[3] Her father was an immigrant to South Africa from Yorkshire and served as an MP for Beaufort West in the Cape Parliament of Prime Minister John Molteno.
She completed a natural science tripos in geology, mineralogy, and chemistry at Newnham College, Cambridge in 1888, and an MA in botany in 1895.
Because she did not have a formal degree and her father did not approve of her earning a salary, Wilman was unable to accept payment for her work at the museum.
She also founded the herbarium there in the same year and began to cultivate its collection of regional plant life, which includes important type specimens from Northern Cape.
[5] She also introduced mesquite and kurrajong trees to Kimberley and shared South African grass seeds with institutions and organisations in the United States.