After graduating from Oxford, Willes took holy orders in the Church of England and was appointed in 1856 to his first ecclesiastical post as curate at Swinbrook, Oxfordshire.[2] In the same year he was appointed a fellow of Queen's College, a fellowship he would maintain until 1865.[3] In 1857, he became curate at King's Sutton, Northamptonshire. In 1860, he became a college tutor at Winchester College and three years later he became rector of St Swithun's Church in Winchester.[2] While engaged at Winchester College, Willes made one first-class appearance for the nascent Hampshire County Cricket Club in 1865, against Middlesex. He would make two further first-class appearances, both for the MCC at Lord's in 1866 and 1867.[4] His overall appearances in first-class cricket amounted to 22, in which he scored 416 runs at an average of 13.86; with his right-arm roundarm fast bowling, he took 20 wickets.[7] His ecclesiastical duties took him to Cornwall in 1865, with Willes spending a year as vicar at Helston. From there, he proceeded to Ashby Magna in Leicestershire to become rector there in 1866. He would maintain the rectorship at Ashby Magna until 1887, having been appointed an honorary canon of Peterborough Cathedral in 1871. Willes returned to Hampshire in 1887, upon being appointed rector at Monk Sherborne. He remained rector there until his death in September 1896,[2] following a short illness.[8] He had also been a justice of the peace in his latter years.[6] He had been married to Helena Mitchell Willes since 1862;[2] she was married to George Willes (1815–1862) until his death.[9] His cousin, George Willes (distinct from his wife's deceased husband), was also a first-class cricketer.
References
^Burke's Landed Gentry, 18th Ed., 1969, vol. II, 'Willes formerly of Newbold Comyn' pedigree