married (31 March 1791) Elizabeth, younger daughter of Arthur Clegg, timber merchant, of Manchester, who survived him with several children. Daniel Wilson (1778–1858) [q. v.], bishop of Calcutta, was his first cousin.
His son, Joshua Wilson (1795–1874), barrister of the Inner Temple, was born in London on 27 Oct. 1795, and died at 4 Nevill Park, Tunbridge Wells, on 14 Aug. 1874. He married (1837) Mary Wood, only daughter of Thomas Bulley of Teignmouth, and left sons, Thomas and John Remington. In connection with the litigation of which the Hewley case was a sample, he devoted much time to the investigation of early dissenting history. His fine collection of puritan divinity and biography is at the Memorial Hall, Farringdon Street, London. He published, besides some religious tractates (one of them signed ‘Biblicus’):
- ‘An Historical Inquiry concerning … English Presbyterians,’ 1835, 8vo; 2nd ed. 1836, 8vo.
- ‘English Presbyterian Chapels … Orthodox Foundations,’ 1844, 8vo.
- ‘Calumnies confuted … in Answer to the Quarterly Review on the Bicentenary Celebration,’ 1863, 8vo.
- ‘A Memoir of … Thomas Wilson,’ 1846, 8vo.
[Leifchild's Funeral Sermon for Thomas Wilson, 1843; Wilson's Memoir of Thomas Wilson, 1846 (portrait); McCree's Thomas Wilson the Silkman, 1879; Cornwall's Funeral Sermon for Joshua Wilson, 1874; Times, 24 Aug. 1874, 9 Oct. 1874; Halley, in Congregationalist, 1875, p. 95; information from T. Wilson, esq., Harpenden.]
WILSON, THOMAS (1773–1858), Tyneside poet, was born at Gateshead Low Fell on 14 Nov. 1773, the eldest son of George and Mary Wilson. The father was a miner, and both parents were devout Wesleyans. He received very little education, and was early sent to work in the mines. After devoting his scanty leisure to study, and making two efforts to establish himself as a schoolmaster, he was from 1799 to 1803 employed in the office of John Head, a Newcastle merchant and underwriter. In 1803 he entered the counting-house of Losh, Lubbin, & Co. (afterwards Losh, Wilson, & Bell) of Newcastle. Within two years he became a partner, and remained in the business till near the end of his life. In 1835 he was elected one of the first town councillors of Gateshead, to which he returned after a residence of some years in Newcastle. Throughout his life Wilson devoted as much time as he could spare to intellectual pursuits, and collected an excellent library, which was especially rich in chapbooks. He contributed to the local ‘Diaries’ for sixty years, and made himself acquainted with every aspect of mining life and character. ‘The Pitman's Pay,’ his chief literary work, appeared originally in Mitchell's ‘Newcastle Magazine’ in the years 1826, 1828, and 1830. It was reprinted by G. Watson of Gateshead, but this incorrect edition was soon out of print. Other poems were contributed to the ‘Tyne Mercury,’ and some of them were reissued with notes by John Sykes, compiler of ‘Local Records.’ A collective edition of Wilson's works, entitled ‘The Pitman's Pay, and other Poems,’ was issued in 1843, and reprinted in 1872. The second edition contains some additional poems and notes by the author, with a portrait and memoir. ‘The Pitman's Pay’ is a metrical description, much of it in mining patois, of the incidents and conversations of the colliers on their fortnightly Friday pay nights. The poem enjoys a wide popularity in the north of England. Some of Wilson's compositions show him to have made a close study of Burns, and the poem entitled ‘On seeing a mouse run across the road in January’ is a highly creditable imitation. In the ‘Tippling Dominie’ Wilson is perhaps seen at his best.
Wilson died at his home, Fell-house, Gateshead, on 9 May 1858. He was buried in the family vault at St. John's, Gateshead Fell, the mayor and town council attending his funeral. He married, in 1810, Mrs. Mary Fell, who died in 1839.
A bust by Dunbar is in the large room of the Gateshead Fell public rooms.
[Gent. Mag. 1858, i. 667–9; Ann. Reg. App. to Chron. p. 410; Memoir prefixed to the Pitman's Pay, 1872.]
WILSON, WALTER (1781–1847), nonconformist biographer, was born about 1781. Originally intended for the law, he became a bookseller, with Maxwell of Bell Yard, Temple Bar, London. In 1806 he took the bookshop at the Mewsgate, Charing Cross, vacated by Thomas Payne the younger [q. v.] The perusal of the ‘Memoirs’ of Daniel Neal [q. v.], prefixed by Joshua Toulmin [q. v.] to his edition (1793–7) of Neal's ‘History of the Puritans,’ had led Wilson to collect notices of dissenting divines, and examine manuscript sources of information. He projected a biographical account of the dissenting congregations of London and the vicinity. Soon after beginning the work he became possessed of a considerable income, and entered at the Inner Temple, but does not appear to have practised at the bar. For his projected work he obtained scarcely three hundred subscribers. He published an in-
