The son of William and Isabella Wilson, he was born at
Priest Hutton, in the parish of Warton, near Lancaster, on 3 Dec. 1747, and educated at Archbishop Hutton's Grammar School, in Warton, and
Sedbergh Grammar School. At Sedbergh he was an assistant under Dr. Wynne Bateman from 1768 to 1771. Wilson was ordained deacon at Westminster on 13 January 1771, and priest at Chester on 2 August 1772. In the following June he was licensed as headmaster of
Slaidburn grammar school, and in June 1775 became master of
Clitheroe grammar school, Lancashire, and incumbent of the parochial chapel of the town. The living was provided by
Thomas Fenwick of Borough Hall, Westmorland, a former pupil. Towards the end of the eighteenth century Wilson became friends with
Thomas Dunham Whitaker, and joined his literary club. He was a successful
schoolmaster, a versifier, and a social favourite, wit and raconteur, fond of
punning. Wilson died on 3 March 1813, and was buried in the chancel of Bolton-by-Bowland church, where a tablet was erected with a Latin inscription by Whitaker. It copied from a monument put up by Wilson's pupils in Clitheroe church. ==Works==