William Edward Wilson

William Edward Wilson (19 July 1851 – 6 March 1908) was an Irish astronomer.

Life He was born at Greenisland, County Antrim, the only son of John and Frances Wilson of the family estate at Daramona House, Streete, County Westmeath, Ireland and was privately educated.

He became interested in astronomy and travelled to Oran in 1870 to photograph the solar eclipse. In 1871 he acquired a reflecting telescope of 12 inches (30.5 cm) aperture and set it up in a dome in the gardens of Daramona House near the village of Streete. He used it to experiment on the photography of the Moon with wet plates and also began to study solar radiation using thermopiles. In 1881, he replaced the original telescope with a reflector of 24 inches (61 cm) aperture and a new dome and mounting that had an electrically controlled clock drive, from the Grubb Telescope Company. The new telescope was mounted in a two-storey tower attached to the house with an attached physical laboratory, darkroom and machine shop. He received an honorary doctorate (D.Sc.) from the University of Dublin in June 1901.

Wilson served as High Sheriff of Westmeath for 1894.

He died relatively young (in 1908, aged 56) at Daramona, and was buried in the family plot in Streete churchyard. He had married in 1886 Caroline Ada, the daughter of Capt. R.C. Granville and had a son and two daughters. His son donated his telescope to London University, where it was used for research and teaching, finally becoming a feature in Liverpool museum.