[1] Having three times failed the Common Entrance Examination to attend Gresham's School, Wilson was educated at Windermere Grammar School, where he developed a passion for poetry, and at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he completed Part 1 of the English Tripos in 1926 and switched to modern languages for Part 2 (1928).
Wilson quickly blossomed as a Spanish scholar, and in 1929 his ability was recognised by the award of an Esmé Howard Studentship to the Residencia de Estudiantes in Madrid.
[3] Recognised as an expert on the works of Pedro Calderón de la Barca, Wilson also published work on other aspects of Spanish literature and bibliography (influenced by Antonio Rodríguez-Moñino, Antonio Pérez Gómez, John William Crow, J. C. T. Oates and F. J.
[5] Wilson was elected a fellow of the British Academy in 1964, gave the Taylorian Lecture in 1966, received an honorary doctorate in 1972, and served as president of the Association of Hispanists of Great Britain and Ireland from 1971 to 1973.
He was the subject of a Festschrift edited by R. O. Jones, Studies in Spanish Literature of the Golden Age Presented to Edward M. Wilson (London: Tamesis Books, 1973).