W. J. Wilson

William John Wilson (24 December 1833 was in the same line of work, and an uncle John "Young Jock" Wilson was a landscape and marine painter. Wilson early showed artistic talent, and by the age of 11 was helping out in the paint room of Edinburgh's old Theatre Royal where his father was working for William Murray. And it was there, in pantomime, that Wilson made his first stage appearance. though not, according to later researchers, at the early age suggested. While the company was in Geelong, and Madame Carandini was rehearsing The Daughter of the Regiment (she was playing there in April 1855), he lost the sight of his left eye through a bayonet accident. One reference reports that this loss was permanent and that only through the attention of one Dr Jacob of Melbourne was the other eye saved. This incident, a critical event in anyone's life, has not been averted to in any of the other obituaries, and a more recent biography reports his recovery in a few months.

Wilson was also known as a character actor, and was in 1855 a founding member of Melbourne's Garrick Club. An early part in Melbourne was as Robin Wildbriar, in Extremes (or) Men of the Day, a comedy by Edmund Falconer. as was the work of Pitt, Habbe and Wilson for James Planché's Yellow Dwarf at that venue a month later.

Starting at the Cremorne Gardens by Henry Laurent and Edward Fitzball, based on Daniel Auber's L'enfant prodigue, Azael, the Prodigal Son, a production of which he had helped his father paint years before, at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. In November 1862 he was secured by William Dind to provide the scenery for the first Australian production of Falconer's Peep o' Day at the Royal Victoria.

In 1863 Wilson and Habbe were employed in decorating the Prince of Wales Theatre, newly rebuilt after the fire of October 1860. Their work included the ceiling and proscenium, and also the act-drop. Wilson suffered severely when he fell from above the stage, but was back at work by December. The sets Wilson and Habbe painted for the operas Faust and Oberon in 1865 at the Prince of Wales were much admired.

Wilson had another outlet for his art, portraiture backdrops for photographic studios. In late 1866 he opened his own studio at 267 Pitt Street. a meeting hall and salon de danse.

In June 1867 he took up a six-month contract in Hokitika, New Zealand which was extended by another six months, his wife and family joining him. The best known member of this family is James Man, whose firm for a time sponsored the Booker Prize. and his wife Rosa Cooper, to manage the Theatre Royal Adelphi, (yet another name for what became the Queen's Theatre). Harding was praised for providing quality entertainment at a reasonable admission price, and at every performance the scenery artists were applauded vigorously. Two of their "stars" at this time were Daniel Bandmann and his wife Miss Milly Palmer. The Hardings returned to England around 1876 and Rosa Cooper (Mrs. Harding), who had been suffering poor health, died around 1877.

In 1873 Wilson was back at the Queen's Theatre, painting sets for W. B. Gill.

In 1874 be joined Edmund Holloway and Lachlan McGowan in a lease of the Queen's Theatre. and White's Rooms in Adelaide. They brought out to Australia Wybert Reeve, Emelie Melville, the Wallace-Dunning Opera Company, the Marie de Grey Company, and Minnie Palmer, and were highly successful.

In December 1890 he joined with Fred Hiscocks managing the newly-built Garrick Theatre, later the Tivoli Theatre. Their first production was Moths, Henry Hamilton's adaptation of the Ouida novel, introducing Olga Nethersole and Charles Cartwright to Sydney audiences. In January 1894, a month after the death of his eldest son by consumption, he completed a large and detailed painting of Sydney Harbour, which he offered for sale.

Last days Wilson died at his residence of 34 years, their family included: Blanche Clara Annette Wilson (9 November 1861 – 22 February 1940) William Alfred "Willie" Wilson (1864 – 12 December 1893) Francis Hawthorne Anthony Wilson, stage name Frank Hawthorne (21 May 1869 – 30 October 1946) born in Dunedin, New Zealand, actor, stage comedian Ernest Carden Wilson (13 Feb 1873 – 15 August 1911) married Eva Isabel Farran in 1895. She divorced him in 1902 on grounds of desertion. He was a stage comedian, partnered by his second wife Pearl Hellmrich. In 1874 the family moved from Palmer Street to 559 George Street South, the following year to "Roseville", 151 Dowling Street, Sydney.

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