He was only there for a year before he was moved to a parish school to be taught by Roman Catholic bishop Alexander Paterson under whom he progressed in his spiritual life.

From 1819 he attended the University of Edinburgh, where he studied linguistics, philosophy and theology for eight years, and also mastered the languages of Gujarati, Hebrew, Greek, Latin, Urdu, Hindi, Persian, Arabic and Zend.

The couple first studied Marathi at Harnai; then in 1831 they moved back to Bombay, where John established the Ambroli Church for the people.

[8][9] In 1831, Wilson himself debated with the Hindu Pandit Morobhatt Dandekar, who summarized his arguments in a Marathi-language work titled Shri-Hindu-dharma-sthapana.

Wilson's wife, Margaret, also influenced the education system in Bombay, and aided the female population by establishing schools for girls in 1829.

[2] The couple also opened schools in Marathi and Hebrew for the Native Jewish community of the Bene Israel of the Konkan region, teaching Boys as well as girls and translating the Holy Bible especially the Old Testament for their benefit.

Early in his mission he started a periodical about religion, society, culture and European thought, called The Oriental Christian Spectator, which ran from 1830 to 1862.