Son of the business's founder Henry Frederick Willey, Henry Alfred Willey (1863-1904) took control of the company after his father's death in 1894. Moving the firm's factory from the Shilhay to Haven Banks, Mr Willey developed the first coin-in-the-slot meter and soon employed over a thousand workers. He died in 1904 at the age of forty-one although the business continued long after his death until the 1980s.

The extent of Mr Willey's interest in Exeter United, the city's prominent association football club between 1896 and 1902, is unknown. It is also tempting to speculate that, had he lived longer, whether he would have been a backer of the reconstituted professional Exeter City club in 1908.

Certainly, by the time of his death, Willeys Athletic were members of the Exeter and District Junior League.