On 3 Feb. 1832 he was collated to the second stall in Winchester Cathedral. As canon he gave very effectual assistance to John Bird Sumner [q. v.] in the work of the diocese. In 1850 he published ‘The Bible Student's Guide to the more correct understanding of the Old Testament by reference to the Original Hebrew’ (London, 4to), a second edition of which appeared in 1866 under the title ‘An English, Hebrew, and Chaldee Lexicon and Concordance to the more correct understanding of the English Translation of the Old Testament by reference to the Original Hebrew’ (London, 4to). Wilson was a considerable Hebrew scholar, and his work has not yet been superseded. He died on 22 Aug. 1873 in The Close, Winchester, and was buried on 27 Aug. at Preston Candover. In February 1830, at Godalming, Surrey, he married Maria (1794–1834), daughter of Robert Sumner, vicar of Kenilworth, and sister of John Bird Sumner, archbishop of Canterbury, and Charles Richard Sumner [q. v.], bishop of Winchester (Gent. Mag. 1830, i. 266). By her he had a son, Sumner Wilson, who became vicar of Preston Candover.
Besides the work mentioned he published:
- ‘D. J. Juvenalis Satiræ, cum notis Anglicis, expurgatæ,’ London, 1815, 12mo.
- ‘The Thirty-nine Articles of the Church of England, illustrated by copious Extracts from the Liturgy, Homilies, Nowell's Catechism, and Jewell's Apology, and confirmed by numerous Passages of Scripture,’ Oxford, 1821, 8vo; enlarged ed. Oxford, 1840, 8vo.
- ‘Parochial Sermons,’ Oxford, 1826, 8vo.
- ‘The Attributes of God,’ selections from Charnock, Goodwin, Bates, and Wishart, London, 1835, 8vo; republished 1836 in ‘The Christian Family Library,’ vol. xv.
- ‘The Book of Psalms, with an Exposition Evangelical, Typical, and Prophetical of the Christian Dispensation,’ London, 1860, 2 vols. 8vo.
He edited the ‘Christianæ Pietatis Institutio’ of Alexander Nowell, London, 1817, 12mo.
[Information kindly given by the Provost of Queen's College, Oxford; Jackson's Papers and Pedigrees mainly relating to Cumberland and Westmorland, 1892, ii. 217–21; Guardian, 27 Aug. 1873; Hampshire Chronicle, 23 and 30 Aug. 1873; Sumner's Life of Charles Richard Sumner, 1876, p. 1; Foster's Alumni Oxon. 1715–1886; Foster's Index Eccles.; Allibone's Dict. of Engl. Lit.]
WILSON, WILLIAM (1808–1888), Scots divine, was born in 1808 at Blawearie, Bassendean, in Berwickshire. He was educated at the parish school, and in 1825 entered the university of Edinburgh, where he took the arts and theological classes, studying under Chalmers, David Welsh [q. v.], and Alexander Brunton. Licensed by the presbytery of Dumfries on 2 March 1830, Wilson was early recognised as a powerful preacher. Till 1837 he acted as a parochial missionary in Glasgow, and from 1835 to 1837 he was editor of the ‘Scottish Guardian.’ On 22 Sept. 1837 he was ordained minister of Carmyllie, Forfarshire. In the conflict which ended in the disruption, Wilson took an active part. He joined the free church and preached in a wooden building till 1848, when he was called to the mariners' church, Dundee, where he officiated till 1877. He was elected moderator of the free-church assembly on 24 May 1866, junior principal clerk of assembly in 1868, and senior clerk in 1883. On 20 April 1870 he received the degree of D.D. from Edinburgh University. In 1877 he was appointed secretary of the sustentation fund committee. He also held the office of Chalmers lecturer. He died on 14 Jan. 1888, survived by one son and five daughters. His remains were accorded a public funeral in Dundee. In 1840 Wilson married Eliza, daughter of Alexander White of Drimmietermont, near Forfar. She died in February 1860.
Wilson wrote:
- ‘Statement of the Scriptural Argument against Patronage,’ Edinburgh, 1842, 8vo.
- ‘The Kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ,’ Edinburgh, 1859, 8vo.
- ‘Christ setting his Face towards Jerusalem,’ Dundee, 1878, 8vo.
- ‘Memorials of R. S. Candlish, D.D.,’ Edinburgh, 1880, 8vo.
Wilson also edited with a preface and notes Daniel Defoe's ‘Memoirs of the Church of Scotland,’ 1844, and contributed a preface to Sir James Stewart and James Stirling's ‘Survey of Naphtaly,’ 1845. He wrote the history of the parish of Carmyllie for the ‘New Statistical Account of Scotland,’ and contributed to the ‘Free Church Pulpit.’
[Scott's Fasti, III. ii. 794; J. M. McBain's Eminent Arbroathians, 1897; Scotsman, 16 Jan. 1888; Smith's Scot. Clergy, vol. iii.; Brit. Mus. Cat.]
WILSON, Sir WILLIAM JAMES ERASMUS (1809–1884), surgeon, generally known as Sir Erasmus Wilson, was son of William Wilson, a native of Aberdeen, who had been a naval surgeon, and afterwards settled as a parish surgeon at Dartford and Greenhithe in Kent. Erasmus was born on 25 Nov. 1809 in High Street, Marylebone, at the house of his maternal grandfather, Erasmus Bransdorph, a Norwegian. He was educated at Dartford grammar school, and afterwards at Swanscombe in Kent, but he was
