Author, reference editor and clergyman. Born in Lochmaben (Dumfriesshire), Wilson was ordained as a minister in the Congregationalist church. In middle age he devoted himself to writing, producing two descriptive gazetteers for which he is best remembered; an Imperial Gazetteer of Scotland, published in two volumes (1854-57) followed by a six-volume Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72). He also wrote on religion and agriculture, authoring a monograph on the potato and an agricultural encyclopedia. He also produced a guide to the places important to Sir Walter Scott (1771 - 1832) and an early tourist guide to Scotland, published by Thomas Nelson in 1860.
