Richard Willis (spy)

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Sir Richard Willis (sometimes spelt 'Willys') (13 January 1613/1614 to December 1690) was a notable figure of the English Civil War and its aftermath.

A cavalry officer under Prince Rupert, he had been Governor of Newark but was dismissed by King Charles I in October 1645 after siding with Rupert following his defeat at Bristol. Willis then spent some time in Italy, returning to England in 1652 to join the Royalist underground organisation, the Sealed Knot (his successor as Governor of Newark, John Belasyse, 1st Baron Belasyse, was also one of the members).

However, it seems he became a double agent. Although twice imprisoned by the Commonwealth, he established contact with Cromwell’s secret service, led by John Thurloe, in 1656 or 1657, possibly for money (in A Child's History of England, Ch.XXXIV, Charles Dickens wrote that Willis “reported to Oliver everything that passed among them, and had two hundred a year for it”). Alternatively, Willis may have wanted to secure his safety in case the Royalist cause failed.

In 1659 Willis was denounced to the future King Charles II by Thurloe’s secretary, Samuel Morland, who accused him of plotting, with Thurloe and Richard Cromwell, to lure Charles and his brothers to return to England under false pretences (to meet followers in Sussex) and then assassinate them. Morland is said to have learned of the plan while pretending to be asleep in Thurloe's office in Lincoln's Inn.

After the Restoration Willis was banned from court and is thought to have lived out the remainder of his life in America.