John Marius Wilson

Rev. John Marius Wilson (c.1805–1885) was a British writer and an editor, most notable for his gazetteers. The Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (published 1870–72), was a substantial topographical dictionary in six volumes. It was a companion to his Imperial Gazetteer of Scotland, published 1854–57.

He was born in Lochmaben, Dumfriesshire in about 1805,^[1] and was ordained as a Congregationalist minister, working for a time in County Galway in Ireland.^[2] From the late 1840s onwards he devoted himself to writing and editing, living in Edinburgh, where he died in 1885, aged 80.^[3]

Works (selected)

• The Farmer's Dictionary or a cyclopedia of agriculture in all its departments, principles, methods, recent improvements and business affairs as taught and practice by the most distinguished British agriculturists of the present day. (n.d.)
• The Rural Cyclopedia: or a general dictionary of agriculture, and of the arts, sciences, instruments, and practice, necessary to the farmer, stockfarmer, gardener, forester, landsteward, farrier, &c. (1847–49)
• The Potato, its diseases, uses, etc. (1850)
• A Memoir of Field-marshal, the Duke of Wellington; with interspersed notices of his principal associates in council, and companions and opponents in arms (1853–54)
• The Imperial Gazetteer of Scotland : or, Dictionary of Scottish topography 2 vols. (1854–57)
• Landscapes of Interesting Localities mentioned in the Holy Scriptures ... (1855)
• The Divine Architect, or The wonders of creation (1857)
• The land of Scott; or, Tourists' guide to Abbotsford, the country of the Tweed and its tributaries, and St. Mary's loch (1858)
• Earth, Sea, and Sky; or, The hand of God in the works of nature (1859)
• The Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales; embracing recent changes in counties etc.; and forming a complete description of the country (1870–72)
• Nature, Man, and God: a contrib. to the scientific teaching of to-day (1885)

References