Frank Wills

1820-1857

Frank Wills (architect, author, and editor) was baptized 25 December 1822 in Exeter, England. His year of birth is not documented but estimated to be 1819 or 1820, based on a Quebec newspaper report of his death in Montreal at the age of 37 on 23 April 1857. Frank Wills exhibited at The Royal Academy of the Arts, London, from 1842 until he embarked for British North America in 1845. Rev. John Medley became the first Anglican Bishop of Fredericton, New Brunswick and under his influence Wills became a devoted Tractarian. He travelled to New Brunswick with Medley to begin Gothic Revival Architecture in British North America.  Wills and Medley began the construction of a Fredericton cathedral but could not raise the funds needed for its completion and it was put on hold, and the smaller St. Anne’s Chapel was designed and constructed by Wills instead (completed in March 1847). In 1848 Medley left for London to try to raise funds for the continuation of the cathedral’s construction, and Wills, out of work, left for New York City. The church was ultimately built with the plans designed by Wills. It was in New York City that Wills began his literary career when he founded the New York Ecclesiological Society and its journal, The New-York Ecclesiologist. Wills became the New York chapter’s editor, writing articles and reviews of his peers’ work.

Predominant New Brunswick Residences:

Fredericton