Charles Adam Willis was born in Brighton, Sussex on 10th March 1879. He was the fifth of nine children, and the first of five boys, of Charles Paine Willis (1846-1909) and Priscilla Direnda Winchester (1850-1896). His birth took place at the family home of 21 Blucher Place, part of a large area of the town which was demolished beginning in the 1930s and continuing into the 1960s, which became the site of the Churchill Square Shopping Centre. Number 21 was the last house in the street to be demolished and stood alone surrounded by a temporary car park until eventually it, too, was removed. Charles' father was recorded on his birth certificate as a Carpenter Journeyman, not yet a full craftsman but after several years of apprenticeship and training was highly skilled and able to work independently while gaining further practical knowledge. Charles' mother Priscilla was only able to witness his birth certificate with an X, showing she was not able to write, one of a diminishing number of females who had not received sufficient schooling, being just a few years too old to benefit from the Elementary Education Act 1870 legislating basic education for all. Charles was baptised on 20th June 1879.

The Census of 1881 shows that the family were still living at 21 Blucher Place, and father Charles had finished his training and was now a fully trained and qualified carpenter. 

At some point in the intervening period between this census and the next in 1891, the family, expanded with two younger brothers of Charles, had relocated a very small distance, now living at number 30 Blucher Place. Charles was recorded as a scholar. Although no records have been found to prove where Charles was being educated, it is highly probable that he attended the infant school and later the boys school attached to the large church dominating the area, St Paul's. 

For some unknown reason, the 1891 Census shows that Charles' mother was named Ellen, although there is no indication that this was anything other than a clerical error. Priscilla and Charles had another two children together after this Census, but five years later at the family home of 5 Blucher Place, Priscilla died from Phthisis (tuberculosis) on 5th January 1896.

Following the death of his mother, Charles moved away from Blucher Place, and may have been residing in nearby Hove. On 6th May 1899 when his address was given as 26 Suffolk Street, Hove, Charles married 17 year old Agnes Kate Richardson, the daughter of bricklayer Henry Richardson and Catherine Batts, in Aldrington, Sussex. Later that same year the couple welcomed their first child, a boy named Frederick Charles Willis.

By the time of the 1901 Census, taken to record information as at 31st March 1901, the young family were living at 96 Montgomery Street in Aldrington. Charles, curiously listed as Charles Percy Willis, was employed as a Blind Maker and they were living as lodgers in the household of widowed Mrs Mary Brown and her family.

Almost immediately after the Census tragedy struck with the death of son Frederick in late spring of 1901.  The birth of daughter Lilian May Willis on 18th February 1902 may have brought some comfort to Charles and Agnes, but this was to be all too short-lived. Having re-located to 63 Brading Road in the Elm Grove area of Brighton, the family were possibly hoping for a better future,  but events would conspire against this. During an outbreak of tuberculosis in the area, Agnes was infected, succumbing to the disease on 23rd August 1902. Her death certificate recorded her cause of death as Phthisis, the Greek word for consumption, the common name given to the disease at the time due to its wasting effect, seemingly consuming the victim through weight loss and wasting.

Charles appears not have been able to raise daughter Lilian alone, and by 1911 she was living with the sister of her grandfather, her great-aunt Dorenda Stepney.

Four years after the death jof his first wife, Charles remarried. His second wife was Edith Emily Prevett, born in Balcombe in 1877 to Henry Thomas Prevett and Ann Sophia Harwood. The marriage took place at the Register Office in Brighton on 17th March 1906, a bitterly cold day with snow and temperature not even reaching freezing point. Charles, living at 5 Cheltenham Place in Brighton,  was recorded as a Carpenter Journeyman, following in his fathers footsteps, while Edith, of 35 Ewart Street, was a Cook Domestic. 

Five months after their wedding the couple became parents to Walter Charles Henry Willis, born on 28th August 1906. Eleven months later, on 24th July 1907 their next child, Ernest William Alfred Willis, was born.

Over the next seven years five daughters were born. Eldest daughter Florence Annie Ada Willis was born on 8th January 1909, Norah Lizzie Priscilla Willis was born on 20th August 1910, Mary Hilda Dorothy Willis followed a year later on 15th September 1911, and their younger sister Ivy Helen Sophia Willis was born on 18th November 1912. 

By February of 1913, Charles and his family were living at 2 Elder Row. During that month three-month old Ivy, described as delicate from birth, had been suffering from a cough from which she seemed to recover. Sadly, on Saturday 22nd February 1913 she suffered a convulsive seizure and died. Doctor F. W. Pearce at her inquest recorded her cause of death as Pneumonia.

The next year, on 18th May 1914, the couples daughter Ethel Alice Louise Willis, was born. Her birth certificate incorrectly recorded her name as Edith. 

By this time, probably unknown to everyone including himself, Charles was seriously ill. Only seven months after daughter Ethel was born, Charles was admitted to hospital where sadly he died on 3rd January 1915. His cause of death was listed as Carcinoma of Stomach with a secondary cause of Perforation. He was buried four days later. 

Charles Adam Willis was only 35 when he died, leaving his widow with six children to raise alone.