George Washington Wilson
551 98
Description George Washington Wilson
Collection George Washington Wilson
Catalogue Number 551 98
Category All Other
Administrative History George Washington Wilson (1823-1893) was born in the North East of Scotland. He initially trained at Edinburgh as a carpenter, and then in London as a portrait miniaturist. During the 1850s he was able to establish himself as an artist and photographer in Aberdeen. One of his first significant clients was Prince Albert, who invited him to photograph the Royal Family in the grounds of Balmoral. This resulted in Wilson receiving the official appointment of Photographer Royal for Scotland in 1860. Wilson would continue to work for Queen Victoria after Prince Albert's death in 1861. Wilson won various awards for his photographic work, most notably medals at the Great London International Exhibition of 1862 for his short exposure experiments. By this time he was able to set up his own printing works in Aberdeen, George Washington Wilson & Co, capturing images across Britain. He was able to employ a staff of photographers which included his son, Charles Wilson who undertook many tours of South Africa and across Australia, depicting early gold mining settlers and the native ways of life. Wilson & Co also travelled to the Mediterranean, capturing Gibraltar, Tangiers, the South of Spain and Morocco. By the 1880s the firm had become one of the largest and most recognisable printing and photographic firms in the country, in large part to George Washington Wilson's acumen as a photographer and businessman. Wilson passed on his business to his three sons, Charles, Louis and John Wilson in 1888. The company did not survive long under the guidance of the Wilson brothers, with large parts of the company being sold off in 1905, and ceasing trade fully in 1908. Fred Hardie, one of Wilson & Co's senior photographers, acquired a substantial amount of the company's stock after a 1908 auction, which was later passed onto Archibald J B Strachan, one time assistant to Hardie. When moving to new premises in 1954, Strachan offered the collection to the Aberdeen University Library, where the collection is now preserved.
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/collection/1176397
