Virginia Lucas Poetry Scrapbook

Biography of John Wilson

John Wilson was an author and journalist as well as a lesser-known poet of the nineteenth century who had few notable works. Wilson was born on May 18, 1785, in Paisley, a large town in the west central Lowlands of Scotland. As a young child, Wilson showed a passion for oration and, according to family legend, regularly used a chair as a pulpit to preach to his family circle.
              Wilson attended grammar school in Paisley and Mearns and he eventually began school at Glasgow University in 1797. At Glasgow, Wilson was by George Jardine, a professor of logic and rhetoric, as well as John Young, a professor of Greek, both playing a great part in his decision to focus on the classics in his future studies at Oxford University. Wilson was encouraged and inspired by the presence of Wordsworth, so much so that he purchased a house nearby so that they could commune frequently. Between 1809 and 1810, Wilson contributed to The Friend, a literary journal edited by Samuel Coleridge, another of his friends. In 1812, Wilson published his first collection of poems, The Isle of Palms and other Poems, which was enhanced by the revisions of his friend Alexander Blair. Later that same year, Wilson published The Magic Mirror, a poem addressed to Sir Walter Scott. Wilson’s last major collection of poetry, The City of the Plague, was published in 1816. Wilson’s works received mixed reviews throughout his lifetime, with some praising them highly but most critics considering his work lacking in thought and with ‘no riches or strength of imagination’ (Swann 48).
              Wilson fell in love with Jane Penny during his time at Elleray, eventually marrying her on May 11, 1811. They went on to have 5 children together. The Wilsons moved to Edinburgh in 1813, around the time John Wilson began studying law, and he was called to the bar not long after in 1815. After losing a large portion of his inheritance due to fraud, Wilson took up writing as a major source of his income. Wilson began contributing to the Edinburgh Review, and in April 1817, he began an association with the Edinburgh monthly Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine. In 1820, a professorship of moral philosophy and political economy opened up at the University of Edinburgh and Wilson was elected into the position over his competitor, Sir William Hamilton, despite lacking any formal knowledge on the subject. Wilson held this position until his retirement in 1851.
              After the death of his close friends William Blackwood, in 1834, and James Hogg, in 1835, Wilson began to slow down with his work. Not long after, Wilson became further devastated by the passing of his wife on March 29, 1837, which he never recovered from. Wilson continued to contribute work regularly to Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine until he passed from a stroke suddenly on April 1, 1854.

Finkelstein, David. “Wilson, John [Pseud. Christopher North].” The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, 2014. Crossref, https://doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/29668.

“University of Glasgow :: Story :: Biography of John Wilson.” University of Glasgow, www.universitystory.gla.ac.uk/biography/?id=WH26909&type=P#:%7E:text=John%20Wilson%20of%20Elleray%20(1785,and%20his%20wife%20Margaret%20Sym. Accessed 21 Feb. 2022.