William Willett
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William Willett (10 August 1856 – 4 March 1915) was a British builder and a promoter of British Summer Time.


Biography

Willett was born in
Farnham, Surrey Farnham ( /ˈfɑːnəm/) is a market town and civil parish in Surrey, England, around southwest of London. It is in the Borough of Waverley, close to the county border with Hampshire. The town is on the north branch of the River Wey, a tribu ...
, and educated at the Philological School. After some commercial experience, he entered his father's building business, Willett Building Services. Between them they created a reputation for "Willett built" quality houses in choice parts of London and the south, including
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and
Hove Hove is a seaside resort and one of the two main parts of the city of Brighton and Hove, along with Brighton in East Sussex, England. Originally a "small but ancient fishing village" surrounded by open farmland, it grew rapidly in the 19th c ...
, including
Derwent House Derwent House, on Camden Park Road, Chislehurst, Bromley, is one of a number of the locally renowned 'Willett-built' houses erected on the Camden Park Estate by high-class speculative builder William Willett in the 1900s. Willett bought the ent ...
. He lived most of his life in Chislehurst, Kent, where, it is said, after riding his horse in
Petts Wood Petts Wood is a town in south-east London, England, previously located in the historic county of Kent. It lies south of Chislehurst, west of St Paul's Cray and Poverest, north of Orpington and Crofton, and east of Southborough and Bromley ...
near his home early one summer morning and noticing how many blinds were still down, the idea for daylight saving time first occurred to him. This was not the first time that the idea of adapting to daylight hours had been mooted, however. It was common practice in the ancient world, and in 1784 a light-hearted satire by
Benjamin Franklin Benjamin Franklin ( April 17, 1790) was an American polymath who was active as a writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher, and political philosopher. Encyclopædia Britannica, Wood, 2021 Among the leading inte ...
resulted in resurrecting the idea. Although Franklin's suggestion was simply that people should get up earlier in summer, he is often erroneously attributed as the inventor of DST while Willett is often ignored. Modern DST was first proposed by New Zealand entomologist
George Vernon Hudson George Vernon Hudson FRSNZ (20 April 1867 – 5 April 1946) was a British-born New Zealand entomologist credited with proposing the modern daylight saving time. He was awarded the Hector Memorial Medal in 1923. Biography Born in London, Brit ...
, although many publications incorrectly credit Willett. Using his own financial resources, in 1907 William published a pamphlet "The Waste of Daylight". In it he proposed that the clocks should be advanced by 80 minutes in four incremental steps during April and reversed the same way during September. The evenings would then remain light for longer, increasing daylight recreation time and also saving £2.5 million in lighting costs. He suggested that the clocks should be advanced by 20 minutes at a time at 2 am on successive Sundays in April and be reversed in September. Through vigorous campaigning, by 1908 Willett had managed to gain the support of a member of parliament (MP),
Robert Pearce Robert Pearce may refer to: * Robert Pearce (politician) (1840–1922), British Member of Parliament for Leek, 1906–1910 and 1910–1918 * Bobby Pearce (rower) (1905–1976), Australian-Canadian sculler * Robert Pearce (wrestler) (1908–1996) ...
, who made several unsuccessful attempts to get it passed into law. A young
Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 Winston Churchill in the Second World War, dur ...
promoted it for a time, and the idea was examined again by a parliamentary select committee in 1909 but again nothing was done. The outbreak of the
First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
made the issue more important primarily because of the need to save coal. Germany had already introduced the scheme when the bill was finally passed in Britain on 17 May 1916 and the clocks were advanced by an hour on the following Sunday, 21 May, enacted as a wartime production-boosting device under the
Defence of the Realm Act The Defence of the Realm Act (DORA) was passed in the United Kingdom on 8 August 1914, four days after it entered the First World War and was added to as the war progressed. It gave the government wide-ranging powers during the war, such as the p ...
. It was subsequently adopted in many other countries. William Willett did not live to see daylight saving become law, as he died of influenza in 1915 at the age of 58. He is commemorated in Petts Wood by a memorial
sundial A sundial is a horological device that tells the time of day (referred to as civil time in modern usage) when direct sunlight shines by the apparent position of the Sun in the sky. In the narrowest sense of the word, it consists of a flat ...
, set permanently to daylight saving time.
The Daylight Inn The Daylight Inn is a Grade II listed public house at Station Square, Petts Wood, Orpington, in the London Borough of Bromley. It was built in 1935 for Charrington's Brewery, and designed by their chief architect Sidney Clark. The pub was ...
in Petts Wood is named in his honour and the road Willett Way. His house in Chislehurst is marked with a
blue plaque A blue plaque is a permanent sign installed in a public place in the United Kingdom and elsewhere to commemorate a link between that location and a famous person, event, or former building on the site, serving as a historical marker. The term i ...
. He is buried in St Nicholas' Churchyard, Chislehurst, although a memorial to his family stands in the churchyard at St Wulfran's Church, Ovingdean, in
Brighton and Hove Brighton and Hove () is a city and unitary authority in East Sussex, England. It consists primarily of the settlements of Brighton and Hove, alongside neighbouring villages. Often referred to synonymously as Brighton, the City of Brighton and H ...
.


Freemason

Willett was initiated into Camden Place Lodge on 1 November 1906.


Family

William Willett married twice, firstly in 1879 to Maria Mills (died 1905), with whom he had seven children; secondly in 1910 to Florence Strickland, with whom he had one daughter. Willett is a great-great-grandfather of
Coldplay Coldplay are a British rock band formed in London in 1997. They consist of vocalist and pianist Chris Martin, guitarist Jonny Buckland, bassist Guy Berryman, drummer Will Champion and creative director Phil Harvey. They met at University Col ...
singer
Chris Martin Christopher Anthony John Martin (born 2 March 1977) is an English singer-songwriter and musician. He is best known as the lead vocalist, pianist, rhythm guitarist and co-founder of the rock band Coldplay. Born in Exeter, Devon, he went to Uni ...
.


References


Further reading

* * * **The British version, focusing on the UK, is * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Willett, William 1856 births 1915 deaths English clockmakers Daylight saving time in the United Kingdom English inventors Deaths from influenza Infectious disease deaths in England People from Chislehurst People from Farnham English Freemasons