Sir Gilbert Wills, who became Lord Dulverton in 1929 was Chairman of the Imperial Tobacco Company from 1924 until 1947 and then its President. Earlier he had served as the Unionist MP for Taunton 1912-18 and for Weston-super-Mare 1918-22, but he gave up his political career in order to concentrate on his business interests and was soon to take on chairmanship of the company. A man of great wealth, he was a considerable benefactor of the City of Bristol and also of Guys Hospital. He was known to be conscientious almost to a fault and he took good care to get to know personally a great many of the thousands who worked for him. He had a natural talent for encouraging good relations and, as one of his friends put it, “enabling the wheels of life to turn smoothly”. He was also blessed with charm and a rather quirky sense of humour that helped him make and keep friends, and they in turn noted that he managed to derive considerable enjoyment from the many tasks to which he turned his hand. Through the patterns of his life ran three strong threads, his religion, his family life and the strong sense of duty that went far beyond his business into numerous other activities including innumerable individual acts of benevolence.
Gilbert Alan Hamilton Wills was born on 28 March 1880, the second son of Sir Frederick Wills, 1st Baronet, and his wife Annie , daughter of the Reverend James Hamilton DD. The Wills family were part owners of W. D. & H. O. Wills, tobacco importers and cigarette manufacturers, which in 1901 became part of Imperial Tobacco. Wills was educated privately and at Magdalen College, Oxford.
The year after he graduated he spent in the Wills factories in Bristol, gaining a thorough experience of the manufacturing processes of tobacco and cigarettes. However his great passion was hunting. He joined the Royal North Devon Yeomanry and formed the Dulverton Fox Hounds of which he was joint Master. He rode frequently at point to points in the west country. In 1908 he became an extra ADC to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland and during his four years in Ireland took full opportunity of the sporting opportunities that it offered. He also formed strong opinions on the question of Irish Home Rule.
In 1909 he succeeded his father in the Baronetcy and on 11 November1912 he was elected as the Unionist Member for Taunton. The bye-election had been caused by Peel’s elevation to the peerage and Wills managed to increase the majority, largely it was thought because of the unpopularity of the Insurance Act, although he had been encouraged to run on the “unconstitutionality” of the Government’s proposals for Irish Home Rule. It was claimed that Joseph Chamberlain had asked him to stand. He made his maiden speech opposing the Plural Voting Bill on 27 April 1914, but was not thereafter often on his feet in the House. He served throughout the 1914-18 war at first with the North Devon Yeomanry with whom he took part in the Gallipoli campaign, and then with the Machine Gun Corps fighting on the western front 1917-18. In the last year of the war he commanded a battalion of the Machine Gun Corps, was twice mentioned in despatches and in 1919 was made an OBE. He ended the war a Lieutenant Colonel and continued his connection with the Territorial Army as a member of the North Devon Hussars.
Since Taunton had been affected by redistribution, he chose the fight Weston-super-Mare in the 1918 election and was returned as a Coalition Unionist. He served on the Select Committee on Divorce Bills 1921. For a while he acted as PPS to the Postmaster General, but in 1921 indicated that he had decided not to fight his seat at the next election. He not only witnessed the assassination of Sir Henry Wilson in July 1922 but took part in the pursuit of the assassins during which two policeman were wounded. He was amongst those who called for a Select Committee to investigate the Honours Scandal and he voted against Chamberlain at the Carlton Club meeting. He remained true to his intent and left the Commons at The General Election which followed.
Wills had joined the Executive Committee of Imperial Tobacco (he had been a director before the war) and made up his mind to concentrate on his business career. In 1924 he succeeded his cousin, Sir George Wills, as Chairman. In 1929 he was made a Baron for political and public services, but seems to have made only one speech in the Lords.
His leadership of Imperial Tobacco was widely admired. He seemed blessed not only with shrewd judgement but a sure instinct for business and those who worked with him held him in considerable respect as well as affection. When he chose to stand down after 23 years, his decision was accepted with great regret and he was a hailed as a leader of outstanding ability and one who had brought the company great success. He was to say that the most outstanding things that happened during his chairmanship were the establishing of the company’s contributory pensions scheme and the creation in 1931 of the Tobacco Trade Association, a task to which he had given a great deal of time. In 1947 he handed on the chairmanship to Sir George Sinclair and accepted the request that he become President of the company. He continued to serve as a director of British-American Tobacco until 1950 and had served also as a director of the GWR.
As befitted a man of great wealth, he was munificent in his donations to good causes. For example, £85,000 made possible the restoration of St Mary Redcliffe, Bristol in 1933. . £50,000 had earlier gone to Guy’s Hospital in 1926 to remodel the casualty and outpatient department. He served as a Governor at Guys, but his generosity was not confined to that hospital. Shortly before he had given to the Middlesex Hospital. When Bristol University launched an appeal for £300,000 after the Second World War, he subscribed £50,000 before the launch and ensured that a further £25,000 came from Imperial Tobacco, A further large donation went to Bristol University for the restoration of the great hall in 1950. In 1953 he presented the City’s art gallery with one of the finest collections of Chinese porcelain to be found outside London. In 1952 he made the Church of England a present of Dulverton Hall, a home for retired clergy, at Scarborough. The Victoria League was another major beneficiary to the great benefit of the friendship and understanding that it established between peoples of the Commonwealth and even when he was ill he continued to take a lively interest in its affairs.
Wills was a Justice of the Peace for Somerset and Gloucestershire and had served as High Sheriff for Gloucestershire in 1928. In addition to his business interests, he took pride in his successful breeding of Devon cattle and took an active interest in farming an estate of more than 5,000 acres.
In addition to being a fine horseman Wills was a good shot until age and illness prevented him from continuing. He was also a fisherman and loved all things country. He took great pleasure from the knowledge that he had acquired of birds, trees and flowers, Although untaught, he loved to make music but only when he was sure that it did not distress others. He played both piano and organ and on one occasion composed a piece for a niece’s wedding. He was not only a patron of the arts but a fine amateur sculptor who exhibited twice at the Royal Academy. He had taken lessons from a well-known sculptor, but his passion for sculpture became so great that he felt compelled to desist lest it interfere with his care for his business.
He had married Victoria May, daughter of Rear Admiral Sir Edward Chichester, 9th Baronet, in 1914. There were three sons to the marriage.
He died on 1 December 1956, aged 76, and was succeeded in his titles by his eldest son Frederick Anthony. Lady Dulverton died in 1968.
Wills left £4,268,270 gross, £4,025,618 net and the estate paid duty of £3,155,493.
Wills was buried after a private funeral service at Batsford Parish Church conducted by the Bishop of Tewkesbury on 4 December 1956 and a memorial service was held simultaneously at Bourton-on-the-Hill. On the following day there was a memorial service in St Mary Redcliffe.
An obituary appeared in The Times on 3 December 1956 and was followed by several tributes.