The fortunes of the Wilsons were founded by a wealthy Kendal manufacturer, who died childless in 1653, bequeathing his estates to a kinsman, Thomas Wilson. Thomas’s son bought the manor of Haverbrack, including a house known as Dallam Tower, which his grandson, Daniel, rebuilt in 1723.2Beetham Repository (Cumb. Westmld. Antiq. Arch. Soc. Tract ser. no. 7), pp. 138-42. A staunch Whig, who claimed that he ‘never was backward, but all of a piece’,3To Jas. Craggs, 31 Dec. [1718], Stowe mss 246, f. 156. he represented his county for 34 years, during which, after 1715, all his recorded votes were for the Government, except on the peerage bill. In 1737 his brother-in-law, George Crowle, told Walpole that considering
the great expense he has already been at for 30 years always in support of the constitution both in Parliament and at home without the least assistance or bounty from the Crown, I am almost persuaded another instance will not be found of any gentleman of his fortune and figure in life, particularly by his natural interest and character in that county.47 May 1737, Cholmondeley (Houghton) mss.
He stood down in favour of his son, Edward, in 1747 and died 31 May 1754, leaving the reputation of ‘an extremely honest man, a good neighbour, and fond of peace and quietness’.5Beetham Repository, 141.