About William Willett
William Willett (10 August 1856 – 4 March 1915) was a British builder and a promoter of British Summer Time. == Biography == Willett was born in Farnham, Surrey, and educated at the Philological School. After some commercial experience, he entered his father's building business, Willett Building Services. Between them they created a reputation for "Willett built" quality houses in choice parts of London and the south, including Chelsea and Hove, including Derwent House. He lived most of his life in Chislehurst, Kent, where, it is said, after riding his horse in Petts Wood near his home early one summer morning and noticing how many blinds were still down, the idea for daylight saving time first occurred to him. This was not the first time that the idea of adapting to daylight hours had been mooted, however. It was common practice in the ancient world, and in 1784 a light-hearted satire by Benjamin Franklin resulted in resurrecting the idea. Although Franklin's suggestion was simply that people should get up earlier in summer, he is often erroneously attributed as the inventor of Daylight Saving Time (DST) while Willett is often ignored. Modern DST was first proposed by New Zealand entomologist George Vernon Hudson, although many publications incorrectly credit Willett. Using his own financial resources, in 1907 Willett published a pamphlet "The Waste of Daylight".
Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.