Edward Willes (6 March 1693 – 24 November 1773) was an

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

bishop who was

Bishop of St David's The Bishop of St Davids is the ordinary of the Church in Wales Diocese of St Davids. The succession of bishops stretches back to Saint David who in the 6th century established his seat in what is today the city of St Davids in ...

and later

Bishop of Bath and Wells The Bishop of Bath and Wells heads the Church of England Diocese of Bath and Wells in the Province of Canterbury in England. The present diocese covers the overwhelmingly greater part of the (ceremonial) county of Somerset and a small area of D ...

and one of the most prominent English cryptanalysts of his time.

Life

He was born in

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It is bordered by Staffordshire and Leicestershire to the north, Northamptonshire to the east, Ox ...

son of the Rev John Willes and his wife Anne (or Mary) Walker, daughter of Sir William Walker,

Mayor of Oxford The earliest recorded mayor of Oxford in England was Laurence Kepeharm (1205–1207?). On 23 October 1962 the city was granted the honour of electing a Lord Mayor. Notable figures who have been Lord Mayor of Oxford include J. N. L. Baker (1964 ...

. They belonged to a junior branch of the long-established Willes family of

Newbold Comyn Newbold Comyn is a park on the Eastern edge of Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, England. History The first mention of Newbold Comyn in history was in the Domesday Book of 1086, which lists one of Leamington's two mills as being situated there. Th ...

; Sir John Willes, the long-serving

Chief Justice of the Common Pleas The chief justice of the common pleas was the head of the Court of Common Pleas, also known as the Common Bench, which was the second-highest common law Common law (also known as judicial precedent, judge-made law, or case law) is the body ...

, was his brother. He was educated at

Oriel College, Oxford Oriel College () is Colleges of the University of Oxford, a constituent college of the University of Oxford in Oxford, England. Located in Oriel Square, the college has the distinction of being the oldest royal foundation in Oxford (a title for ...

and graduated with a BA degree in 1712. While there he learned

cryptography Cryptography, or cryptology (from "hidden, secret"; and ''graphein'', "to write", or ''-logy, -logia'', "study", respectively), is the practice and study of techniques for secure communication in the presence of Adversary (cryptography), ...

from

William Blencowe William Blencowe ( Marston St. Lawrence, 6 January 1683 – Northampton, 25 August 1712) was a British scholar and cryptographer who was the first official ''Royal Encipherer'' appointed by Queen Anne of England. He worked for the English and oth ...

. In 1716 he became a Decipherer for George II, and distinguished himself by deciphering messages between Swedish diplomats which were sympathetic to the Jacobite cause. He was rewarded by the government by being granted the living of Barton in the Clay,

Bedfordshire Bedfordshire (; abbreviated ''Beds'') is a Ceremonial County, ceremonial county in the East of England. It is bordered by Northamptonshire to the north, Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Hertfordshire to the south and the south-east, and Buckin ...

, which he held between 1718 and 1730. He subsequently deciphered the correspondence between

Francis Atterbury Francis Atterbury (6 March 1663 – 22 February 1732) was an English man of letters, politician and bishop. A High Church Tory and Jacobite, he gained patronage under Queen Anne, but was mistrusted by the Hanoverian Whig ministries, and ban ...

Bishop of Rochester The Bishop of Rochester is the Ordinary (officer), ordinary of the Church of England's Diocese of Rochester in the Province of Canterbury. The town of Rochester, Kent, Rochester has the bishop's seat, at the Rochester Cathedral, Cathedral Chur ...

, and Jacobite exiles abroad between 1719 and 1722. His evidence at the trial secured the conviction and exile of Atterbury, and led to his being appointed a Canon of Westminster Abbey. He was

Dean of Lincoln Dean may refer to: People * Dean (given name) * Dean (surname), a surname of Anglo-Saxon English origin * Dean (South Korean singer), a stage name for singer Kwon Hyuk * Dean Delannoit, a Belgian singer most known by the mononym Dean * Dean S ...

1730–1743. In 1743 he became bishop of St. Davids and in 1744 he became Bishop of Bath and Wells. During his episcopate he undertook some repairs to the

Bishop's Palace A bishop's palace is a form of ecclesiastical architecture constituting the official residence of a bishop.The term was not used in the British Isles until the Church of England was restructured following the Norman Conquest of 1066 AD. However, th ...

in Wells. By his wife Jane, Willes had five sons and four daughters. He was a popular and respected man: one of his sons was reportedly told by the

Earl of Chesterfield Earl of Chesterfield, in the Derbyshire, County of Derby, was a title in the Peerage of England. It was created in 1628 for Philip Stanhope, 1st Earl of Chesterfield, Philip Stanhope, 1st Baron Stanhope. He had been created Baron Stanhope, of S ...

that he should try to imitate his father in everything. Willes died in London in 1773, and is buried in

Westminster Abbey Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is an Anglican church in the City of Westminster, London, England. Since 1066, it has been the location of the coronations of 40 English and British m ...

References

* David Kahn, ''The Codebreakers'', 1968.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Willes, Edward 1693 births 1773 deaths Alumni of Oriel College, Oxford Burials at Westminster Abbey 18th-century cryptographers British cryptographers Bishops of St Davids Bishops of Bath and Wells Deans of Lincoln 18th-century Church of England bishops Canons of Westminster Clergy from Warwickshire 18th-century Welsh Anglican bishops