Researching Charles Wilson

Charlie Wilson was born in Glasgow, and educated at Eastbank Academy in the east end of the city. Having began his career as a reporter for the News Chronicle and the Daily Mail, he subsequently edited the Glasgow Evening Times, The Glasgow Herald and The Scottish Sunday Standard from 1976 to 1982, before moving to London to work as deputy editor (1982–1985) and editor (1985–1990) of The Times. From 1992 to 1998 he was managing director of Mirror Group plc (having been editorial director of the Group from 1991 to 1992). He was concurrently managing director and editor-in-chief of The Sporting Life (1990–1998), and also edited The Independent for a brief spell (1995–1996).

He was married to the broadcaster and journalist Anne Robinson and they have a daughter, Emma. He was later married to the journalist Sally O'Sullivan with whom he had a son, Luke, and a daughter, Lily. In 2001 he married amateur jockey Rachel Pitkeathley, daughter of Baroness Pitkeathley, the Life Peer.

He was appointed as new Chairman of the Judges at British Press Awards 2006, as part of an effort to promote transparency and fairness in the judging process.

Wilson is the senior non-executive director of Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, where he has made significant steps in assuring corporate governance. He is mentioned in the annual reports at the chelwest.nhs.uk website.

A former Royal Marines boxing champion, he was feared but respected by many of those who worked for him, among them Matthew Parris, who cites him as an inspiration in the craft of journalism.

Permanent collections of Wilson's work are housed in some of the most renowned museums and art galleries in the world. These include New York's Metropolitan Museum, Washington's Library of Congress, the Corcoran Gallery and the Smithsonian. Works by Wilson are a prominent feature of the Oklahoma State Capitol.

The first part of Wilson's sporting career took place in Victoria, where he had played football with St Kilda since 1887, when they were competing in the VFA. Recruited from Hawksburn originally, Wilson played two senior VFL games, the first came in the inaugural season in 1897 against Geelong at Corio Oval and the other at Junction Oval in 1900 against Melbourne. He later served as a club secretary. While a St Kilda player he made three first-class cricket appearances for his state, as a right-handed batsman, all in the 1890s against Tasmania.

Wilson moved to New Zealand in 1902 after his football career finished, and became manager of the Invercargill branch of Sargood, Son and Ewen, a New Zealand warehousing and manufacturing company. He made his first-class debut in New Zealand when he took the field for the South Island against Lord Hawke's XI at Dunedin in 1902–03. He was the first player to score a century for Southland, which he did against Otago in 1903–04 with 117 not out. He was transferred in his work to Dunedin in 1905, and from 1905 to 1912 he represented Otago in the Plunket Shield and other first-class cricket fixtures, captaining the team most of the time and serving on the Otago cricket Association executive from 1907 to 1912. He then moved to Wellington where he played for the province until his retirement in 1920.

He had his best summer in 1908–09, when he scored 429 first-class runs at 71.50 with two hundreds. One of those hundreds was an innings of 188 against Hawke's Bay, where he was captain and opened the batting. He followed it up with 49 in the second innings.

He was married in Windsor, Melbourne, in May 1892.

He was born in Sydney, Australia and came to New Zealand aged 16 with his parents.

He was elected to the Taumarunui electorate in the 1911 general election, but was defeated in 1914.

His widow Helen Wilson wrote a highly regarded autobiography in which she recalls the bidding by the liquor trade for him to vote against or even just abstain on a 1910 bill which provided that only a 55-45 percent majority of the vote would be needed to bring in Prohibition. The Trade offered to pay his election expenses, and rose to expenses plus eight hundred pounds, but then they found cheaper support. She said: my husband was incorruptible.

He was born in London and was educated in England. Wilson came to Victoria in 1862 and worked for some time in the gold fields in the Cariboo and Big Bend areas. He later studied law and was called to the British Columbia bar in 1883. Wilson served as counsel for the Bank of Montreal. He was defeated when he ran for reelection to the assembly in 1886. Wilson was elected the first president of the British Columbia Conservative Party in 1899. He ran unsuccessfully for an assembly seat for Victoria City in 1890 and for Vancouver City in 1900. Wilson served in the provincial executive council as president and as Attorney General.

He was married three times: to Minnie Parker in 1876, to Helen Mary Twiford in 1894 and to Maude Hamilton McLean in 1909. Wilson died in Vancouver at the age of 83.

Wilson was Portland Shire engineer around 1901, and took over as shire engineer of the Leigh and Buninyong Shires on his father's retirement in about 1903. He was shire engineer at Buninyong in 1923 and was active in Ballarat until at least 1937.

Elected as president of the Institute of Local Government Engineers of Australasia 25 October 1922

He was married to Edith Jane Lynd, second daughter of Sydney Rudge Robinson, Esq. MRCSL, LAC, on 4 April 1884, at Christ Church, Geelong, by the Rev Canon Goodman.