Author: Wilson, John
Biography:
WILSON, John (1785-1854: ODNB)
He was born at Paisley, the fourth child and first son of John Wilson, a merchant, and his wife Margaret Sym. He was educated at grammar schools in Paisley and Mearns before entering Glasgow University in 1797. From there he proceeded to Magdalen College, Oxford, where he earned his BA in 1807 and his MA in 1810; in 1807 he won the first Newdigate prize for poetry. Even as an undergraduate he was a commanding presence and he was determined to pursue a literary path. He inherited a fortune from his father when he was eighteen (much of this was later lost due to fraud by his uncle) and he was able to buy a house at Elleray in the Lake District where he could be near William Wordsworth (q.v.) with whom he had commenced a correspondence. There he met Thomas De Quincey and Samuel Taylor Coleridge (qq.v.) and began publishing his own poetry. He married Jane Penny (d 1839) in 1811; they were to have three daughters and two sons. The family moved to Edinburgh where he studied law and was called to the Scottish bar in 1815. However, literature not law was his first priority and in October 1817 Wilson, with John Gibson Lockhart and James Hogg (qq.v.) took over editing and writing for the new Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine. This was a turning point: Wilson remained a major contributor almost to the end of his life, and his provocative—often harsh—judgments and bitingly satiric style were inseparable from Blackwood’s in its heyday. Among his contributions to Blackwood’s were the monthly Noctes Ambrosianae which he took over writing in 1825. He also wrote fiction: Lights and Shadows of Scottish Life (1822), The Trials of Margaret Lyndsay (1823), and The Foresters (1825). Although he was not well-qualified for the position, influential friends ensured that he was appointed Professor of Moral Philosophy at Edinburgh University (1820-51). By the 1850s when he was granted a yearly government pension of £300 for his contribution to literature, he was in declining health. He died at home in Edinburgh following a stroke. He was buried in the Dean cemetery after a funeral procession through the streets of Edinburgh; in 1857 a statue of him was erected in Princes Street, Edinburgh. (ODNB 20 Dec. 2020; Mary Gordon, “Christopher North”: A Memoir of John Wilson [1863]) SR
Other Names:
- Wilson