Researching John Wilson

Plate tectonics is the scientific theory that the rigid outer layers of the Earth (crust and part of the upper mantle), the lithosphere, is broken up into around 13 pieces or "plates" that move independently over the weaker asthenosphere. Wilson maintained that the Hawaiian Islands were created as a tectonic plate (extending across much of the Pacific Ocean) shifted to the northwest over a fixed hotspot, spawning a long series of volcanoes. He also conceived of the transform fault, a major plate boundary where two plates move past each other horizontally (e.g., the San Andreas Fault).

His name was given to two young Canadian submarine volcanoes called the Tuzo Wilson Seamounts. The Wilson cycle of seabed expansion and contraction (associated with the Supercontinent cycle) bears his name.

He was born near Ottawa, Upper Canada in 1834, the grandson of a United Empire Loyalist. He studied medicine at the Toronto School of Medicine (later the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Toronto) and New York University. He received his M.D. in 1859 and was appointed professor of anatomy at Victoria College. In 1860, he opened a medical practice in St. Thomas, Ontario. He was elected to the provincial legislature in 1871 and 1875. He was elected to the federal parliament in the Canadian federal election of 1882 and was re-elected in 1887. On 8 March 1904 he was appointed to the Senate of Canada upon the recommendation of Sir Wilfrid Laurier. He represented the senatorial division of St. Thomas, Ontario until his death in 1912.

Walgren was born in Genarp, Skåne, Sweden on 8 July 1851. He entered into British service, changing his name to Wilson. Wilson initially resided in Nagasaki, Kyūshū, living next-door to Thomas Blake Glover. The Wilson family subsequently resided in Nagasaki and Kobe. He married a Japanese national on 11 January 1883 at Christ Church, Yokohama, the Anglican church located in Yamate, overlooking the Port of Yokohama, Japan. His wife (b. 5 July 1860) upon baptism Anglicised her name from Naka Yamazaki to Sophia Wilson, and adopted her son, Nils Wilson. Their children were August, Frederick, Maria, Christina, Hilda, Hannah and John.

Sofia Wilson was a confidant and neighbor of Tsuru Glover, the Japanese wife of Thomas Glover, and together with Tsuru's friendship with the Japanese Ambassador to Italy, the stories of Naka and Tsuru may have been incorporated in Giacomo Puccini's Madam Butterfly.

Wilson was born in Enfield, London, where he attended the Chace Boys School. He fished on several local waters including the River Lea and later fished further afield. He had careers in hairdressing, the Merchant Navy and printing before opening his own fishing tackle shop based in Norwich in 1971. Wilson lived at Great Witchingham, Norfolk, where he fished on his local River Wensum and owned his own lake complex before moving to Thailand in 2013. After living in Thailand for five years, Wilson announced his intention to move back to the UK.

He was appointed an MBE in the 2009 Queen's Birthday Honours.

Wilson died in Thailand on 13 November 2018 following a stroke two days previously. A service in memory of Wilson took place at Norwich Cathedral on 24 May 2019.

Whilst editor of the Berwick Advertiser, Wilson began publishing local stories. Their popularity led to him reprinting and extending them into a weekly broadsheet, priced at 1 1/2d (a penny halfpenny) Although he died within a year, with his obituary published in issue 49, the Tales ran to 312 editions, in all carrying 485 tales or serialisations. After his death the Tales continued under the editorship of others, in part to provide income for his widow and family. The most notable contributor and subsequent editor being Alexander Leighton.

As well as editing the newspaper, Wilson also wrote poetry and plays. The Wilson's Tales Project now hosts a literary dinner on the anniversary of his death, at which his poem 'Beans and Bacon' is performed. The circumstances and penury of the central character of the poem are generally regarded as being semi autobiographical

It is likely Wilson died of an embolism.

His plays include The Gowrie Conspiracy and Margaret of Anjou.

Wilson was born in Nashville, Tennessee. He moved with his parents to Harmony, Pennsylvania, the same year. He graduated from the Harmony Collegiate Institute, the Zelienople Academy, and from Grove City College. He studied law and was admitted to the bar in Butler, Pennsylvania, in 1893. He taught school, and commenced the practice of law in Butler in 1896. He was a member of the Pennsylvania National Guard for three years and served during the Homestead Riots. He served as was solicitor for the city of Butler from 1906 to 1934, except while a Member of Congress. He was a delegate to the Democratic National Conventions in 1916, 1932, 1936, and 1940.

Wilson was elected as a Democrat to the Sixty-sixth Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Representative-elect Edward E. Robbins. He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1920. He resumed the practice of law, and served as judge of the several courts of Butler County, Pennsylvania, from 1933 to 1943. He died in Butler. Interment in North Cemetery.

Wilson was a self educated man. In 1840, he published Our Israelitish Origin, a book of his lectures, in which he claimed that the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel had made their way from the Near East, across the continent of Europe, to the British Isles. He believed the Northern European people to be descended from the Ten Lost Tribes, with the people of Britain being the Tribe of Ephraim. Wilson relied on philological "evidence" of English, Scottish, and Irish words that were similar to Hebrew words, even though he lacked formal training in language or seminary.

His lectures attracted the attention of, among others, Charles Piazzi Smyth, Astronomer Royal for Scotland and one of the first Pyramidologists.

It was in Wilson's house in St Pancras, London, that the Anglo-Israel Association was founded in 1874.

On the death of Wilson's daughter in 1904, his manuscripts passed into the possession of Rev. A. B. Grimaldi.

Born near Pulaski, Tennessee, Wilson moved with his parents to Alabama and attended the common schools and Rhuhama (Alabama) College. He served in the Confederate States Army as a member of Company B, First Battalion, Volunteer Infantry, and later on staff duty under General Hindman until 1863, after which he served as lieutenant colonel of a regiment.He studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1866 and commenced practice in Fayetteville, Arkansas.He served as member of the Arkansas House of Representatives in 1877 and 1878.He served as prosecuting attorney for the fourth judicial district in 1885 and 1886.

Wilson moved to the Territory of Arizona and settled in Prescott in 1887, where he continued the practice of law.He served as member of the constitutional convention in 1891. He was probate judge of Yavapai County 1893-1895.He served as delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 1896.He was appointed attorney general of the Territory of Arizona by Governor Franklin and served during 1896 and 1897.

Wilson was elected as a Democrat to the Fifty-sixth Congress (March 4, 1899 – March 3, 1901). Wilson was elected to the Fifty-eighth Congress (March 4, 1903 – March 3, 1905).He was not a candidate for renomination in 1900 and 1904.Afterwards he resumed the practice of his profession.He died in Prescott, Arizona, and was interred in Mountain View Cemetery.

Born in Peterborough, New Hampshire, Wilson graduated from Harvard University in 1799.He studied law.He was admitted to the bar in 1802 at Peterborough, New Hampshire, and commenced practice in Belfast in Massachusetts' District of Maine.He served as a captain in the State militia.

Wilson was elected as a Federalist to the Thirteenth Congress (March 4, 1813 – March 3, 1815).He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1814 to the Fourteenth Congress.He resumed the practice of his profession in Belfast.He was elected to the Fifteenth Congress (March 4, 1817 – March 3, 1819).He was an unsuccessful candidate for renomination in 1818.He engaged in the practice of law until his death in Belfast, Maine, August 9, 1848.He was interred in Grove Cemetery.

Born in Crab Orchard, Kentucky, Wilson pursued preparatory studies.He graduated from Tusculum College in June 1870. After this he studied law.

Wilson was admitted to the bar in September 1871 and commenced practice in Barbourville, Kentucky.He was also greatly interested in agricultural pursuits and the construction of the Dixie Highway.He served as member of the Kentucky State Senate from 1883 to 1887.

Wilson was elected as a Republican to the Fifty-first and Fifty-second Congresses (March 4, 1889-March 3, 1893).He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1892 to the Fifty-third Congress.He resumed the practice of his profession in Barbourville, Kentucky.He died in Louisville, Kentucky, January 14, 1923.He was interred in Barbourville Cemetery.

Wilson studied at the Ontario Veterinary College at the University of Guelph and, after graduating in 1967, moved to Quesnel, British Columbia where he established the Quesnel Veterinary Clinic. He was president of the Quesnel Cattlemen's Association.

Wilson was part of a coterie of artists and musicians surrounding the court of Charles I that included the likes of Ben Jonson, Inigo Jones, Anthony van Dyck, Henry Lawes and Giovanni Coprario. Following the execution of the King in 1649 he showed his clearly Royalist sympathies in his Psalterium Carolinum, a versification of the Eikon Basilike by Thomas Stanley, with a dedicatory poem by Henry Lawes, published in 1657.

In January 1968, Wilson, along with Richard McCracken, had left the band and soon afterwards joined The Interns where they played along with Roy Abbott and Nicko Hallewell.

In May 1968, he and bass player Richard McCracken joined guitarist Rory Gallagher in Taste, after the band's previous line-up had disintegrated. The new Taste moved permanently to London where they signed with the record label Polydor. In November 1968, the band, along with Yes, opened for Cream at Cream's farewell concerts, and subsequently toured the United States and Canada with the supergroup Blind Faith. In April 1969, Taste released the first of their two studio albums, the self-titled Taste, with On the Boards following in early 1970, the latter showing the band's jazz influences. In 1970 they performed as part of the Isle of Wight Festival, alongside Jimi Hendrix and The Who. Later the same year Taste toured Europe but were disbanded by Gallagher, who decided to pursue a solo career, performing their last show on New Year's Eve in Belfast. Wilson and McCracken immediately formed 'Stud' in early 1971, with Jim Cregan and John Weider. They released the Stud album in 1971 and September in 1972, continuing the jazz-rock influence of On the Boards but failing to make a commercial impact. They split in 1972, though a live-in-the-studio album was released posthumously - Goodbye: Live at Command (1973). Wilson and McCracken had also contributed to Anno Domini's On This New Day album, recorded in 1970.

John Wilson then joined Brush Shiels in various incarnations of Skid Row, and planned a Them reunion in 1979 with ex-members Eric Wrixon and Billy Harrison, but dropped out before the Shut Your Mouth album was recorded. In 1993, Wrixon formed 'Them - The Belfast Blues Band' (often billed as 'Them') which included at various times John Wilson, Sam Davidson and Jim Armstrong. From February 2000, John Wilson led a reformed 'Taste', including Sam Davidson (guitar, vocals) and Albert Mills on bass. In 2010 they released the album Wall to Wall to critical acclaim. "Album of the year if not the decade" (Blues Matters! magazine).

After battling throat cancer for five years, Wilson left for Cork. Following the death of Rory Gallagher, he reformed Taste, hiring bassist Alan Niblock and guitarist Sam Davidson.

On 24 November 2017, Wilson and Taste played at the Everyman Palace Theatre.

In 1828 he married Margaret Bayne and together they went as Christian missionaries of the Scottish Missionary Society to Bombay, India, arriving on 13 February 1829. He is the founder of Wilson College, Mumbai and Bombay University. He was also the president of the Asiatic Society of Bombay from 1835 to 1842; and was elected Moderator of the Free Church of Scotland in 1870.

Wilson was a member of the Auckland Provincial Council, representing the Pensioner Settlements electorate from 7 October 1857 to 12 September 1861. He was a judge at the Native Land Court for many years. He owned Whakaari/White Island off the coast from Tauranga and had it mined for sulphur.

He was born in Lochmaben, Dumfriesshire in about 1805, and was ordained as a Congregationalist minister, working for a time in County Galway in Ireland. From the late 1840s onwards he devoted himself to writing and editing, living in Edinburgh, where he died in 1885, aged 80.

Born into a prominent English family from Sudbury in Suffolk, his father was the chaplain to the Archbishop of Canterbury, and thus held a high position in the Anglican Church. Young Wilson was sent to school at Eton for four years, and then attended the university at King's College, Cambridge, where he received his B.A. in 1610. From there he studied law briefly, and then studied at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, where he received an M.A. in 1613. Following his ordination, he was the chaplain for some prominent families for a few years, before being installed as pastor in his home town of Sudbury. Over the next ten years he was dismissed and then reinstated on several occasions, because of his strong Puritan sentiments which contradicted the practices of the established church.

As with many other Puritan divines, Wilson came to New England, and sailed with his friend John Winthrop and the Winthrop Fleet in 1630. He was the first minister of the settlers, who established themselves in Charlestown, but soon crossed the Charles River into Boston. Wilson was an encouragement to the early settlers during the very trying initial years of colonization. He made two return trips to England during his early days in Boston, the first time to persuade his wife to come, after she initially refused to make the trip, and the second time to transact some business. Upon his second return to the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1635, Anne Hutchinson was first exposed to his preaching, and found an unhappy difference between his theology and that of her mentor, John Cotton, who was the other Boston minister. The theologically astute, sharp-minded, and outspoken Hutchinson, who had been hosting large groups of followers in her home, began to criticize Wilson, and the divide erupted into the Antinomian Controversy. Hutchinson was eventually tried and banished from the colony, as was her brother-in-law, Reverend John Wheelwright.

Following the controversy, Wilson and Cotton were able to work together to heal the divisions within the Boston church, but after Cotton's death more controversy befell Boston as the Quakers began to infiltrate the orthodox colony with their evangelists. Greatly opposed to their theology, Wilson supported the actions taken against them, and supervised the execution of his former parishioner, Mary Dyer in 1660. He died in 1667, the longest-lived of the early ministers in the Boston area, and his passing was lamented by those who knew him and worked with him, but he is also remembered for the roles he played in the persecution of those who did not embrace the Puritan orthodoxy.

He entered the British Army as an ensign in the 28th Foot in 1794 and was promoted lieutenant the following year.

He fought in the Capture of St Lucia and of St Vincent in 1796. In July of that year he was captured and exchanged in Guadaloupe, but was captured again in 1797. He was however able to rejoin his regiment in Gibraltar and take part in the Capture of Minorca in 1798. In 1799 he was given the command of a company in the newly formed Minorca Regiment which was posted to Egypt in 1801, where Wilson took part in the Battle of Alexandria. He was promoted Major in 1802.

In 1808 the Minorca Regiment, now renamed The Queen's Own German Regiment, was sent to Portugal, where Wilson was severely wounded at the Battle of Vimiero. In 1809 he was back on the Peninsular as part of the Loyal Lusitanian Legion under Sir Robert Thomas Wilson, harassing the French in the vicinity of Ciudad Rodrigo. In 1810 he was made Chief of Staff under Silveira, a Commander of the Portuguese troops. In 1911 he was made Governor of the province of Minho.

In 1813 he rejoined Wellington's army, commanding a Portuguese brigade at the Siege of San Sebastian, the Passage of the Bidassoa and the Battle of Nivelle. He was again severely wounded near Bayonne. He was made brevet colonel and knighted in 1814, and made a CB the following year.

Promoted Major-general in 1825, Wilson commanded the British troops in Ceylon from 1831 to 1839, acting as governor for a short period. He was made KCB in 1837 and promoted Lieutenant-general in 1838.

In 1835 he fought a duel with Charles Marshall, the Chief Justice, which took place in the Cinnamon Gardens, Colombo, once a plantation.

In 1836 he was given the colonelcy of the 82nd Foot, transferring to the 11th Foot in 1841, a position he held until his death. He was promoted full general on 20 June 1854.

He died in his London home in 1856.

He was educated at St Paul's School, London and Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. After a curacy at St Michael at Bowes, London he was a Chaplain to the Forces from 1917 to 1920. He was then at Newton Nottage from 1920 to 1926; then St James, Portsmouth until 1928. He then served as a Naval Chaplain until 1947.

He worked mostly in stucco (which he called 'Roman cement') in the neoclassical, Gothic Revival or Jacobethan styles.

Despite the recognition of his work in Guernsey, he appears to have done little work outside the island and remains a rather elusive figure.