BIO

The name Wills appears without a first name or initial in the team list for one game against local side Victorian at the Adelaide Oval on 9 July 1881. 

It is likely that this was Richard John Henry Wills, born to Richard Wills and Caroline Bruce on the 20th Feb 1862 . He was an only child and his father passed away weeks after his birth. His father Richard and uncle George had founded the wholesale softgoods firm G & R Wills & Co in 1853. Richard senior’s niece Elizabeth Susan Wills married another partner in the firm, Charles Rischbieth and their son Henry Wills Rischbieth played for Norwood with some distinction between 1886 and 1893. The family ties suggest that it was Richard John Henry Wills who established the connection with Norwood in 1881.

Newspaper reports and published team lists were often sketchy during the 19th century so Wills may have played more games or featured in association (seconds) games with Norwood.

Wills married Caroline Agnew Fedden in Gloucestershire UK in 1885 and they had three children together. He also had one son with Caroline Wills. He died from typhoid on 5 April 1901 in Kent Town , South Australia at the age of 39 and is buried in the North Road Cemetery at Nailsworth.

W Heading, D Cox Sept 2020