He was born in
Warwickshire son of the Rev John Willes and his wife Anne (or Mary) Walker, daughter of Sir William Walker,
Mayor of Oxford. They belonged to a junior branch of the long-established Willes family of
Newbold Comyn; Sir
John Willes, the long-serving
Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, was his brother. He was educated at
Oriel College, Oxford and graduated with a
BA degree in 1712. While there he learned
cryptography from
William Blencowe. 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, which he held between 1718 and 1730. He subsequently deciphered the correspondence between
Francis Atterbury,
Bishop of Rochester, 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 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 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 that he should try to imitate his father in everything. Willes died in London in 1773, and is buried in
Westminster Abbey. ==References==