Great YarmouthBy Charlie Barker, via Flickr

The Reverend Thomas Frederick Willis

Born in London in 1838, son of the Rev. Thomas Willis, and died at Kensington 20 October 1928. Educated at Radley and Eton, and then Exeter College, Oxford (B.A. 1861). Ordained Deacon 16 March 1862 by the Bishop of Norwich at Norwich Cathedral, and priest by the Bishop of Oxford at Cuddesdon, 22 October 1867, and then nominated to a curacy in Cowley, Oxford (Oxford Times, Saturday 12 October 1867). Enumerated as Curate of St Mary's House in Wantage, Berkshire in 1871, a widower. Apppointed curate of Dartington in Devon, September 1872. (Western Times, Friday 20 September 1872)

Mr Willis has been giving trouble. When he came on Easter Monday, he entreated us to flog his son for idleness and untruth. I did not do so, hoping that the visit of his parents might soften him and release me from the necessity. However, he told Savory a lie, and so he was sharply whipped. After this, his father wrote again, to beg me to flog him soundly for disobedience to his positive orders. This I did – and the very next day he told at least 20 lies about his sums, so I separated him entirely from the boys, kept him away from Chapel, and gave him a very simple diet, – intending to whip him again, when his back should be recovered, – which however, I did not do, hoping that the confinement would prove sufficient. Wrote the father an account of what had occurred, and of my intentions, feeling great comfort in the thought that he would thoroughly support me in all I was doing. But I reckoned without my host, – for such a violent letter as he sent I never received in all my life; – saying that the College was ‘wreaking its vengeance upon a lad, who was only bringing forth the natural fruits of the neglect of the College’; at the same time rating me sharply for not having flogged him twice at the very moment when he called upon me to do so. Then, ‘had I set him down to the piano? Had I looked at his drawings? His son would be ruined if he were not treated differently.’ Mrs Willis, too, must fire a philippic at me. The boy was made to do work far below his talents and powers, and, in order to save himself from labour more suited to them, had recourse to deceit. No doubt I had not yet discovered his love for poetry; – and so on. To all this outrageous, and insolent, nonsense, I simply replied, that if he did not retract every word of it, and moreover, make a promise never to interfere again between me and his son, I would send him home. What made it worse was, that he absolutely enclosed me a letter just received from the boy, showing how wicked he had been, detailing my mode of managing him, and saying that he was going ‘to do his best to please the warden.’ This morning I got a letter making the amplest apology. We all think Mr Willis is mad, and Howard has written to Mr Mason to ask him if he has ever been so. His manners are certainly very odd. 6 Jun 1848, from the Radley College Archives

Crockfords of 1874 has him as Assistant curate of Great Yarmouth, 1862-63; St. George Mission, London Docks, 1863-65; St. Paul, Brighton, 1865-67; Cowley, 1867-70; Wantage, 1870-72, but then in 1876 he converted to Catholicism, apparently with the help of Cardinal Newman:

The Oratory May 7, 1876 - My dear Fr Coleridge - the bearer of this is likely soon to be a Catholic please God - but, as he is married, he has to look about him for a roof to shelter him, when he leaves his parish abode. He has come to London for information and advice - and I venture to give him an introduction, among other persons, to you. - You affectly in Xt - John H Newman - PS You can tell him, perhaps, whom to go to for advice etc. His name is Revd T. F. Willis. The Letters and Diaries of John Henry Cardinal Newman: Vol. XXVIII, OUP, 1975

In 1881 living in Chelsea as a Tutor of English, Literature and Classics, and in 1891 living in St Johns Wood as a tutor in Classics and Physics. Still tutoring in London in 1901 and 1911.

Married firstly on 14 January 1864 at St Nicholas, Great Yarmouth to Eleanor, "eldest daughter of the late Capt. James Farthing, of Bath-place". She died aged 24 in 1870, and was buried at Cowley St. James, Oxford, 27 June 1870. Issue 4 daughters:

  1. Etheldreda Willis, born in Yarmouth about 1864 and baptised there 11 November 1864. Appears to have become a Roman Catholic nun; enumerated at Kensington Square Convent in London in 1901, and at St Mary's Convent, Shanklin, Isle of Wight in 1911. Died at 23 Kensington Square, Kensington (her convent) on 14 August 1918.

  2. Mary Willis, born in Brighton about 1866, and baptised at St Nicholas, Brighton, 25 March 1866. Living with her parents in 1871 and 1881.

  3. Bertha Willis, born in Oxford about 1868. Became a Roman Catholic nun; at the Convent of the Assumption in Ramsgate in 1891, and at the Convent of the Assumption in Kensington Square in 1911, where she died 22 February 1915.

  4. Catherine Willis, born in Oxford about 1869. Enumerated with her family in 1871, 1881 and 1891. Became a nun at the Assumption Convent, Amalievy, Copenhaegn, and died at Roskilda 14 May 1919.

Married secondly at St. Nicholas, Brighton, on 6 August 1872, to Elizabeth Francis Alice Milner. She was born in Camberwell 9 December 1846, daughter of John Milner, a Stockbroker, became a Catholic in 1883, and died 27 March 1932 at Norfolk Mansions.

Issue four daughters and one son, and another child who didn't survive:

  1. Eleanor Katherine Mary Willis, born at Brooking in Devon about 1874. Enumerated with her parents until 1901, and on the electoral roll at 8 Norfolk Mansions, Putney, in 1918-28, where she lived with her widowed Sister-in-Law Margaret. Died 15 May 1933.

  2. Bernadetta Emily A Willis, born at Brighton about 1878. Became a Roman Catholic Nun; returned from living in the US in 1912 as Sister Bernadetta Willis.

  3. Alice Teresa M Willis, born in London about 1880, and died 1881.

  4. Agnes Cecilia Margaret Willis, born in London in 1881. Became a Roman Catholic nun; enumerated in 1911 at St Bernard's convent in Slough, and was still living there when she died 17 October 1951 (though she died at St George's retreat, Ditchling, Sussex).

  5. Thomas H E Ambrose Willis, born in London 4 May 1885 (baptised by Cardinal Manning) and died 8 December 1917 in Syria, a liuetenant in the 18th London regiment. Living at 8 Norfolk Mansions, Putney, in 1911 ('newspaper publisher'). Educated at St. Paul's School 1898 - 1902, and at London University, and then became first a Civil Engineer, and then a Catholic publisher.

    Married at St George, Hanover Square, in 1910 to Margaret Lizzie Barcham. She was born at Mundesley in Norfolk in about 1879, and lived on at Norfolk Mansions until her death on 14 December 1957.

    Mr. James Donovan, owing to failing health, has placed his resignation as publisher and business manager of the Tablet in the hands of the trustees. He is to be succeeded by Mr. Ambrose Willis. "Ecclesiastical Intelligence." The Times [London, England] 4 Apr. 1910, p4.

    With great regret we announce the death of Mr. Ambrose Willis — killed in action in Palestine. For some years Mr. Willis was the publisher and manager of THE TABLET; but when the war came he felt it his duty to volunteer for 'the Front, and went. As a lieutenant in the London Irish Regiment he was sent to the Holy Land, and was killed on the 8th of December. No particulars as to the manner of his death have yet been received, but his friends need no assurance that he died as he lived — doing his duty to the utmost. The Tablet, 15 December 1917, p28

    The Cathedral : Requiem for Lieut. Ambrose Willis. — The widespread affectionate regard felt for Lieut. Ambrose Willis, killed in action at Jerusalem on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception,was typified by the large congregation that gathered at the Solemn Requiem which was offered for him in Westminster Cathedral on Friday in last week. His bereaved relatives were present — his father, mother, his widow, his sister (the only sister, we believe,who is not in a religious order) — and many intimate friends, but also there were very many who made a point of being present because of the affection for him engendered during association with him in various Catholic activities. This was the case with Father Herbert F. Hall, the celebrant of the Mass, and with Father Francis Ross, who was present in the sanctuary, and who had worked with Mr. Willis for the Propagation of the Faith. Mr. J. G.Snead-Cox, editor of The Tablet, of which Mr. Willis was for some time manager and publisher, was present. Fellow officers of his regiment assisted, Major J. E. Payton, Lieut. P. B. Palmer, and Lieut. E. R. Mayle. Father John Cooney headed a deputation from the parish of St. Thomas, Wandsworth, where Mr. Willis resided, and was universally esteemed. Lieut. C. B. R. Collenette,a former chorister of the Cathedral, and the recipient of the Military Cross on the previous day, was present from the same motive. Private Edwin E. Watson and Miss Cooper had been his fellow workers in the Catholic Reading Guild ; Miss Bartholeynsde Fosselaert in the Society for the Propagation of the Faith ;Father T. M. McGuckin had known him intimately at Corpus Christi, Maiden Lane ; Miss Dillon represented a sister who had worked in close association with him, and is now a nun. These few names are typical of the many. The catafalque was draped with the Union Jack, and upon it lay helmet and sword. The Cathedral choir sang the music of the Mass, and at its close the regimental buglers sounded the "Last Post," and a Funeral March was played. — -R.I.P. The Tablet, 12 January 1918, p28