WILSON, Thomas I (1770-1827), of Wotton Park, Ellaston, Staffs.

The son of a successful Warrington coppermaster,1N. and Q. (ser. 11), i. 23. Wilson, who had less than 300 acres in Staffordshire, owed his entry into Parliament to the accident of his being a colonel of militia stationed at Stafford during the election of 1812. The burgesses were so angry with Sheridan for his neglectful conduct that, to quote Lady Morpeth, ‘they would elect anybody in preference and have almost forced this Mr Wilson to stand, an officer who had no thought of it ... They had offered to bring him in for nothing.’ Wilson’s politics were unknown, but he easily defeated Sheridan.2Carlisle mss, Lady to Ld Morpeth, 5, 6 Oct. 1812. The Treasury were ‘hopeful’ of his support and, in general, they seem to have had it. He voted with them on the civil list, 14 Apr. 1815, and for the property tax, 18 Mar. 1816; but not on the leather tax, 9 May which no Member for Stafford could support; nor on Althorp’s motion for a committee on public offices two days before; nor on the commitment of the aliens bill, 19 May 1818. Wilson had supported Catholic relief, 2 Mar., 13 May 1813 and by pair on 24 May; in this, as on the property tax, he differed from his brother, but he did not appear in subsequent divisions in favour of it. He did not seek re-election in 1818. In 1819 he succeeded his brother to Bank Hall. He died 7 Dec. 1827, aged 57. His heir, a Lancashire county Member, became Baron Winmarleigh.