WILSON, THOMAS (1663–1755), bishop of Sodor and Man, sixth of seven children and fifth son of Nathaniel (d. 29 May 1702) and Alice (d. 16 Aug. 1708) Wilson, was born at Burton, Cheshire, on 20 Dec. 1663. His mother was a sister of Richard Sherlock [q. v.] From the King's school, Chester, under Francis Harpur (Cruttwell; but a local tradition identifies his master with Edward Harpur of the grammar school, Frodsham) he entered Trinity College, Dublin, as a sizar on 29 May 1682, his tutor being John Barton, afterwards dean of Ardagh. Swift entered in the previous month; other contemporaries were Peter Browne [q. v.] and Edward Chandler [q. v.] He was elected scholar on 4 June 1683. In February 1686 he graduated B.A. The influence of Michael Hewetson (d. 1709) turned his thoughts from medicine to the church. He was ordained deacon before attaining the canonical age by William Moreton [q. v.], bishop of Kildare, on St. Peter's day (29 June) 1686. He left Ireland to become curate (10 Feb. 1687) to his uncle Sherlock, in the chapelry of Newchurch Kenyon, now a separate parish, then in the parish of Winwick, Lancashire. He was ordained priest by Nicholas Stratford [q. v.] on 20 Oct. 1689, and remained in charge of Newchurch till the end of August 1692. He was then appointed domestic chaplain to William George Richard Stanley, ninth earl of Derby (d. 1702), and tutor to his only son, James, lord Strange (1680–1699), with a salary of 30l. Early in 1693 he was appointed master of the almshouse at Lathom, yielding 20l. more. At Easter he made a vow to set apart a fifth of his slender income for pious uses, especially for the poor. In June he was offered by Lord Derby the valuable rectory of Badsworth, West Riding of Yorkshire, but refused it, having made a resolution against non-residence. He graduated M.A. in 1696 (Cat. of Graduates Univ. of Dublin, 1869; Stubbs says 1693).
On 27 Nov. 1697 Lord Derby offered him the bishopric of Sodor and Man, vacant since the death of Baptist Levinz [q. v.], and insisted on his taking it. On 10 Jan. 1698 he was created LL.D. by Archbishop Tenison (his own statement; Foster says the entry is of ‘John’ Wilson). On 16 Jan. 1698 he was consecrated at the Savoy (Le Neve, Fasti, ed. Hardy, 1854, iii. 328; Stubbs, Registrum Sacrum Anglicanum, 1897, p. 131). On 28 Jan. the rectory of Badsworth was again offered to him in commendam, and again refused, though the see of Man was worth no more than 300l. a year. His first business was to recover the arrears of royal bounty (an annuity of 100l. granted 1675). On 6 April he landed at Derby Haven in the Isle of Man, and was stalled on 11 April in the ruins of St. German's Cathedral, Peel, and at once took up his residence at Bishop's Court, Kirk Michael. He found it also in a ruinous condition, and set about rebuilding the greater part of it, at a cost of 1,400l., of which all but 200l. came from his own pocket. He soon became ‘a very energetic planter’ of fruit and forest trees, turning ‘the bare slopes’ into ‘a richly wooded glen.’ He was an equally zealous farmer and miller, doing much by his example to develop the resources of the island. For some time he was ‘the only physician in the island;’ he set up a drug-shop, giving advice and medicine gratis to the poor (Cruttwell, p. xci). He had not been two months in the island when he had before him the petition of Christopher Hampton of Kirk Braddon, whose wife had been condemned to seven years' penal servitude for lamb stealing, and who asked the bishop's license for a second marriage in consideration of his ‘motherless children.’ Wilson gave him (26 May 1698) ‘liberty to make such a choice as may be most for yor support and comfort.’ Yet his views of marriage were usually strict; marriage with a deceased wife's sister he regarded as incest.
The building of new churches (beginning with the Castletown chapel, 1698) was one of his earliest cares, and in 1699 he took up the scheme of Thomas Bray (1656–1730) [q. v.], and began the establishment of parochial libraries in his diocese. This led to provision in the Manx language for the needs of his people. The printing of ‘prayers for the poor families’ is projected in a memorandum of Whit-Sunday 1699, but was not carried out till 30 May 1707, the date of issue of his ‘Principles and Duties of Christianity … in English and Manks … with short and plain directions and prayers,’ 1707, 2 parts, 8vo. This was the first book published in Manx, and is often styled the ‘Manx Catechism.’ It was followed by ‘A Further Instruction;’ ‘A Short and Plain Instruction … for the Lord's Supper,’ 1733; and ‘The Gospel of St. Matthew,’ 1748 (translated, with the help of his vicars-general, in 1722). The remaining Gospels and the Acts were also translated into Manx under his supervision, but not published (Moore, p. 218). He freely issued occasional orders for special services, with new prayers, the Uniformity Act not specifying the Isle of Man. A public library was established by him at Castletown in 1706, and from that year, by help of the trustees of the ‘academic fund,’ and by benefactions from Lady Elizabeth
