Samuel Wilson Vanity Fair 24 January 1885

Sir Samuel Wilson (7 February 1832 – 11 June 1895) was an Irish-born Australian pastoralist and politician, and later a British Member of Parliament. SamuelWilsonKensalGreen01

Early life

Wilson was born in Ballycloughan,

County Antrim County Antrim (named after the town of Antrim, County Antrim, Antrim, ) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, located within the historic Provinces of Ireland, province of Ulster. Adjoined to the north-east shore of Lough Neagh, the c ...

, Ireland, in 1832. He was educated at Ballymena and at first intended taking up civil engineering. For three years he worked for a brother-in-law Robert Chesney, a linen manufacturer, but in 1852 decided to emigrate to

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

Australian entrepreneur

He arrived in

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

in May 1852 and worked on the goldfields, but a few months later decided to join two brothers who had preceded him to Australia, and had a pastoral property in the

Wimmera The Victorian government's Wimmera Southern Mallee subregion is part of the Grampians region in western Victoria. It includes most of what is considered the Wimmera, and part of the southern Mallee region. The subregion is based on the social ...

. He was made manager of one of their holdings, and selling a small property he had in Ireland, with his brothers bought Longerenong station for £40,000. He dug waterholes and made dams on the property which much improved and increased its carrying capacity. Yanko station in the

Riverina The Riverina () is an agricultural list of regions in Australia, region of south-western New South Wales, Australia. The Riverina is distinguished from other Australian regions by the combination of flat plains, a climate with significant seaso ...

was then purchased and much improved. In 1869 Wilson bought his brothers' interests in their stations, afterwards bought other stations in

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India * Victoria (state), a state of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital * Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

and

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

, and became very wealthy. He was interested in the Acclimatization Society of Victoria and in 1873 wrote pamphlets on the angora goat, and on the ostrich. In 1878 a paper he had written was expanded into a volume, ''The Californian Salmon With an Account of its Introduction into Victoria'', and published in the same year. In 1879 another edition of this was published in London under the title, ''Salmon at the Antipodes''.

Coursing Coursing by humans is the pursuit of game or other animals by dogs—chiefly greyhounds and other sighthounds—catching their prey by speed, running by sight, but not by scent. Coursing was a common hunting technique, practised by the nobility, ...

was his preferred sport and he was President of the Ballarat Coursing Club from at least 1875 to 1882. He awarded £20 for the winner of the 1875 Ercildoune Cup and in 1876 it was run on his Ercildoune estate. In 1874 Wilson gave the

University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne (colloquially known as Melbourne University) is a public university, public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in the state ...

£30,000 which with accrued interest was expended on a building in the Gothic style now known as the Wilson Hall. It was the most considerable gift or bequest that the university had received up to then. In the following year he was elected a member of the

Victorian Legislative Council The Victorian Legislative Council is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of Victoria, Australia, the lower house being the Victorian Legislative Assembly, Legislative Assembly. Both houses sit at Parliament House, Melbourne, Parliament ...

(1875-1881) and Legislative Assembly (1861-64) for the Western Province, but he never took a very prominent part in politics. He was knighted in 1875. Around that time he purchased the magnificent Ercildoune property for a rumoured £250,000.

English statesman

About the beginning of 1881 he went to England with his family and leased

Hughenden Manor Hughenden Manor, Hughenden Valley, Hughenden, Buckinghamshire, England, is a Victorian architecture, Victorian mansion, with earlier origins, that served as the country house of the Prime Minister, Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield. I ...

, in Buckinghamshire, once the property of the

Earl of Beaconsfield Earl of Beaconsfield, of Hughenden in the County of Buckingham, was a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1876 for Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli, a favourite of Queen Victoria. Victoria favoured Disraeli's Tory poli ...

: and in London, a town house at 10

Grosvenor Square Grosvenor Square ( ) is a large garden square in the Mayfair district of Westminster, Greater London. It is the centrepiece of the Mayfair property of the Duke of Westminster, and takes its name from the duke's surname "Grosvenor". It was deve ...

Mayfair Mayfair is an area of Westminster, London, England, in the City of Westminster. It is in Central London and part of the West End. It is between Oxford Street, Regent Street, Piccadilly and Park Lane and one of the most expensive districts ...

. He twice contested seats for the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...

without success, but in 1886 was elected as a

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...

for

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. Most of Portsmouth is located on Portsea Island, off the south coast of England in the Solent, making Portsmouth the only city in En ...

and sat until 1892. In September 1893 he again came to Victoria and stayed in Australia until March 1895. He became ill soon after his return to England and died on 11 June 1895, and is buried in

Kensal Green Cemetery Kensal Green Cemetery is a cemetery in the Kensal Green area of North Kensington in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea and the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in London, England. Inspired by Père Lachaise Cemetery in P ...

, London. Lady Wilson stayed on at Grosvenor Square until 1907.

Marriage and issue

In 1861 he married a daughter of the Hon William Campbell. William Campbell is credited with being the first person to find gold in Clunes in 1850 and so spark the

Victoria gold rush The Victorian gold rush was a period in the history of Victoria, Australia, approximately between 1851 and the late 1860s. It led to a period of extreme prosperity for the Australian colony and an influx of population growth and financial capi ...

. They had four sons and five daughters: all four sons and two of the daughters survived him. His eldest son, Lieutenant-Colonel

Gordon Chesney Wilson Lieutenant-Colonel Gordon Chesney Wilson (3 August 1865 – 6 November 1914) was a British Army officer and husband of the war correspondent Lady Sarah Wilson. As an Eton College student he assisted in thwarting Roderick Maclean's assassinati ...

, married Lady Sarah Isabella Churchill, sister of

Lord Randolph Churchill Lord Randolph Henry Spencer-Churchill (13 February 1849 – 24 January 1895) was a British aristocrat and politician. Churchill was a Tory radical who coined the term "One-nation conservatism, Tory democracy". He participated in the creation ...

, he fell in The First World War on 6 November 1914 and is buried at

Zillebeke Zillebeke (also known as Zellebeck) is a village in the Flemish province of West Flanders in Belgium. It is a former municipality which is now part of Ypres. History On 3 March 1914 the then municipality was granted the arms of the last Lord ...

Churchyard , West Flanders, Belgium. Another son Wilfred Wilson was mortally wounded in an attack on Boer positions at Hartebeestfontein during the

Second Boer War The Second Boer War (, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, Transvaal War, Anglo–Boer War, or South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer republics (the South African Republic and ...

. His daughter Maud Margaret Wilson married

Warner Hastings, 15th Earl of Huntingdon Lieutenant-Colonel Warner Francis John Plantagenet Hastings, 15th Earl of Huntingdon (8 July 1868 – 5 April 1939) was a British peer, and Deputy Lieutenant of King's County, Ireland. Family Hastings was born at St Stephen's Green, Dublin, ...

in 1892. His son Clarence lived at Grove Place, Nursling , Southampton, Hampshire

References

* *L. J. Blake
Wilson, Sir Samuel (1832 - 1895)

Australian Dictionary of Biography The ''Australian Dictionary of Biography'' (ADB or AuDB) is a national co-operative enterprise founded and maintained by the Australian National University (ANU) to produce authoritative biographical articles on eminent people in Australia's ...

, Volume 6, MUP, 1976, pp 418–419.

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wilson, Samuel 1832 births 1895 deaths Politicians from the Colony of Victoria Australian pastoralists Victoria (state) state politicians Politicians from County Antrim Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies UK MPs 1886–1892 Burials at Kensal Green Cemetery 19th-century Australian businesspeople Irish emigrants to colonial Australia