He left Merchant Taylors' school in 1792, and was admitted commoner of Lincoln College, Oxford, on 12 Feb. 1793.
On 2 August 1816 he was collated by Archbishop Manners-Sutton to the united parishes of St. Mary Aldermary and St. Thomas the Apostle.
But in spite of these differences he established a parochial lending library, and abolished fees for baptism.
The chief of these was his ‘History of Merchant Taylors' School,’ issued in two quarto parts in 1812 and 1814 respectively.
The work remained unfinished on account of the expenses in which Wilson's litigation involved him.
Wilson also published: ‘Observations on the Law and Practice of the Sequestration of Ecclesiastical Benefices,’ 1836, 8vo; and ‘Brief Notices of the Fabric and Glebe of St. Mary Aldermary,’ 1840, 8vo.