Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 40.djvu/188

 then styled John Neilson and Sons. James died on 12 Nov. 1831; John, continuing to carry on the business, amassed a considerable fortune, and purchased the lands of Nethercommon, where he died on 6 Nov. 1839. He was buried in the churchyard beside Paisley Abbey. A tombstone was erected to his memory and to that of his brother. He was a man of reserved habits, and entirely given up to business. By his deed of settlement he set apart a sum of 17,187l. ‘to form and endow for the educating, clothing, and outfitting, and, if need be, the maintaining of boys who have resided within the parliamentary boundary of Paisley for at least three years, whose parents have died either without leaving sufficient funds for that purpose, or who from misfortune have been reduced, or who from the want of means are unable to give a suitable education to their children.’ Although the trustees were required to feu or purchase a piece of ground in Paisley for the erection of an institution at any time within five years, yet they were forbidden to commence building till after the expiry of that time. As a site for the building the trustees secured the town's bowling-green, the most conspicuous situation in Paisley, formerly the prætorium of a Roman camp. On this they erected a building which forms one of the chief architectural adornments of the town. The John Neilson Institution is now one of the best schools in the west of Scotland. There have been nearly nine hundred pupils educated as foundationers. The attendance at the opening of the institution in 1852 was about five hundred; it is now over nine hundred. The trustees are invested with ‘the most ample and unlimited powers,’ the only restriction being that ‘the education shall be based on the scriptures.’ The school was incorporated in 1889 in a scheme made by the commissioners under the Educational Endowments (Scotland) Act, 1882.

[rown's History of Paisley, ii. 324–8; Reports of the Neilson Institution; Hector's Vanduara.] 

NEILSON, JOHN (1776–1848), Canadian journalist, born at Balmaghie, Kirkcudbrightshire, Scotland, 17 July, 1776, was sent to Canada in 1790, and placed under the care of his elder brother, Samuel Neilson, then resident in Quebec, and editor of the ‘Quebec Gazette.’ Samuel Neilson died in 1793, and in 1796 John Neilson became editor of the paper. The ‘Quebec Gazette,’ published both in English and French, had a wide circulation. John Neilson, though really of conservative views, vigorously championed the cause of the French Canadians, and in 1818 he was elected member of the assembly of Lower Canada for the county of Quebec. He held his seat for fifteen consecutive years. He assumed the attitude of an independent member, paid great attention to agriculture and education, and, in order to have his hands completely free, ceased to edit the ‘Quebec Gazette,’ which enjoyed the privilege of publishing public advertisements. In 1823 he was sent, with other delegates, from Lower Canada to England, to protest against the proposed union of Upper and Lower Canada into one government. The mission was successful, and the proposal for the time withdrawn. In 1827 much dissatisfaction arose in Lower Canada, owing to gross malversation on the part of Sir John Caldwell, the receiver-general, and to the refusal of the executive to allow certain crown duties to pass into the hands of the assembly. In 1828 another mission, of which Neilson again formed a member, was sent to England to complain. Neilson carefully stated his aversion to any fundamental changes. His representations were therefore readily accepted, the crown duties being resigned, and a board of audit established to supervise public accounts. On 29 March 1830 Neilson was publicly thanked for his services by the speaker of the assembly, and in January 1831 a silver vase was presented to him by the citizens of Quebec. From this date, however, Neilson began to separate from the French Canadian party. The assembly, under the leadership of Louis Papineau [q. v.], had refused to provide funds for the government expenses, and was loudly demanding an elective upper house. Both these demands were opposed by Neilson, who declared that, as the administration had been purified, no further change was necessary. As a result he lost his seat at the general election of 1834. A constitutional association was now formed in Lower Canada, by those persons who wished to maintain the existing system. Neilson became a member of it, and in 1835 accepted the appointment of delegate to England to protest against the violent demands of the advanced party. He returned to Canada in 1836, and did his utmost to deter his fellow-countrymen from entering on the rebellion of 1837–8. On its suppression the constitution was suspended, and a special council was created for the government of the two provinces by the high commissioner, Lord Durham, a seat thereon being given to Neilson. Neilson, true to his old principles, bitterly opposed the reunion of the two provinces. He thus regained some of his old popularity with the French party,