Charles Wilson

Charles Wilson (1 January 1857 – 9 February 1932) was a New Zealand librarian and politician of the Liberal Party. He was the first chief librarian of the General Assembly Library.

Early life Wilson was born in 1857 in Harrogate, Yorkshire, He attended Harrogate College and whilst one online biography in addition lists the University of Oxford, other biographies suggest that as a young man, he worked in the woollen trade in Bradford before going to Paris and Lille, aged about 18.

He emigrated to New Zealand on the Otaki, which reached Port Chalmers on 24 December 1879. He stayed in Dunedin for a few months and then accepted a position as assistant master at Te Aro School in Wellington. In 1882, he joined the staff at the Wanganui Collegiate School, where he worked for three or four years.

Political career

Wilson was one of nine candidates in the three-member electorate in the , where he came fifth.

Thomas Wilford of the Liberal Party won the Wellington Suburbs seat in the 1896 election, but he was declared guilty of corrupt practices after an electoral petition (probably because he exceeded the £200 spending limit which had been introduced at that election) and the election was declared void.

At the subsequent by-election in 1897, Wilson won the seat for the Liberals. One of his obituaries mentions that at Wanganui Collegiate, Wilford had been Wilson's pupil, Wilson retired in 1899 when the next general election was held, and Wilford won the seat back on behalf of the Liberal Party.

Librarian

In 1901, Wilson was appointed the first chief librarian of the parliamentary library. This was not uncontroversial and was seen as reward by the Liberal Government for his services to the Liberal Party. One of his first tasks was to oversee the move of the library into newly constructed premises.

Wilson was concerned about having had the library built next to the "tinder dry" Parliament Buildings. He initiated further fireproofing measures like having windows closed with bricks and having iron doors installed. His concerns proved justified, as on 11 December 1907, the Parliament Building burned down. Whilst the roof of the library was destroyed and the main entrance and foyer were damaged, the collection survived the fire.

As a bibliophile with his own private collection, Wilson had a traditional approach to his librarianship role and concentrated on expanding the parliamentary library. and put Wilson in charge of transferring the collection to the nation, and appointed him as supervisor for the further development of the collection. Wilson retired as a librarian in 1926 following an illness

Other activities Wilson was a member of the Yorkshire Society, including its vice-president. that took in France, Belgium, Holland, and Switzerland; there he attended the World's Press Union Conference in Geneva as New Zealand's representative. Wilson was buried at Karori Cemetery. He was survived by his wife, three sons, and one daughter.