John West Wilson

Wilson by an unknown photographer.

John West Wilson (8 October 1816, Hull, United Kingdom - 24 May 1889, Gothenburg, Sweden) was a businessman and arts patron.

Life

He was the son of Thomas Wilson, founder of the Thomas Wilson and Sons Limited shipping company, which introduced scheduled services between Hull and Gothenburg in 1825 and ran steamers on the route between 1840 and 1842. John founded the firm JW Wilson in Gothenburg in 1844, operating it in conjunction with the existing family business to trade in corn, wood, paper, pulp and coal - a particularly lucrative line was exporting oats to the United Kingdom, whilst he also exported cattle there during the Crimean War.

In 1850 John opened a regular steamship service between Gothenburg and Hull - this proved particularly effective in transporting emigrants from northern Europe to America. In 1865 the company AB Göteborg-London was formed - in 1882 this became part of the Thule Company after Wilson became a partner in the latter.

Wilson served on Gothenburg's city council from 1867 to 1886 as well as director of the Skandinaviska Kredit AB bank and vice chairman of the trade associations council. He was also treasurer of the Gothenburg Museum's Board of Directors and made many donations.


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