Christopher Wilson (1765–1845) was an English businessman, banker and political activist of anti-reform views.

Early life

He was the eldest son of Christopher Wilson and his wife Margaret Parke. He attended Hawkshead School with

William Wordsworth William Wordsworth (7 April 177023 April 1850) was an English Romantic poetry, Romantic poet who, with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped to launch the Romanticism, Romantic Age in English literature with their joint publication ''Lyrical Balla ...

. Wilson went into the cotton spinning trade, near Staveley.Satchell and Wilson, p. 55. He had a business interest in

gunpowder Gunpowder, also commonly known as black powder to distinguish it from modern smokeless powder, is the earliest known chemical explosive. It consists of a mixture of sulfur, charcoal (which is mostly carbon), and potassium nitrate, potassium ni ...

, being a partner in the Low Wood Gunpowder Mill at

Haverthwaite Haverthwaite is a small village and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Furness region of Cumbria, England. It is also within the boundaries of the Lake District National Park. The village is 7 km or 4.5 miles NE of Ulverston and 5 k ...

. This mill was a major supplier of export gunpowder for Africa to

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

, up to the

Slave Trade Act 1807 The Slave Trade Act 1807 ( 47 Geo. 3 Sess. 1. c. 36), or the Abolition of Slave Trade Act 1807, was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom prohibiting the Atlantic slave trade in the British Empire. Although it did not automatica ...

. Wilson was connected to Liverpool through his uncle Thomas Parke. Wilson joined the Kendal Bank, founded by his father, Joseph Maude, and Thomas Crewdson, as a partner, in 1795. He became senior partner in 1812, when the bank became Wilson, Crewdson & Co.

Election of 1818

The 1818 election for

Westmorland Westmorland (, formerly also spelt ''Westmoreland''R. Wilkinson The British Isles, Sheet The British IslesVision of Britain/ref>) is an area of North West England which was Historic counties of England, historically a county. People of the area ...

was closely contested by Henry Brougham, against two Tories of the locally predominant Lowther family, Viscount Lowther and Henry Lowther. Wilson acted as chairman of the local Lowther Committee. He held an anti-Reform meeting; while John Wakefield II, of the rival banking family, held a pro-Brougham meeting. The ''Kendal Chronicle'' alleged that Wilson, a commissioner for the

land tax A land value tax (LVT) is a levy on the value of land without regard to buildings, personal property and other improvements upon it. Some economists favor LVT, arguing it does not cause economic inefficiency, and helps reduce economic inequali ...

, had employed "sly cunning", after Brougham had repeatedly claimed in Parliament that Wilson had delayed returning assessments in order to disenfranchise reform voters.Chandler, p. 79. Matters became rowdy, with a Reform mob setting up a barricade in Kendal to keep out the Lowther party arriving from

Dallam Tower Dallam Tower is a listed building, grade I listed country house in Beetham parish, near Milnthorpe, Westmorland and Furness, Cumbria, England. It is a member of the Historic Houses Association but is not open to the public except for occasiona ...

to the south. At this time Wordsworth, whose politics were Tory, commented in a letter to

Lord Lonsdale Earl of Lonsdale is a title that has been created twice in British history, firstly in the Peerage of Great Britain in 1784 (becoming extinct in 1802), and then in the Peerage of the United Kingdom in 1807, both times for members of the Lowth ...

, Viscount Lowther's father, that Wilson was wealthy, but not popular. Both Lowther candidates were returned in the two-member constituency.

Later life

Wilson lived at Abbot Hall. He then bought Mansergh manor from Charles Satterthwaite in 1821. After the

Panic of 1825 The Panic of 1825 was a stock market crash that originated in the Bank of England, arising partly from speculative investments in Latin America, including the fictitious country of Poyais. The crisis was felt most acutely in Britain, where it led ...

he sold out of the Kendal Bank, in 1826. He had the old manor house at Mansergh, called Rigmaden, rebuilt (1828), to a design by George Webster. An enclosure act was passed in 1837 for Mansergh, where Wilson built and endowed a school.

Thomas Chalmers Thomas Chalmers (17 March 178031 May 1847), was a Scottish Presbyterian minister, professor of theology, political economist, and a leader of both the Church of Scotland and of the Free Church of Scotland (1843—1900), Free Church of Scotl ...

, who encountered Wilson in the 1820s socially, described him as "banker, with £10,000 a year, a great landed proprietor, a magistrate, and most intimately and intelligently acquainted with pauperism". He later quoted correspondence with Wilson, on the

select vestry A vestry was a committee for the local secular and ecclesiastical government of a parish in England, Wales and some English colonies. At their height, the vestries were the only form of local government in many places and spent nearly one-fi ...

principle, in his work on

poor relief In English and British history, poor relief refers to government and ecclesiastical action to relieve poverty. Over the centuries, various authorities have needed to decide whose poverty deserves relief and also who should bear the cost of hel ...

, in ''The Christian and Civic Economy of Large Towns'' (1823). In 1837 Christopher Wilson, as a magistrate, took part in an enquiry in Kendal ordered by the

Poor Law Commission The Poor Law Commission was a body established to administer poor relief after the passing of the Poor Law Amendment Act 1834. The commission was made up of three commissioners who became known as "The Bashaws of Somerset House", their secretary ...

, on a cruelty complaint raised by

William Carus Wilson William Carus Wilson (7 July 1791 – 30 December 1859) was an English churchman and the founder and editor of the long-lived monthly ''The Children's Friend (British magazine), The Children's Friend''. He was the inspiration for Mr Brocklehurst, ...

of Casterton, against the Board of Guardians of the

Union workhouse In Britain and Ireland, a workhouse (, lit. "poor-house") was a total institution where those unable to support themselves financially were offered accommodation and employment. In Scotland, they were usually known as poorhouses. The earliest ...

Family

Wilson married Catherine, daughter of James Wilson J.P. of Kendal and Lambrigg by his wife, Jenny Anne Crumpstone of Ambleside and they had 14 children: five sons and nine daughters.

Sandys Birket Foster Sandys may refer to: * Sandys (surname), an Anglo-Saxon surname, including a list of people with the name * Sandys Wason, early 20th-century curate of Cury, Cornwall * Sandyston Township, New Jersey * Sandys Parish, Bermuda * Baron Sandys, thre ...

, ''The Pedigree of Wilson of High Wray & Kendal'' (1871), p. 18
archive.org.
/ref> The eldest son Edward became chairman of the Bank of Westmorland, when it was set up in 1833. He married Anne Clementina, daughter of Thomas Sidney Beckwith. He was succeeded by his brother William Wilson (1810–1880) who married Maria Letitia Hulme (1817–1873) at Stoke Gabriel, Devon in 1843 and had three sons and five daughters. Their eldest son

Christopher Wyndham Wilson Col Christopher Wyndham Wilson JP DL known as “Kit” (1844 – 1918) was an English landowner, agricultural pioneer and appointed High Sheriff of Westmorland in 1884. He built two eponymous lakes in Westmorland: Kitmere and Wyndhamere. Earl ...

"Kit" (1844–1918) inherited the Rigmaden Park Estate in 1880.

References

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Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilson, Christopher 1765 births 1845 deaths English businesspeople English bankers People from Kendal