Early Life and Career
Wills was born at Blackwell lodge in the neighborhood of Kilmurry, County Kilkenny, Ireland, the son of the Reverend James Wills (1790 - 1868), author of Lives of Illustrious and Distinguished Irishmen, and his wife Katherine Gorman Wills. As a young man, he was educated at Waterford Grammar School and later went to Trinity College, Dublin where he took no degree, but was awarded the Vice-Chancellor's Medal for his poem "Poland." He later left the university and studied at the Royal Hibernian Academy in Dublin where he studied painting.
Though he had originally planned to study law, WIlls preferred the arts. His first novel was Old Times, for which he also drew and engraved the illustrations. After publishing Old Times in an Irish magazine, he traveled to London, and for some time wrote for periodicals without much success. A second novel, The Wife's Evidence was dramatised with some success. Wills then chose to live a bohemian lifestyle, lodging at the Arundel Club. He later joined the Garrick Club.
For a period, he attempted to make a career as an artist. He set up as a portrait-painter in 1868. He had some success, despite limited artistic training, but his disorderly lifestyle and reputation for missing appointments undermined his career. He also painted narrative works.
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