John Gray Wilson

John Gray Wilson QC (10 October 1915 – 28 September 1968) was a Scottish advocate, writer and Liberal Party politician.

Background Wilson was the son of Alexander Robertson Wilson, writer (or solicitor) and town clerk of the then Royal and Ancient Burgh of Irvine, and Elizabeth Wylie Murray. He was born in Irvine. He was named for a great-grandfather, John Gray, who was town clerk of Ayr, and joint secretary of the first Burns festival there in 1844; an uncle 'John Gray Wilson' had died at the age of 14. The John Gray Wilson of this article, the Sheriff, was educated at Irvine Royal Academy; the Edinburgh Academy, where he was Dux (leading scholar) in 1935; and, as an Open Classics Scholar, at Oriel College, Oxford where he graduated B.A. In the long vacation of 1936 he contracted polio, which left him with a weakened leg and chest, and contributed to his early death. After Oxford, he attended Edinburgh University where he received the degree of Bachelor of Laws. In 1943 he married Nan MacAuslan, herself active in the liberal Party and later awarded a PhD by the University of Edinburgh for a Thesis on the Social Anthropology of the Faculty of Advocates. They had three sons.

Professional career Wilson was an Edinburgh advocate, having been admitted to the Faculty of Advocates in 1942. He contributed to the Law Reports in The Scotsman and The Times. In 1956 he became a Scottish QC. In 1958 he became Sheriff-substitute of Renfrewshire at Paisley. In 1963 he became Sheriff-substitute of the Lothians and Peebles at Edinburgh.

He was Liberal candidate for the North division of Aberdeen at the 1950 General Election.

He did not stand for parliament again. He continued to be active in the Liberal Party and in 1953 served as Chairman of the Scottish Liberal Party.