Record Detail

Henry Joseph Wilson (1833-1914) sat in his dining room at his home of Osgathorpe Hills, Pitsmoor c. 1911

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Henry Joseph Wilson (1833-1914) sat in his dining room at his home of Osgathorpe Hills, Pitsmoor c. 1911
Sheffield_Pitsmoor
1900-1919
Lafayette Ltd, London, Dublin, Glasgow, Manchester

Henry Joseph Wilson was born in Radford, Nottinghamshire, on 14<sup>th</sup> April 1833, son of Mr William Wilson of Radford, Torquay and Mansfield, a cotton spinner who was a Liberal and non-conformist. Educated at London University, Henry J. Wilson came to live in Sheffield in 1867 to manage the Sheffield Smelting Company. He remained in Sheffield until his death in 1914, living with his family at Osgathorpe Hills in the Pitsmoor district.

A lifelong radical, social reformer and nonconformist, Henry J. Wilson was Liberal MP for Holmfirth from 1885 to 1912. His chief concerns in public life were the destruction of the opium trade; the abolition of the ‘State regulation of vice’; Home Rule for Ireland; opposition to the Boer War (becoming an active member of the Conciliation Committee) and imperialism in general; peace; temperance; disestablishment; and non-sectarian education. He was the first Treasurer of the ‘British, Continental and General Federation’, formed in 1874 to oppose the State regulation of vice. He was also a member of the Royal Commission on Opium in India 1893-1895 and was a member of the Departmental Committee (India Office) on the Regulation of Prostitution in India in 1893.

Outside his directorship duties for the Sheffield Smelting Company, and his work as an MP for Holmfirth, Wilson played an active part in Sheffield public life. He was appointed a city magistrate in 1881. He became a member of the Sheffield School Board in 1876 and was Chairman for 8 years. He was also President of the Brightside Division of the Liberal Association in Sheffield.

In 1859, Wilson married Charlotte Cowan (1833-1921), daughter of Charles Cowan, MP for Edinburgh, and the couple had five children, all of whom went on to become public figures in their own right in Sheffield and elsewhere: Cecil Henry Wilson (1862-1945), Dr Helen Mary Wilson (1864-1951), Alexander Cowan Wilson (1866-1955), Oliver Charles Wilson (1867-1946) and Gertrude Margaret Lenwood (nee Wilson) (1876-1971).

Original at Sheffield City Archives: MD2459/1/22/16 (alt. ref. MD2480/16).

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