Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 62.djvu/122

 The fact, however, that most of the important chairs of agriculture in Scotland and many elsewhere were filled by his pupils is sufficient testimony to his merit as a teacher.

In 1885 Wilson resigned his chair at Edinburgh, and was appointed emeritus professor. In the spring of 1886 the honorary degree of LL.D. was conferred upon him. He died at Sandfield, Tunbridge Wells, on 27 March 1888.

An important characteristic of Wilson's career was his intercourse and relations with foreign agricultural authorities and societies. In 1851 he filled the position of deputy juror at the International Exhibition; in 1853 he was sent as royal commissioner to the United States, and in the same year was appointed knight of the French Legion of Honour. In 1855 he acted as commissioner to the British agricultural department in the exhibition at Paris. At different periods he also rendered important services to the agricultural departments of Canada, Austria, Denmark, and Germany. He was a corresponding member of numerous foreign agricultural societies, and in 1885 he was created knight commander of the Brazilian order of the Rose.

Wilson wrote: By far the most valuable, however, of his writings is
 * 1) ‘Catalogue de la collection des produits agricoles, végétaux et animaux de l'Angleterre … exposés par le Board of Trade à l'Exposition Universelle de Paris en 1855,’ Paris, 1855, 8vo.
 * 2) ‘The Agriculture of the French Exhibition: an Introductory Lecture delivered in the University of Edinburgh, Session I., 1855–6,’ Edinburgh, 1855, 8vo.
 * 3) ‘Agriculture, Past and Present: being two Introductory Lectures delivered in the University of Edinburgh,’ Edinburgh, 1855, 2nd edit. 8vo.
 * 1) ‘Our Farm Crops, being a popular Scientific Description of the Cultivation, Chemistry, Diseases, Remedies, &c., of the various Crops cultivated in Great Britain and Ireland,’ London, 1860, 2 vols. 8vo. This is still a standard work of reference, and nothing better of its kind has ever appeared in agricultural literature.

Wilson edited a ‘Report on the Present State of the Agriculture of Scotland,’ arranged under the auspices of the Highland and Agricultural Society, to be presented at the international congress at Paris in June 1878.

 WILSON, JOHN MACKAY (1804–1835), author of the ‘Tales of the Borders,’ was the son of a millwright, and was baptised at Tweedmouth, Berwick-on-Tweed, on 15 Aug. 1804. After receiving elementary education at Tweedmouth he completed his apprenticeship as a printer in Berwick, and then settled for a time in London. Here he experienced hardship, and is said to have paid his last two shillings on one occasion to see Mrs. Siddons in Covent Garden Theatre. Leaving London, he lectured in the provinces for a time on literature with indifferent success. In 1832 he became editor of the ‘Berwick Advertiser,’ working thereafter steadily in the cultivation of his literary talent and the advocacy of political reform. He died at Berwick on 2 Oct. 1835, and was buried in Tweedmouth churchyard.

Wilson wrote various lyric and dramatic poems of little consequence. ‘The Gowrie Conspiracy,’ a drama, appeared in 1829. There was another drama, ‘Margaret of Anjou,’ besides several poetical publications—‘The Poet's Progress,’ ‘The Border Patriots,’ &c.—of smaller account. On 8 Nov. 1834 Wilson began the weekly publication, in threehalfpenny numbers, of ‘The Tales of the Borders,’ which speedily attained an extraordinary popularity both in Great Britain and in America. Realistic narratives of simple sentiment and impressive situations, these stories made a direct appeal to the general reader, and the weekly circulation steadily rose from two thousand to sixteen or seventeen thousand. Wilson published in all forty-eight numbers, comprising seventy-three tales. Favourites among his stories are: ‘The Poor Scholar’ (with manifest autobiographical touches), ‘Tibbie Fowler,’ ‘The Vacant Chair,’ and ‘My Black Coat, or the Breaking of the Bride's Chain.’ The series was continued by Wilson's brother, and much prolonged by Alexander Leighton (1800–1874) [q. v.] Several collected editions have been published. In 1834 appeared Wilson's ‘Enthusiast; a metrical tale, with other pieces.’

 WILSON, JOHN MATTHIAS (1813–1881), president of Corpus Christi College, Oxford, eldest son of William Wilson of South Shields, was born at that town on 24 Sept. 1813. He received his early education as a day scholar at the grammar school of Newcastle-on-Tyne, under Dr. Mortimer, subsequently headmaster of the City of London school. On 15 June 1832 he was elected to a scholarship open to natives of the bishopric of Durham at 