Background
Willis was born in Ribbesford, Worcestershire, where his father was a tanner.
Willis was born in Ribbesford, Worcestershire, where his father was a tanner.
He was educated at Bewdley Grammar School and Wadham College, Oxford, where he matriculated in 1684 and graduated Bachelor in 1688.
He became a Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford. Willis became a curate at Cheshunt and then, in 1692, lecturer at Street Clement, Strand, where he acquired a reputation as a preacher. In 1694 he was chaplain to King William III on a journey to the Netherlands.
In 1701 Willis was appointed Dean of Lincoln and in 1714 Bishop of Gloucester.
In 1721 he became Bishop of Salisbury and in 1723 Bishop of Winchester. There is a memorial to him in Winchester Cathedral.
Willis was Lord High Almoner from 1718 to 1723. He was one of the principal founders of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge (SPCK).
He gave in 1702 the first of the annual sermons on behalf of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts (SPG).
He accused John Locke of “Hobbism” citing a parallel with Leviathan. He gave a thanksgiving sermon 23 August 1705, for victories of the Duke of Marlborough in the War of the Spanish Succession. Given in Street Paul"s Cathedral, it was an elaborate effort for a full state occasion, and was published.
He was also attacked by the Unitarian Thomas Emlyn.
He was a Whig in politics.