The Wilson Family of Price's Candle Works and Spencer Park

Subtitle

• Wikipedia: George Fergusson Wilson
• Fryer, Sydney Ernest (1912). "Wilson, George Fergusson", Dictionary of National Biography (2nd supplement), London: Smith, Elder & Co. pp. 189-190 =

WILSON, GEORGE FERGUSSON (1822 - 1902), inventor, born at Wandsworth Common on 25 March 1822, was the sixth son in a family of thirteen children of William Wilson, at one time a merchant in Russia and subsequently founder at Battersea of the candle-making firm known as 'E. Price & Son.' His mother was Margaret Nimmo Dickson of Kilbucho and Cultur in Scotland.

After education at Wandsworth, and a short time in a solicitor's office, Wilson in 1840 entered his father's business. Though without training as a chemist, he showed keen interest in the firm's experimental work, and in 1842 patented, in conjunction with W. C. Jones, a process by which cheap malodorous fats could be utilised in the place of tallow for candle-making. The original features of the process were the use of sulphuric acid as a decoloriser and deodoriser of strongly-smelling fats, and their subsequent distillation, when acidified, by the aid of super-heated steam. The invention added materially to the firm's profits, and in 1847, in the midst of a commercial panic, the business was sold for 250,000l.

A new concern, called Price's Patent Candle Company, with a capital of 500,000l., was then formed, George Wilson and an elder brother, James, being appointed managing directors. Both engaged continually in research work which effected repeated changes in the firm's processes of manufacture. George in 1853 introduced moulded coco-stearin lights as 'New Patent Night Lights,' and the two together made improvements on a French patent which led to the wide adoption by English manufacturers of the company's 'oleine' or 'cloth oil.' In 1854 George made a discovery of first-class importance, namely a process of manufacturing pure glycerine, the glycerine being first separated from fats and oils at high temperature and then purified in an atmosphere of steam. Previously even glycerine sold at a high price was so impure as to be comparatively useless for most purposes. He retired from the position of managing director in 1863.

In 1845 Wilson was made a member of the Society of Arts [PB: a lot of his neighbours were also members - Le Neve , . He contributed frequently to its 'Journal,' read a paper before it in 1852 on 'Stearic Candle Manufacture,' was a member of its council from 1854 to 1859 and again from 1864 to 1867, and its treasurer from 1861 to 1863. In 1854 he read before the Royal Society a paper on 'The Value of Steam in the Decomposition of Neutral Fatty Bodies,' and was elected a fellow in 1855. In that year, too, he was elected a fellow of the Chemical Society, and read at the meeting of the British Association at Glasgow a paper on 'A New Mode of obtaining Pure Glycerine.'

In later life Wilson lived at Wisley, Surrey, where he devoted himself to experimental gardening on a wide scale. The garden formed by him at Wisley now belongs to the Royal Horticultural Society. He was particularly successful as a cultivator of lilies, gaining between 1867 and 1883 twenty-five first-class certificates for species exhibited. Elected a fellow of the Horticultural Society, he served on various of its committees, and was at one time vice-president. At his suggestion the society introduced guinea subscriptions, and in 1876 he published a pamphlet entitled 'The Royal Horticultural Society: as it is and as it might be.' He was Victorian Medallist of Horticulture in 1897. In 1875 he was elected a fellow of the Linnean Society. He died at Weybridge Heath on 28 March 1902.

Wilson married on 13 Aug. 1862 Ellen, eldest daughter of R. W. Barchard, of East Hill, Wandsworth, who survived him with two sons and a daughter. The elder son, Scott Barchard, was author of 'Aves Hawaiienses: the Birds of the Sandwich Islands,' a handsomely illustrated work, which was issued in eight parts (large 4to, 1890 - 9).

[Proc. Roy. Soc., vol. lxxv.; Who's Who, 1902; Men and Women of the Time, 1899; Soc. of Arts Journal, 1902; The Garden, 1 Jan. 1900 (portrait) and 5 April 1902; Journal of Horticulture, 5 and 10 April 1902; Gardeners' Chronicle, 5 April 1902; Price's Patent Candle Company's Calendar, 1908; Pamphlets by Price's Patent Candle Company, 1853.]

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This material is held at

Royal Horticultural Society Lindley Library

Reference

GB 803 RHS/WY/Owd

Dates of Creation

1878-1903

Name of Creator

Wilson; George Fergusson

Language of Material

English

Physical Description

4 A boxes and 2 OS items

Scope and Content

This part of the RHS Wisley archive comprises garden journals maintained by Wilson's head gardener, Alfred Tatnall, 1888-1902, seed bed records in Wilson's own hand, 1878-1902, a volume recording signatures of several thousand visitors to the garden, 1884-1902, and deeds and papers relating to the estate, 1878-1903. Visitors to Oakwood included Gertrude Jekyll, William Robinson, Alfred Wallace, Edwin Lutyens, E.A. Bowles, Constance Lytton and many others.

Administrative / Biographical History

George Fergusson Wilson (1822-1902) was born in Wandsworth, one of 13 children born to William Wilson and his wife Margaret. In 1840 he joined the family firm, E. Price & Co, later Price's Patent Candle Company, developing the technical side of the business. In 1858 he patented Gishurst Compound, an important insecticide in use for a century. He held office at the Society of Arts, was a fellow of the Royal Society and of the Chemical Society. He retired from Prices in 1863 but he maintained his involvement in the company for the rest of his life. He was a member of the RHS Fruit & Vegetable, Floral, and Scientific Committees, Treasurer of the Society from 1866-1868, and a member of Council.

Wilson married Ellen Barchard in 1862 and they had three children: Scott Barchard, born in 1864, Herman George, born in 1866, and Alice Charlotte, born in 1869.

Wilson had a garden at Heatherbank, Weybridge, and in 1878 he purchased Glebe Farm and 60 acres of farmland at nearby Wisley, where he created an experimental garden he called Oakwood, trying plants in the various soils and conditions there. He published the results of his experiments in articles in the horticultural press, along with updates on the development of his Wisley garden. He began with the development of the area known as the Wild Garden, in the shade of an old oak wood, and the slope beside it, introducing lilies in the wood and colourful blooms on the hillside.

He went on to develop a field garden, where deep drainage ditches were filled with iris, and lupins grew on the mounds of earth dug from the ditches. He established a pinetum in the north of the garden, where lilies also grew, two vegetable gardens and an avenue of flowering trees along the approach road to the garden. He was renowned for his cultivation of lilies and breeding of primroses, one of which he named 'Oakwood Blue'. Wilson had a number of gardeners at Wisley, headed by Alfred Tatnall. Many prominent horticulturists and dignitaries visited the garden, and private events were held there such as an annual garden party.

Wilson was one of the original 60 recipients of the Victoria Medal of Honour. He died at Heatherbank on 28 Mar 1902. His wife survived him. The following year his garden at Wisley was bought by Sir Thomas Hanbury and presented to the RHS as an experimental garden.

etc etc

• RHS: Oakwood Garden, Wisley, and G.F. Wilson: records.

• Wikipedia: Scott Barchard Wilson (1865-1923) ornithologist and explorer, author of Aves Hawaiienses (1890-99). Son of Ellen Barchard and George Fergusson Wilson. Born and baptised Wandsworth, so must have been in Black Sea House.
• Ancestry: Scott Barchard Wilson.
• Birth registration:
• https://search.ancestry.co.uk/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=1&dbid=8912&h=61245455&tid=&pid=&queryId=8d041861de5693a6a9e6272a629648ed&usePUB=true&_phsrc=PMG2018&_phstart=successSource
• Baptism: All Saints 27 June 1864 Scott Barchard Wilson
• https://www.ancestry.co.uk/imageviewer/collections/1558/images/31280_196244-00106?treeid=&personid=&hintid=&queryId=8d041861de5693a6a9e6272a629648ed&usePUB=true&_phsrc=PMG2017&_phstart=successSource&usePUBJs=true&_ga=2.46554983.1732385427.1596816902-285859747.1504633615&pId=2152850
• By 1871, when he was six years old, Scott Barchard Wilson was living with his parents in Heatherbank, St George's Hill, Weybridge. His father, George Fergusson Wilson, is described as a "Retired Manufacturer". The word "Artist" is written in pencil (rather than ink) by the side of his mother's name. Also a younger brother, Herman, 5, a sister, Alice, 1. There are 5 servants living in the house: Cook, a Housemaid, a Nurse, a Nursemaid, and a Footman.
• https://search.ancestry.co.uk/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=1&dbid=7619&h=6003476&tid=&pid=&queryId=d1c0b9c040dc5dcaf4084b360f88e8fa&usePUB=true&_phsrc=PMG2019&_phstart=successSource

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The Wilson Family of Price's Candle Works and Spencer Park

Subtitle

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George Fergusson Wilson (1822-1902) [industrial chemist, botanist and horticulturist (his garden at Wisley is now the RHS's), born Wandsworth Common, son of founder of candle-makers E.Price & Son. He was later MD of a new firm (based on his own prodigious chemical discoveries), Price's Patent Candle Company.

Wilson married on 13 August 1862 Ellen, eldest daughter of R. W. Barchard, of East Hill, Wandsworth, who survived him with two sons and a daughter. The elder son was Scott Barchard Wilson (1865-1923), ornithologist and explorer. Was RWB the "Mr Barchard" who led the campaign against Earl Spencer's attempts to enclose WC c.1827?

• Wikipedia: George Fergusson Wilson
• Fryer, Sydney Ernest (1912). "Wilson, George Fergusson", Dictionary of National Biography (2nd supplement), London: Smith, Elder & Co. pp. 189-190 =

WILSON, GEORGE FERGUSSON (1822-1902), inventor, born at Wandsworth Common on 25 March 1822, was the sixth son in a family of thirteen children of William Wilson, at one time a merchant in Russia and subsequently founder at Battersea of the candle-making firm known as 'E. Price & Son.' His mother was Margaret Nimmo Dickson of Kilbucho and Cultur in Scotland.

After education at Wandsworth, and a short time in a solicitor's office, Wilson in 1840 entered his father's business. Though without training as a chemist, he showed keen interest in the firm's experimental work, and in 1842 patented, in conjunction with W. C. Jones, a process by which cheap malodorous fats could be utilised in the place of tallow for candle-making. The original features of the process were the use of sulphuric acid as a decoloriser and deodoriser of strongly-smelling fats, and their subsequent distillation, when acidified, by the aid of super-heated steam. The invention added materially to the firm's profits, and in 1847, in the midst of a commercial panic, the business was sold for £250,000.

A new concern, called Price's Patent Candle Company, with a capital of £500,000, was then formed, George Wilson and an elder brother, James, being appointed managing directors. Both engaged continually in research work which effected repeated changes in the firm's processes of manufacture. George in 1853 introduced moulded coco-stearin lights as 'New Patent Night Lights,' and the two together made improvements on a French patent which led to the wide adoption by English manufacturers of the company's 'oleine' or 'cloth oil.' In 1854 George made a discovery of first-class importance, namely a process of manufacturing pure glycerine, the glycerine being first separated from fats and oils at high temperature and then purified in an atmosphere of steam. Previously even glycerine sold at a high price was so impure as to be comparatively useless for most purposes. He retired from the position of managing director in 1863.

In 1845 Wilson was made a member of the Society of Arts. He contributed frequently to its 'Journal,' read a paper before it in 1852 on 'Stearic Candle Manufacture,' was a member of its council from 1854 to 1859 and again from 1864 to 1867, and its treasurer from 1861 to 1863. In 1854 he read before the Royal Society a paper on 'The Value of Steam in the Decomposition of Neutral Fatty Bodies,' and was elected a fellow in 1855. In that year, too, he was elected a fellow of the Chemical Society, and read at the meeting of the British Association at Glasgow a paper on 'A New Mode of obtaining Pure Glycerine.'

In later life Wilson lived at Wisley, Surrey, where he devoted himself to experimental gardening on a wide scale. The garden formed by him at Wisley now belongs to the Royal Horticultural Society. He was particularly successful as a cultivator of lilies, gaining between 1867 and 1883 twenty-five first-class certificates for species exhibited. Elected a fellow of the Horticultural Society, he served on various of its committees, and was at one time vice-president. At his suggestion the society introduced guinea subscriptions, and in 1876 he published a pamphlet entitled 'The Royal Horticultural Society: as it is and as it might be.' He was Victorian Medallist of Horticulture in 1897. In 1875 he was elected a fellow of the Linnean Society. He died at Weybridge Heath on 28 March 1902.

Wilson married on 13 Aug. 1862 Ellen, eldest daughter of R. W. Barchard, of East Hill, Wandsworth, who survived him with two sons and a daughter. The elder son, Scott Barchard, was author of 'Aves Hawaiienses: the Birds of the Sandwich Islands,' a handsomely illustrated work, which was issued in eight parts (large 4to, 1890$9).

[Proc. Roy. Soc., vol. lxxv.; Who's Who, 1902; Men and Women of the Time, 1899; Soc. of Arts Journal, 1902; The Garden, 1 Jan. 1900 (portrait) and 5 April 1902; Journal of Horticulture, 5 and 10 April 1902; Gardeners' Chronicle, 5 April 1902; Price's Patent Candle Company's Calendar, 1908; Pamphlets by Price's Patent Candle Company, 1853.]

[Source: Fryer, Sydney Ernest (1912). "Wilson, George Fergusson", Dictionary of National Biography (2nd supplement), London: Smith, Elder & Co. pp. 189-190.]

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George Fergusson Wilson and Wisley

Superb paper, with numerous photographs etc

[Source: Brent Elliott, Link, Occasional Papers of the RHS Lindley Library, vol.? Jan 2014: ]

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Wilson family and their Wandsworth Common estate

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1851 CENSUS /

EAST HILL

Lydia Wilson - any relation?

https://www.thegenealogist.co.uk/search/master/?type=person&source=&search_type=person&master_event=&person_event=&fn=James&phonetic_mode_fn=1&sn=Bevington&phonetic_mode_sn=1&kw=wandsworth&yr=&range=10&search=Search#loadwindow_778206291

Charlotte Barchard

https://www.thegenealogist.co.uk/search/master/?type=person&source=&search_type=person&master_event=&person_event=&fn=James&phonetic_mode_fn=1&sn=Bevington&phonetic_mode_sn=1&kw=wandsworth&yr=&range=10&search=Search#loadwindow_778206291

__________________

"WANDSWORTH COMMON"

William Wilson [retd General merchant] and wife, Lady

George Fergusson Wilson Manager of Patent Candle Co

James W Wilson, Manager of a Patent Candle Co

https://www.thegenealogist.co.uk/search/master/?type=person&source=&search_type=person&master_event=&person_event=&fn=James&phonetic_mode_fn=1&sn=Bevington&phonetic_mode_sn=1&kw=wandsworth&yr=&range=10&search=Search#loadwindow_778206291

Henry Barchard, Wine Agent

https://www.thegenealogist.co.uk/search/master/?type=person&source=&search_type=person&master_event=&person_event=&fn=James&phonetic_mode_fn=1&sn=Bevington&phonetic_mode_sn=1&kw=wandsworth&yr=&range=10&search=Search#loadwindow_778206291