- Source: James Wilson (New Zealand politician, born 1849)
Sir James Glenny Wilson (probably on 29 November 1849 – 3 May 1929) was a New Zealand politician and farmer.
Biography
Originally from Hawick, Roxburghshire in Scotland, Wilson was educated at Bruce Castle School, in London, and then at the Edinburgh Institution. He emigrated to Victoria in 1870 and worked on a sheep run. He met his future wife, Annie Adams, at the Melbourne Club. 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. Once established, he returned to Australia and married Annie Adams near Skipton, Victoria.
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 W. 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. Ormond Wilson was his grandson. His Uncle was the MP James Wilson, Financial Secretary to the Treasury, founder of The Economist, and the chartered banks of India, Australia, and China.
Further reading
"The Life And Times of Sir James Wilson of Bulls" by L.J. Wild. Published 1953.
"Early Rangitikei : a few notes, collected from various sources of the settlement on the Rangitikei River of a number of Maoris of different tribes. A short history of the purchase and colonization of the land between the Turakina and Oroua Rivers, and an account of the various pioneers." Written by James Wilson. First published 1914.