Major-General Edward Henry Willis, (5 September 1870 – 26 June 1961) was a

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

officer who became

Lieutenant Governor of Jersey The lieutenant governor of Jersey (Jèrriais:, "Governor of Jersey"), properly styled the lieutenant-governor of Jersey (), is the representative of the British monarch in the Bailiwick of Jersey, a dependency of the British Crown. Presentl ...

Background

Willis was the second son of Henry Scott Willis, a wool merchant of Northfield,

Trowbridge Trowbridge ( ) is the county town of Wiltshire, England; situated on the River Biss in the west of the county, close to the border with Somerset. The town lies south-east of Bath, Somerset, Bath, south-west of Swindon and south-east of Brist ...

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. His elder brother took over the family wool business, having served as a supernumerary captain (honorary major) with The Duke of Edinburgh's Regiment, and his

younger brother Younger Brother is an electronic duo formed in 2003 by Simon Posford and Benji Vaughan. Their debut album '' A Flock of Bleeps'' was released in 2003, followed by '' The Last Days of Gravity'' in 2007 and ''Vaccine'' in 2011. After making ...

was a provincial commissioner in Northern Rhodesia.

Military career

Willis was commissioned into the

Royal Field Artillery The Royal Field Artillery (RFA) of the British Army provided close artillery support for the infantry. It was created as a distinct arm of the Royal Regiment of Artillery on 1 July 1899, serving alongside the other two arms of the regiment, the ...

(RFA) as a second-lieutenant on 14 February 1890, promoted to

lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a Junior officer, junior commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations, as well as fire services, emergency medical services, Security agency, security services ...

on 14 February 1893, and to

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

on 19 January 1900. He was attached to the 60th battery RFA which was stationed in

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance in South Asia. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one form or another ...

until November 1902, when he was in command as they returned home. They were subsequently stationed at

Ballinrobe Ballinrobe () is a town in County Mayo in Ireland. It is located on the River Robe, which empties into Lough Mask two kilometres to the west. As of the 2022 census, the population was 3,148. The town is in a civil parish of the same name. Hist ...

County Mayo County Mayo (; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. In the West Region, Ireland, West of Ireland, in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Connacht, it is named after the village of Mayo, County Mayo, Mayo, now ge ...

. After serving in

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, during which he was promoted to temporary brigadier general in January 1916, he was appointed major general, Royal Artillery in 1921 and Director of the Royal Artillery in 1927. He became

in 1929 and retired in 1934.

Later life

Having been appointed CB, CMG and received the

Order of St Stanislaus The Order of Saint Stanislaus (, ), also spelled Stanislas, was a Polish order of knighthood founded in 1765 by King Stanisław August Poniatowski of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. It remained under the Kingdom of Poland between 1765 a ...

, 2nd Class (with swords) in the course of his career, Willis died at his house, Westlands, at

Saint Brélade St Brelade (Jèrriais and ) is one of the twelve parishes of Jersey in the Channel Islands. It is around west of St Helier. Its population was 11,012 as of 2021. The parish is the second-largest parish by surface area, covering 7,103 vergé ...

Jersey Jersey ( ; ), officially the Bailiwick of Jersey, is an autonomous and self-governing island territory of the British Islands. Although as a British Crown Dependency it is not a sovereign state, it has its own distinguishing civil and gov ...

on 26 June 1961. In 1904 he married Sarah Augusta Barlow, daughter of Micah Barlow. Their son, Major John Henry Willis, M.C., of the

12th Lancers The 12th (Prince of Wales's) Royal Lancers was a cavalry regiment of the British Army first formed in 1715. It saw service for three centuries, including the First World War and the Second World War. The regiment survived the immediate post-war ...

, was the second husband of the actress

Hermione Baddeley Hermione Youlanda Ruby Clinton-Baddeley (13 November 1906 – 19 August 1986) was an English actress of theatre, film, and television. She typically played brash, vulgar characters, often referred to as "brassy" or "blowsy".Folkart, Burt, "Note ...

, from 1940 until their 1946 divorce. In 1925, he married Ellis Mary, daughter of Alexander William Duke.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Willis, Edward 1870 births 1961 deaths 19th-century British Army personnel 20th-century British Army personnel British Army generals of World War I Companions of the Order of the Bath Companions of the Order of St Michael and St George British Army major generals Royal Field Artillery officers Governors of Jersey