John Wilson (8 June 1799 – 22 January 1870) was a proponent of the

British Israelism British Israelism (also called Anglo-Israelism) is a pseudo-historical belief that the people of Great Britain are "genetically, racially, and linguistically the direct descendants" of the Ten Lost Tribes of ancient Israel. With roots in the ...

movement, along with Edward Wheler Bird and Edward Hine. 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 Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

, to the

British Isles The British Isles are an archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean off the north-western coast of continental Europe, consisting of the islands of Great Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Inner Hebrides, Inner and Outer Hebr ...

. He believed the Northern European people to be descended from the Ten Lost Tribes, with the people of Britain being the

Tribe of Ephraim According to the Hebrew Bible, the Tribe of Ephraim (, ''ʾEp̄rayim,'' in Pausa, pausa: , ''ʾEp̄rāyim'') was one of the Twelve Tribes of Israel. The Tribe of Manasseh, together with Ephraim, formed the Tribe of Joseph. It is one of the Ten L ...

. Wilson relied on

philological Philology () is the study of language in oral and written historical sources. It is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics with strong ties to etymology. Philology is also defined as the study of ...

"evidence" of English, Scottish, and Irish words that were similar to Hebrew words, even though he lacked formal training in language or seminary. It was in Wilson's house in

St Pancras, London St Pancras () is a district in North London. It was originally a medieval Civil parish#Ancient parishes, ancient parish and subsequently became a metropolitan borough. The metropolitan borough then merged with neighbouring boroughs and the are ...

, 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.

References

External links

* Wilson, John
''Lectures on Our Israelitish Origin''
5th edition 1876 (1st edition 1840). Internet Archive. * Wilson, John
''Our Israelitish Origins''
1840, 144 pages. Google Books. {{DEFAULTSORT:Wilson, John 1799 births 1870 deaths British Israelism People from Kilmarnock 19th-century British historians 19th-century British writers