Henry Wills

:for|United States Army soldier|Henry Wills (Medal of Honor recipient)

Henry Wills (1930– ) was a British journalist and photographer with a passion for local history and archeology. He is best remembered for his writings on British anti-invasion preparations of World War II, his most often cited work being "Pillboxes — A Study of UK Defences 1940".

Henry Wills worked for some years as a photographer for the "Salisbury Times" newspaper. Like many boys growing up in England, Pillboxes dating World War II were objects of curiosity. However, his serious interest in the topic was triggered when, in 1968, he was sent on a journalistic assignment to photograph the demolition of a pill box. His inquiries led him to conclude that there were few official records Britains wartime defences.

After some further investigation and some publicity on radio and in newspapers, he planned and organised the first nationwide survey of Britains defences. With the help of many volenteers, more than 5,000 defence sites were recorded.Wills, 1985, pVi, pVII]

The value of Henry Wills work was acknowledged by the British Archeological Trust and the British Broadcasting Corporation which awarded him the Chronical Award in 1979 . [cite web | title=The British Archaeological Awards, 1975 - 1996 | url=http://www.britarch.ac.uk/awards/baahist.html | accessdate=2007-03-22] After 15 years of work, he published "Pillboxes" in 1985.

Henry Wills work stimulated the interest of enthusiasts and academics including local historians and former soldiers. Their interest was given further impetus by the realisation that these underappreciated remains were disappearing at an alarming rate — mostly because of demolition to make way for new developments. A project to make a comprehensive survey of all 20th century defence works throughout the UK was formed. Between April 1995 and December 2001 the Defence of Britain Project, with funds from the National Heritage Lottery Fund, [Osborne, 2004, p9] compiled thousands of records.cite web | title=A Review Of The Defence of Britain Project | work=Report | url=http://www.britarch.ac.uk/projects/dob/review/index.html | accessdate=2006-05-30] The project also resulted in the discovery of many previously unsuspected contemporary records.

Henry Wills papers now comprise the Henry Wills collection at the National Monuments Record in Swindon.

References

Notes

General references

*cite book
last = Foot
first = William
title = Beaches, fields, streets, and hills ... the anti-invasion landscapes of England, 1940
publisher = Council for British Archaeology
year = 2006
isbn = 1-902771-53-2
*cite book
last = Osborne
first = Mike
title = Defending Britain ... twentieth century military structures in the landscape
publisher = Tempus Publishing
year = 2004
isbn = 0-7524-3134-X
*cite book
last = Wills
first = Henry
title = Pillboxes: A Study of UK Defences
publisher = Leo Cooper
year = 1985
isbn = 0-436-57360-1

External links

*cite web | title=Heritage Lottery Fund| url=http://www.hlf.org.uk/English/ | accessdate=2007-03-22
*cite web | title=National Monuments Records | url=http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/server/show/nav.1530 | accessdate=2007-03-22