As a young man, he left home to work in the primary industries and later as a shearer in the Riverina district.

[1] Wilson died in office in May 1933, and was accorded a state funeral which proceeded from his New Farm residence to the Toowong Cemetery.

He was an alderman on the Brisbane City Council, winning the ward of Merthyr in 1905 and holding it for the next sixteen years.

[2] Following the death of David Bowman in 1916, Wilson won the seat of Fortitude Valley in the Queensland Legislative Assembly.

[2] The Wilson Hospital was a specialised facility where eye diseases in children from country Queensland could be diagnosed and treated.