Background
Walgren was born in Genarp, Skåne, Sweden on July 8, 1851.
Walgren was born in Genarp, Skåne, Sweden on July 8, 1851.
He entered into British service, changing his name to Wilson. Wilson initially resided in Nagasaki, Kyūshū, living next-door to Thomas Blake Glover. The Wilson family subsequently resided in Nagasaki and Kobe.
Their children were August, Frederick, Maria, Christina, Hilda, Hannah and John.
Captain Wilson was appointed Master of the First Grade to the Meiji Emperor. He was instrumental in the service of Japan during the First Sino-Japanese War.
He was captain of the Sei-Kyo Maru, a transport ship and was involved in the Battle of Yalu (Battle of the Yellow Sea on September 17, 1894, carrying Vice-Admiral Kabayama Sukenori, chief of the Naval General Staff of Japan. The Sei-Kyo Maru was hit by four 12-inch shells, lost the protection of the main body of the fleet during the engagement, and was attacked by torpedo boats.
She was saved from sinking and escaped from battle due to the naval expertise of Captain Wilson.
Captain Wilson was active in the formation of Westernized Japanese firms, including the NYK (Nippon Yusen Kaisha) shipping firm of Japan, and is commemorated in the NYK Maritime Museum in Yokohama. His descendants remained in Japan for several generations, residing in Kobe, Yokohama and Tokyo. Several descendants who retained Swedish citizenship later repatriated to Sweden after World World War II, where they resided in Gothenburg, Sweden and the United States.
Wilson died August 5, 1899 of stomach cancer in Yokohama.