Charles Wills

Sir Charles Wills KB PC (October 1666 – 25 December 1741) was an 18th-century British Army general and politician.

Born the son of Anthony Wills of St Goran, Cornwall, by 'Jenofer' (Guinevere), his wife, he was baptised at St. Goran on 23 October 1666. His father, whose family had been settled in Cornwall since early in the sixteenth century, farmed his own land, and, having encumbered his estate with debts, quit the same at the English Civil War and offered his services and those of six of his sons to the Prince of Orange , who, it is said, gave them all commissions. Charles Wills appears to have been appointed a subaltern in Colonel Thomas Erle's foot regiment (disbanded in 1698), with which corps he served in the Irish campaign. On 1 July 1691 he was appointed captain in the 19th Regiment of Foot, the colonelcy of which had been bestowed on Erle on 1 January 1691. Wills served several campaigns in Flanders, including the 1693 Battle of Landen. On 6 November 1694 he was appointed major to Colonel Thomas Saunderson's foot regiment, and on 1 May 1697 was promoted lieutenant-colonel. A few months later Saunderson's foot was disbanded and the officers placed on half-pay. On the formation of Viscount Charlemont's 36th Regiment of Foot in Ireland (28 June 1701), Wills was appointed to the lieutenant-colonelcy, and in the following spring embarked with his corps for Cadiz in Spain.

From Spain Charlemont's regiment was sent to the West Indies, where Wills gained distinction on the island of Guadeloupe, and several towns were burnt after the French troops had been defeated. In the action at La Bayliffe 'Colonel Wills behaved himself with great bravery' (London Gazette, 10 May 1703). He succeeded to the command of the troops on shore in April 1703; and, after burning and destroying the French towns and fortifications along the coast, he embarked his troops on board the squadron on 7 May 1703, bringing away all the captured French guns. After losing many officers and men in the West Indies, the 36th foot returned to Ireland in the winter of 1703–4.

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