As a young man Willement worked at his father's business at 25 Green Street, Grosvenor Square.

[a] Like many early 19th century provincial stained glass artists, Willement started out as a plumber and glazier: two distinct trades both requiring lead-working skills.

[6]), Willement reinvented the ancient method of leading coloured pieces and integrating the visually black lines created between the colours by the lead cames into the design of the window, and developed the artistic method of arranging figures one to each single light, surmounted by a decorative canopy.

In 1829 Willement installed windows in Goodrich Court,[c] Herefordshire for Sir Samuel Meyrick, to whose Specimens of Ancient Furniture (1836) he later contributed.

[d] In 1831 Willement repaired and replaced the entirety of the 'ancient stained glass' in the windows of the Great Hall of Charlecote Park in Warwickshire, for George Lucy.

[9] In 1832 Willement began an extended association with architect Anthony Salvin, which would include work at Penrhyn Castle in Wales,[e] Mamhead House in Devon,[f] Rufford Abbey in Nottinghamshire,[g] Scotney Castle in Kent and Harlaxton in Lincolnshire.

[h] Between 1833 and 1840 Willement repeatedly supplied windows and decorated Alton Towers, Staffordshire, for the Earl of Shrewsbury.

[14] Willement's work with churches began during this period, including St Martin of Tours, Epsom in 1824,[i] the east window of St Peter ad Vincula Church, Hampton Lucy, Warwickshire in 1837 (see image below),[j] and Saint Michael and All Angels, Barbados in 1838.

[3] In the Great Hall of Christ's Hospital, Newgate, between 1836 and 1840 Willement installed massive windows memorialising the arms of the Governors.

[k] In 1832 Willement was elected a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, and at some point appointed heraldic artist to George IV.

Willement's association with the society introduced him in 1840 to Augustus Pugin, the ecclesiastical architect and designer of churches.

[19][20] In 1844 Willement published An Account of the Restorations of the Collegiate Chapel of St George, Windsor: with some particulars of the heraldic ornaments of that edifice,[21] a detailed account of the heraldy and decorations of the Chapel, and Willement's restorations thereof.

[o] In 1842 Willement contributed to the restoration of Temple Church London by architects Sydney Smirke and Decimus Burton, who sought to revert Christopher Wren's 17th century Classical renovations to Victorian Gothic.

[22] Willement supplied three stained glass windows for the east end of the Church depicting scenes from the life of Jesus, and other decoration.

He purchased Davington Priory near Faversham in Kent, a nunnery established in the 12th century and complete with its own church (the buildings had been spared in the Dissolution because by 1527 there were only three elderly nuns remaining).

Willement restored and extended the buildings to make a comfortable home, and installed his own heraldic glass with the motto "Thynke and Thanke".

Note that a considerable proportion of Victorian-era and Gothic revival stained glass, including works by Willement, has not survived to the present day, due to demolition (e.g. Holy Trinity Church, Carlisle;[26] Drakelow Hall, Derbyshire; Goodrich Court, Herefordshire), accidents (e.g. Crewe Hall, destroyed by fire[8]), removal (e.g. Jesus College, Cambridge,[27] St Katharine's Church, Regent's Park[28]), and wartime bombing (e.g. Temple Church, London; Great Hall of Christ's Hospital, London; St Luke's Church, Chelsea[29]).

Fac Simile of a Contemporary Roll, with the Names and the Arms of the Sovereign, and of the Spiritual and Temporal Peers who sat in the Parliament held at Westminster AD 1515.

A Concise Account of the Principal Works in Stained Glass that have been Executed by Thomas Willement.

An Account of the Restorations of the Collegiate Chapel of St George, Windsor: with some particulars of the heraldic ornaments of that edifice.

Historical Sketch of the Parish of Davington in the County of Kent and of the Priory there dedicated to St Mary Magdalene.

{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) Shaw, Henry; Meyrick, Sir Samuel Rush (1836).

Banners Standards and Badges, From a Tudor Manuscript in the College of Arms With an Introduction by Howard De Walden.