Leonard John Willis was born in Lee, which was in Kent at the time of his birth and listing on the 1881 UK Census. He was the son of Judge William Willis, MP QC KC and his first wife, Annie Outhwaite, and attended private boarding school at Arthur House.
In 1904 he relocated to Quesnel, British Columbia, Canada where he worked as a clerk, surveyor, assayer, and accountant for the Hudson Bay Company in the gold fields of Cariboo. There, he met and in 1912 married his first wife, Phoebe Margaret Foot, who died two years later, possibly in childbirth. In mid-1914, his sister-in-law, Margaret (Blenkiron) Willis was despatched to Canada to return him to England.
He does not appear to have served in World War I, but was employed in 1918 to assist in demobilising troops returning from the War. On 04 July 1918 he married Winifred Violet Kerr, with whom he had two children: Violet Joyce (Willis) Pellman (1919-2010) and John Raymond Willis (1920-1992).
For most of the 1920s he owned and operated a farm in Laindon, Essex. In 1928 or 1929 economic conditions forced the sale of the farm and the family moved briefly to Sydenham. In 1931, his sister-in-law, Edith Kathleen Kerr, arranged his employment as a groundskeeper at the employee recreation facilities of the Craven-A Tobacco Company in Edgware, Middlesex.
Shortly before the outbreak of World War II he lost his job at Craven-A and moved back to Sydenham, where he died of prostate cancer on 25 July 1941.
In 1904 he relocated to Quesnel, British Columbia, Canada where he worked as a clerk, surveyor, assayer, and accountant for the Hudson Bay Company in the gold fields of Cariboo. There, he met and in 1912 married his first wife, Phoebe Margaret Foot, who died two years later, possibly in childbirth. In mid-1914, his sister-in-law, Margaret (Blenkiron) Willis was despatched to Canada to return him to England.
He does not appear to have served in World War I, but was employed in 1918 to assist in demobilising troops returning from the War. On 04 July 1918 he married Winifred Violet Kerr, with whom he had two children: Violet Joyce (Willis) Pellman (1919-2010) and John Raymond Willis (1920-1992).
For most of the 1920s he owned and operated a farm in Laindon, Essex. In 1928 or 1929 economic conditions forced the sale of the farm and the family moved briefly to Sydenham. In 1931, his sister-in-law, Edith Kathleen Kerr, arranged his employment as a groundskeeper at the employee recreation facilities of the Craven-A Tobacco Company in Edgware, Middlesex.
Shortly before the outbreak of World War II he lost his job at Craven-A and moved back to Sydenham, where he died of prostate cancer on 25 July 1941.
Leonard John Willis was born in Lee, which was in Kent at the time of his birth and listing on the 1881 UK Census. He was the son of Judge William Willis, MP QC KC and his first wife, Annie Outhwaite, and attended private boarding school at Arthur House.
In 1904 he relocated to Quesnel, British Columbia, Canada where he worked as a clerk, surveyor, assayer, and accountant for the Hudson Bay Company in the gold fields of Cariboo. There, he met and in 1912 married his first wife, Phoebe Margaret Foot, who died two years later, possibly in childbirth. In mid-1914, his sister-in-law, Margaret (Blenkiron) Willis was despatched to Canada to return him to England.
He does not appear to have served in World War I, but was employed in 1918 to assist in demobilising troops returning from the War. On 04 July 1918 he married Winifred Violet Kerr, with whom he had two children: Violet Joyce (Willis) Pellman (1919-2010) and John Raymond Willis (1920-1992).
For most of the 1920s he owned and operated a farm in Laindon, Essex. In 1928 or 1929 economic conditions forced the sale of the farm and the family moved briefly to Sydenham. In 1931, his sister-in-law, Edith Kathleen Kerr, arranged his employment as a groundskeeper at the employee recreation facilities of the Craven-A Tobacco Company in Edgware, Middlesex.
Shortly before the outbreak of World War II he lost his job at Craven-A and moved back to Sydenham, where he died of prostate cancer on 25 July 1941.
In 1904 he relocated to Quesnel, British Columbia, Canada where he worked as a clerk, surveyor, assayer, and accountant for the Hudson Bay Company in the gold fields of Cariboo. There, he met and in 1912 married his first wife, Phoebe Margaret Foot, who died two years later, possibly in childbirth. In mid-1914, his sister-in-law, Margaret (Blenkiron) Willis was despatched to Canada to return him to England.
He does not appear to have served in World War I, but was employed in 1918 to assist in demobilising troops returning from the War. On 04 July 1918 he married Winifred Violet Kerr, with whom he had two children: Violet Joyce (Willis) Pellman (1919-2010) and John Raymond Willis (1920-1992).
For most of the 1920s he owned and operated a farm in Laindon, Essex. In 1928 or 1929 economic conditions forced the sale of the farm and the family moved briefly to Sydenham. In 1931, his sister-in-law, Edith Kathleen Kerr, arranged his employment as a groundskeeper at the employee recreation facilities of the Craven-A Tobacco Company in Edgware, Middlesex.
Shortly before the outbreak of World War II he lost his job at Craven-A and moved back to Sydenham, where he died of prostate cancer on 25 July 1941.
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