Thomas Wilson (5 September 1787 – 31 March 1863) was a solicitor, author and Mayor of Adelaide from 1842 to 1843. He was born in England but educated in Germany. On his return to England he was articled to Bartlett & Beddome, a London firm of solicitors. In 1833 he purchased a 3000-acre estate in Abbeycwmhir, Radnorshire but now in Powys, Wales and commissioned the building of an Elizabethan-style house on the site of an earlier house overlooking the ruins of

Cwmhir Abbey Cwmhir Abbey (), near Llandrindod Wells in Powys, is a Welsh Cistercian monastery founded in 1176 by Cadwallon ap Madog. A spurious tale was later recorded that the abbey was founded in 1143 by Meredudd ap Maelgwn at Ty-faenor, and then refoun ...

. He landscaped the estate at great expense, including the creation of a lake to power the village sawmill. In 1836 published anonymously ''A Descriptive Catalogue of the Prints of Rembrandt''. In 1838 he ran into financial difficulty and decided to emigrate to Australia. He and much of his family sailed in the ''Duke of Roxburghe'' and arrived in Adelaide in July 1838 where he soon built an extensive and highly respectable practice as a member of the firm of Smart & Wilson. In 1841 he was appointed clerk of the Court of Appeals by Governor (Sir)

George Grey Sir George Grey, KCB (14 April 1812 – 19 September 1898) was a British soldier, explorer, colonial administrator and writer. He served in a succession of governing positions: Governor of South Australia, twice Governor of New Zealand, Gov ...

. He was elected to the Municipal Corporation of Adelaide in 1840 and designed the official seal. He was elected an Alderman the following year and the second

Mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...

in 1842. He gave lectures on painting and engraving and published several poems (''The Feast of Belshazzar'', ''The Lonely Man of the Ocean'', and ''Boyuca; or the Fountain of Youth''). He died in

Kensington, South Australia Kensington is a suburb of Adelaide, South Australia in the City of Norwood, Payneham & St Peters council area. Unlike the rest of the city, Kensington's streets are laid out diagonally. River Torrens#Tributaries, Second Creek runs through and und ...

in 1863.

Family

Wilson married Martha Greenell (1790 – 29 January 1858) of

Hertford Hertford ( ) is the county town of Hertfordshire, England, and is also a civil parish in the East Hertfordshire district of the county. The parish had a population of 26,783 at the 2011 census. The town grew around a Ford (crossing), ford on ...

, whose sister Mary Anne Greenell was the mother of

Alfred Russel Wallace Alfred Russel Wallace (8 January 1823 – 7 November 1913) was an English naturalist, explorer, geographer, anthropologist, biologist and illustrator. He independently conceived the theory of evolution through natural selection; his 1858 pap ...

, and with whom he had five sons and three daughters. including: *Dorothea Greenell Wilson (1813– ) married George Burningham, never left England *George Wilson (1815–1894) not on ''Roxburghe'', but emigrated later, *Charles Algernon Wilson (18 June 1818 – 20 June 1884) *Rev. Theodore Percival "Percy" Wilson (c. 1819 – 8 August 1881) not on ''Roxburghe'' but emigrated later, became first headmaster of St Peter's College, married Sophia Cameron, died in UK. *Edmund Major Wilson (8 May 1826 – 19 March 1906) married the widow Ellen "Ellie" Gosden, née Gower (died 1913) on 22 May 1872, lived at Williamstown, South Australia *Agnes St John Wilson (1828 – 10 February 1895) married Samuel Reynell (c. 1820 – 4 January 1892) in 1862 *Theodore Augustus Greenell Wilson (1831 – 31 August 1908), invariably referred to as T. A. G. Wilson "at one time clerk of the Executive Council" Government clerk at Dalkey, South Australia. The misspelling "Grenell" is common. *Minna Florence Wilson (1834–1911) married Frederick Augustus Henry Klaehn (c. 1807 – 15 January 1888) on 28 October 1879 Charles Algernon "Ally" Wilson (18 June 1818 – 20 June 1884), Commissioner for Inland Revenue, South Australia, was a brother.

References

* * Mayors and lord mayors of Adelaide Politicians from the Colony of South Australia 1787 births 1863 deaths English emigrants to colonial Australia {{Australia-mayor-stub