George Fergusson Wilson

He took interest in the firm's experimental work, and in 1842 patented, with W. C. Jones, a process by which cheap, malodorous fats could be utilised in the place of tallow for candle-making.

The original features of the process were the use of sulphuric acid as a decoloriser and deodoriser of strongly-smelling fats, and their subsequent distillation, when acidified, by the aid of super-heated steam.

[1] A new concern, called Price's Patent Candles Ltd., with a capital of £500,000, was then formed, with George Wilson and an elder brother James as managing directors.

[3] Wilson retired from his position of managing director in 1863, and in later life lived at Wisley, Surrey, where he devoted himself to experimental gardening on a wide scale.

He contributed frequently to its Journal, read a paper before it in 1852 on "Stearic Candle Manufacture", was a member of its council from 1854 to 1859 and again from 1864 to 1867, and its treasurer from 1861 to 1863.

In that year, too, he was elected a fellow of the Chemical Society, and read at the meeting of the British Association at Glasgow a paper on "A New Mode of obtaining Pure Glycerine".