A.J.Wills
1917 - 2007
A. J. (John) Wills became interested in trams when he was around 7 years old in the mid 1920's when he notice the early trams proceeding along the roads through Greenwich. He told that he used to be allowed by his parents on a Saturday afternoon after school, to take a short tram ride to the Central Repair Depot (Charlton Works) to see the trams being driven in to be overhauled or repaired and driven out to their allocated depots.
 Mr. A. J. Wills proudly displaying his shed door liberated from E1 car - 1617 |
Thus started a lifetime of London Tramway interest. He started taking photographs before the second world war but the main focus of his Tramway photography started in the final years of the London Tramway system. It is these photographs that are the core of this website. He also has an extensive collection of photographic prints taken both before WW1 and in the intervening years before WW2, these also have been added to the collection. |
In later years he has concentrated his collection mainly on cars built for the LCC, LPTB and London Transport although there are still many photographs from the Company and Corporation owned systems that formed the London Transport Tramways.He was also a collector of tram ephemera - mainly tickets - he claimed to have kept every single 1/- all day tickets he ever used (and also all the tickets he purchased for his son John) and had a comprehensive collection of tram tickets. |  Car 1227 in Penhall Road scrapyard with Mr. A. J. Wills "at the controls". |
He kept very good written records of the cars he observed and travelled on. Through his various tramway contacts he has amassed a great deal of information about most of the trams operated by London Transport even going back to LCC days.
His information and some of his photographs have been used in most of the post 1952 tramway abandonment books about London Tramways.
This Photographic Database was originally created by A.J.Wills's son, also John Wills, who sadly passed away in November 2014.
© Copyright John R. Prentice Software 2015-2023. Wills photo copyright TLRS.