Sir John Willes (1685–1761)
John Willes, English judge and politician, was born at Bishop's Itchington in Warwickshire on 29 November 1685. A holder of multiple degrees from Trinity College at Oxford, he was called to the bar in 1713. In ensuing years he served as king's counsel, member of the House of Commons (1724–37), chief justice of Chester, attorney general, and chief justice of the Court of Common Pleas (1737–61), attaining the last post five days after being knighted.
John Willes, The Present Constitution, and the Protestant Succession Vindicated: In Answer to a Late Book Entituled, The Hereditary Right of the Crown of England Asserted, &c. (London: Printed for J. Baker, 1714).
Reports of Adjudged Cases in the Court of Common Pleas During the Time Lord Chief Justice Willes Presided in That Court; Together with Some Few Cases of the Same Period Determined in the House of Lords, Court of Chancery, and Exchequer Chamber (London: A. Strahan, 1799).
David Lemmings, "Willes, Sir John (1685–1761)," Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford University Press, 2004).
Romney R. Sedgwick, "Willes, John (1685–1761), of Lincoln’s Inn and Astrop, Northants," The History of Parliament: British Political, Social & Local History.