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William and his Brother Henry devoted a
significant part of their leisure time to their religious
interests. They added much to the success and development
of the non-conformist movement in Bristol - " as
successful manufacturers, they perceived that the spread
of the gospel, like the sale of tobacco and snuff,
depended on an adequate level of capital investment"
1. They made regular donations to charities run by
the Congregationalists. They were founder trustees of the Hanham chapel in 1841 and of the Barton Hill chapel in
1843. Also, in 1843 at Highbury on the boundary between
Redland and Cotham (a newly developing middle class
suburb) they initiated the building of a main chapel -
the architect was William's nephew by marriage, William
Butterfield. W.D & H,O Wills
and the Development of the UK Tobacco Industry 1786 -
1965 by B.W.E. Alford (1)
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