Wilson, SIR DANIEL, LL.D.

Wilson, SIR DANIEL, LL.D., archaeologist, was born in Edinburgh, the son of a wine-merchant, 5th January 1816. He was educated at the High School and university, and was early attracted to antiquarian studies. He had been for some time secretary to the Scottish Society of Antiquaries when in 1853 he was appointed professor of History and English Literature in the university of Toronto. He greatly promoted the prosperity of the university, and in 1881 became its president. In 1890 its valuable library was destroyed by fire, but in about a year he had collected a richer library than before. He was knighted in 1888; in 1891 received the freedom of Edinburgh; and died 8th August 1892. Amongst his works are Memorials of Edinburgh in the Olden Time (1847; new ed. 1892), which is a model local history; Oliver Cromwell (1843); Archæology and Prehistoric Annals of Scotland (1851; 2d ed. 1863), with about 200 illustrations drawn by himself; Prehistoric Man (2 vols. 1862; enlarged and rewritten 3d ed. 1876); Chatterton (1869); Caliban: the Missing Link (1873); poems entitled Spring Wild Flowers (1875); Reminiscences of Old Edinburgh (1878); Anthropology (1885); William Nelson, a Memoir (privately printed, 1890); Left-handedness (1891); The Lost Atlantis (posthumous, 1892). He edited for four years the Journal of the Canadian Institute, and was its president 1859-60.