James Wilson

Education

Originally from Hawick, Roxburghshire in Scotland, Wilson was educated at Bruce Castle School, in London, and then at the Edinburgh Institution.

Career

He emigrated to Victoria in 1870 and worked on a sheep run. She was born in 1848 at Greenvale, Victoria. He went to New Zealand in January 1873 and purchased a large block of rough land in an area between what is now Bulls and Sanson in the Rangitikei district.

Wilson represented Foxton in the 8th, 9th & 10th Parliaments (1881–1890), then Palmerston North in the 11th Parliament (1890–1893), and then Otaki in the 12th Parliament (1893–1896), after which retired.

The 1881 election in the Foxton electorate was contested by six candidates, and he beat Charles Beard Izard, Walter Buller, George Warren Russell, Alfred Newman, and West. France. Wilson was knighted in 1915, and died at Bulls on 3 May 1929.

He was the first president (1902–1920) of the Farmer"s Union, now Federated Farmers.

Achievements

• His Uncle was the Member of Parliament James Wilson, Financial Secretary to the Treasury, founder of The Economist, and the chartered banks of India, Australia, and China.