Talk:William John Wills

Elizabeth Margaret Wills
"Elizabeth Margaret Wills (b. 1843, married Humphrey Joseph Hare (b. 1835) in 1867, d. 14 December 2013)."

Shouldn't that maybe be 1913 instead of 2013? I don't think she lived for 170 years. I don't have any primary sources, though. --Anglerfisch (talk) 23:25, 23 October 2014 (UTC)

William John Wills' father
Hi Scott,

I refer to the wikipedia page for the explorer William John Wills, which says that Dr William Wills (the explorer's father) was baptized on 21 November 1790.

I can't reconcile this with census records. A transcription of an 1851 census record says that William Wills (M R C S Lond L S A Lond In General Practice), born in Totnes, was aged 47 (three years younger than his wife Sarah M. E. Wills).

The explorer-to-be was in a separate household with his brother, aunt and servant Annie Winters.

The 1841 census record for the family is consistent with the 1851 census records in respect of the ages of the people. It must be the right household. Note the presence in it of Ann Winter.

It seems to me that Dr William Wills must have been born in about 1803.

Bobhowlett (talk) 06:58, 27 March 2019 (UTC)


 * I agree your analysis sounds fine. I am also a contributor to Wikitree, so sought to follow the links form here to there to see if there was confirmation of either date. Unfortunately, all I found was a profile cited to William John Wills' Wikipedia article. As a first step, I have asked the Wikitree community for whether anyone there can confirm either date. I checked several of the references on the WJW article, but none provided an age or year of birth for his father, as I expect you have also discovered. Unless someone comes up with better evidence for the original dates, I think we should update the article here and the profile on Wikitree to match your research. Thank you. --Scott Davis Talk 12:49, 27 March 2019 (UTC)

I have subsequently found a little more. In the Ballarat Star of 25 February 1889 there is an article that asserts that Dr Wills was born at Compton Castle in Devon in 1803 or 1804. Compton Castle is in the parish of Marldon, and for the 1871 census Dr Wills said that he was born in Marldon.

Bobhowlett (talk) 20:39, 27 March 2019 (UTC)


 * That looks like it meets Wikipedia's sourcing requirements. I have passed the newspaper link to the Wikitree community to see if anyone can find more to tie it all together as someone found a 1790 record as well, but that doesn't prove it was the right William Wills.


 * Thank you for your comments at Wikitree G2G. There has been a bit more from others spurred by your addition. I think by the weekend we can probably update both Wikitree and Wikipedia to the later date. I've left a message for the Wikitree profile's manager to alert him that there could be major changes to that profile. I'll move this conversation to the article talk page to be archived there rather than on my talk page tomorrow too (unless you strongly object). Thank you for noticing and doing the research. Do you want to do the editing on either page under your name? I think you have enough sources to go ahead. --Scott Davis Talk 13:42, 28 March 2019 (UTC)

The conversation about William John Wills' father above this line has been moved from User talk:ScottDavis on 29 March 2019


 * OK, wikipedia page modified. I haven't included the information reported on wikitree that Dr Wills was born on 24 March 1804 and baptized on 8 April 1804 since it seems that one needs a subscription to FindMyPast to confirm it. --Bobhowlett talk 01:56, 30 March 2019 (UTC)