Surgeon. Studied at London Hospital. M.R.C.S. 1851; L.S.A. 1852; F.R.C.S. 1864. Staff surgeon in Turkey during Crimean War. Became authority on ophthalmology. Ophthalmic surgeon to St. George's and other hospitals. Held also other important professional appointments. Hunterian professor, 1876-1877; president of Medical Society of London, 1886. While in Turkey, wrote articles for Lancet and the Times; was later on staff of both publications. As writer for the Times, placed before the public the views of medical profession on subjects of the day. Wrote for professional journals; also occasionally for general periodicals; two articles in Contemporary Review, one in Cornhill. Author of On the Pathology and Treatment of Hysteria, 1853, and works on ophthalmology. His Students' Manual on ophthalmology was most widely used text of the time on that subject.

In a letter of September 21 1856 (MS Huntington Library), Dickens stated that he was sending Wills a paper by R. B. Carter; a following letter (September 28) identified the paper as Carter's 'Health and Education'. Wills was to delete from it a depreciatory reference to mesmerism, which would hurt the feelings of Dr. John Elliotson. Dickens supplied the title for Carter's "How the Writer Was Despatch-Boxed" (to Wills, August 13 1857).

Author: Anne Lohrli; © University of Toronto Press, 1973.