 1 Oct. 1852, carrying out an idea which his father had already formed, he emigrated with his brother to Victoria, and started life as a shepherd at 30l. a year and rations. In 1853 he was joined by his father, and settled at Ballarat, where for almost a year he acted as his father's assistant. He was, however, always pining for the open air and the bush, and in 1855 he obtained admission as a volunteer to the office of the surveyor of crown lands for the district. Here his aptitude for astronomical work and surveying was soon recognised. In 1858 he was employed on his first field survey for the department. In November 1858, on the institution of the magnetic and meteorological observatory at Melbourne, he was appointed to the staff.

In 1860 Wills was appointed third in command of the exploring expedition sent