Walter Wilson

Walter Wilson (1781?–1847) was an English biographer of nonconformist clergy and their churches.

Life He was born about 1781, the illegitimate son of John Walter, the newspaper publisher and Catherine Wilson. He was brought up a Presbyterian, and went to work at East India House as a clerk. In 1802 he went into journalism, and in 1806 he became a bookseller. He took the bookshop at the Mewsgate, Charing Cross, vacated by Thomas Payne the younger.

He was living in Camden Town in 1808; his father died in 1812, leaving him a shareholder in The Times. He entered the Inner Temple, but never practised at the bar.

Legacy His library was sold (5–17 July 1847) and broken up. He bequeathed his manuscript collections for the history of dissent to Dr. Williams's Library; a list of these, by the then librarian, Richard Cogan, was printed in the Christian Reformer (1847, p. 758).

Family He was twice married, and left a son, Henry Walter Wilson of the Inner Temple, and a daughter, married to Norman Garstin, colonial chaplain at Ceylon.