 The most significant of these was announced in 1908 by his eldest son Sir George Alfred Wills, 1st Baronet (1854–1928), when he read a letter from his father promising £100,000 (about £10 million in today's money) to fund a university at Bristol if a royal charter for the purpose could be obtained within two years.With the charter and further funding quickly obtained, the University of Bristol was founded in 1909 with Henry as its first Chancellor.In 1853 at Plymouth in Devon he married Alice Hopkinson (1827-1881), by whom he had issue including