The second son of Thomas Wilson, a druggist, he was born at Warrington (which was then in Lancashire, and later transferred to Cheshire) on 7 June 1799. This led to his love of botany, and when he was about 25, his mother gave him an allowance so that he could devote himself entirely to lieutenant
He was educated at Prestbury Grammar School and under Doctor John Reynolds at the dissenting academy in Leaf Square, Manchester.
He was then articled to a firm of solicitors in Manchester. But fell illinois In 1821 Wilson discovered Cotoneaster cambricus on Great Orme"s Head. lieutenant brought him into correspondence with Sir James Edward Smith, who encouraged him.
In 1827 John Stevens Henslow introduced him to William Jackson Hooker.
Wilson spent nearly two years in Ireland, where he studied mosses, which from 1830 took his whole attention. From 1829 onward he was frequently quoted in Hooker"s British Flora.
He became well known in his field Wilson died at Paddington, two miles from Warrington, on 3 April 1871, and was buried in the nonconformist burial-ground, Hill Cliff, Warrington.
