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DICTIONARY OF AUSTRALASIAN BIOGRAPHY.
[Wil

was born at Lincoln on Dec 11th, 1794. His father, William Willson, was a leading builder in that city, and was originally a member of the Established Church; but having married a Catholic lady, Miss Tenney, he subsequently joined the Roman Catholic Church. In his twenty-first year Robert entered Oscott College, and on the completion of his theological studies was ordained to the priesthood on Dec. 16th, 1824, by the famous controversialist, Bishop Milner. He was immediately appointed to Nottingham, where he achieved such a repute for energy that Dr. Ullathorne, till then Vicar-General of Australia, determined to secure his services for the Colonial Church, and procured his nomination as first Bishop of Hobart. Dr. Willson was astounded when he heard the news of the nomination, and used his best endeavours to evade the proffered dignity, but without success. Even Cardinal Wiseman endeavoured to keep him in England, but Pope Gregory XVI. insisted on the nomination being upheld, and Dr. Willson was duly consecrated by Dr. (afterwards Cardinal) Wiseman in Oct. 1842. He sailed for Tasmania at the end of Jan. 1844, and landed in Hobart on the 11th of the following May. For the next two-and-twenty years he laboured energetically and successfully to build up and organise the Roman Catholic Church in Tasmania He also earned the respect and admiration of all denominations for his self-sacrificing exertions on behalf of the convict population and the insane. General regret was experienced all over the colony when failing health compelled his retirement, and quite a host of farewell addresses was presented to the popular prelate. He embarked on Feb. 27th, 1865, but on the voyage home was struck down by paralysis. He was never afterwards able to officiate at the altar, but with the aid of a servant he was able to walk a little in Nottingham, where he lingered for a year, expiring on June 30th, 1866. His funeral oration was pronounced by Dr. Ullathorne, who published a memoir of the prelate in 1887, and his life has been sympathetically written by the Rev. T. Kelsh, of the diocese of Hobart, and published at the office of the Hobart Mercury.

Wilson, Rev. Ambrose John, D.D., is the son of Joseph Wm. Wilson of Slenley, Surrey, and was born at Birmingham in 1853. He was educated at Merchant Taylors' School in London, and having secured a scholarship at St. John's College, Oxford, he took a second-class in Classical Moderations in 1873, and a first-class in Litteræ Humaniores in 1875. He graduated B.A. in 1876, and was elected a Fellow of Queen's College, Oxford, an appointment which he retained till 1881. In the same year he became lecturer of Queen's and St. John's Colleges simultaneously, and in December was ordained deacon by the Bishop of Oxford. In 1877 he was appointed tutor of St. John's, which position he resigned, and the next year became classical tutor at the Diocesan College at Rondesbosch, in Cape Colony, and head master of St. Mark's Grammar School, George. In March of this year he was ordained priest by the Bishop of Capetown, and took his degree of M.A. at Oxford in absence. In 1879 he was appointed Classical Examiner in the University of Capetown, which conferred on him the hon. degree of M.A. In 1880 Dr. Wilson returned to England, and accepted the head-mastership of the Carlisle Grammar School, a post which he held till 1885, when he was appointed to his present position as head master of the Melbourne Church of England Grammar School. In 1882 he took the Oxford degree of B.D., and in 1885 had that of D.D. conferred on him. Dr. Wilson was married at St. Margaret's Bay, near Dover, on Sept. 3rd, 1880, to Miss Julia Mary Lawrence.

Wilson, Hon. Andrew Heron, M.L.C., son of Andrew Wilson and Grace (Heron) his wife, was born in August 1844 at Ayr, Scotland, and educated at the Academy in that town. He emigrated to Queensland in 1864, and is now a large saw-mill owner at Maryborough in that colony. Mr. Wilson was called to the Legislative Council in 1883. He was married at Cunning Park, Ayr, to Miss Jessie Adam.

Wilson, Edward, was born at Hampstead in 1814, and after completing his education he embarked in the Manchester trade in London. The confinement was not to his taste, and he proceeded to Australia in 1842. The infant settlement of Melbourne attracted him, and he took up a cattle station near Dandenong. He soon became an adverse and uncompromising

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