His father, a tenant farmer had accumulated massive debts and quit the farmstead, offered his services and those of all six of his sons to the William of Orange in the Civil War. William gave them all commissions.

Wills served in Ireland, Flanders and Cadiz before being posted to the West Indies and then returning to Ireland in the winter of 1703.  Subsequently he served in Spain in the Peninsular War.

Returning to Britain, Wills was appointed commander of the regiments in Cheshire, assembled his forces in Manchester and marched on Wigan before progressing to the town of Preston which he surrounded until reinforcements arrived upon which the town surrendered.

Wills became Member of Parliament for Totnes in 1718 and served for twenty-three years.

Dying, unmarried, on December 25th, 1741 he was interred in Westminster Abbey with a memorial in the Guards Chapel.