The son of
Sir Edward Payson Wills, 1st Baronet, and of Lady Wills (she was Mary Ann, elder daughter of J. Chaning Pearce, of Montagu House, Bath), Wills was born in 1869. He was educated at
Monkton Combe School, just outside Bath in Somerset from 1884 to 1885. He succeeded his elder brother in the
baronetcy in 1921. The Wills family were part owners of
W. D. & H. O. Wills, tobacco importers and cigarette manufacturers, which had been founded in
Bristol by Wills's great-grandfather,
Henry Overton Wills I, in 1786, and later became part of
Imperial Tobacco. Wills was a cousin of
Gilbert Wills, 1st Baron Dulverton, Sir
George Alfred Wills, Baronet of Blagdon, and a nephew of
Henry Overton Wills III,
Sir Frederick Wills Bt &
Sir Frank William Wills Kt. In 1894, Wills married Caroline Fanny Maud, daughter of William Augustine de Winton, of Westbury Lodge, Durdham Down, Bristol, and they had two sons and three daughters. • Doris Maud de Winton-Wills (9 August 1896 – 29 September 1968) married (14 June 1920) Norman Carl Haag, HM's Consul-General at Basel, Switzerland • Margaret Joyce de Winton-Wills (21 June 1898 – 10 October 1976) married (10 June 1918) Thomas Trevor Kyffin, son of Dr John Kyffin • Barbara Joan de Winton-Wills (23 February 1902) married (28 October 1925) Lt.-Col. Thomas Ansell Fairhurst, Lord of the Manor of Arlington • Lt.-Col. Sir Ernest Edward de Winton-Wills, 4th Baronet of Hazelwood, Laird of Meggernie Castle, Scots Guards (8 December 1903 – August 1983) married firstly (26 January 1926) Sylvia Margaret Ogden at St Margaret's Westminster, and secondly (29 June 1949) Juliet Eve Graham-Clarke at Gloucester Cathedral • Major George Seton Wills (18 May 1911 – 4 February 1979) married (30 October 1935) Lilah Mary Hare, daughter of Captain Percy Richard Hare Wills owned substantial properties in England and Scotland:
Clapton Court, Somerset;
Ramsbury Manor and
Littlecote House (the family seat) in Wiltshire, acquired in 1929; and
Meggernie Castle in Perthshire. He also owned the ''Château de l'oiseau bleu'' at
Menton on the
French Riviera. He was a director of Imperial Tobacco and of the
Portishead District Water Company. Sir Ernest was succeeded in the title by his elder son; Lieutenant-Colonel Sir (Ernest) Edward de Winton Wills, 4th Baronet of Hazelwood, Laird of Meggernie Castle (1944),
Scots Guards; the Officer Commanding the Royal Guard of HM King George VI, at Balmoral Castle. Sir Ernest's most notable grandchildren are: •
David Brudenell-Bruce, 9th Marquess of Ailesbury • Anthony Weld-Forester, of
Sotheby's • Major Philip Bonn, a cousin of
Queen Camilla (through her great grandparents; who are respectively his paternal great great uncle and great great aunt, being Lieutenant-Colonel the Hon
George Keppel and Mrs George Keppel (
Alice Keppel); and through his great great grandmother; Lady Theodora Keppel, of
Hampton Court Palace (being the great great grandmother of the Queen) and also through the various mutually shared descents, through the
Dukes of Newcastle; and via the
House of Stuart. ==References==