William Rae Wilson

He learned law under his uncle, John Wilson of Kelvinbank, town clerk of Glasgow, and for a time practised as a solicitor in the Scottish courts.

[2][3][4] His uncle died in 1806, and left him his fortune; and William Rae then, by letters patent, added Wilson to his name.

[1] He was presented at court in 1831 to William IV of the United Kingdom by Frederick Augustus Wetherall, comptroller of the household to the Duchess of Kent.

[2] Rae Wilson died in London, in South Crescent, Bedford Square, on 2 June 1849, and was buried in Glasgow necropolis, where his grave is marked by a conspicuous monument of oriental design.

Joseph Irving's Book of Scotsmen (1882) commented that "Charitable and hospitable, Rae Wilson's religious views would now be considered narrow and severe [...]".

[16] His works included anti-Catholic passages: In one word, Popery is "of the earth, earthy;"- is revelation so overlaid and disfigured by human conceits and inventions, which, although they cunningly assume the semblance of righteousness, are for the most part quite the reverse of it, as to retain very little indeed of scriptural origin.

[20] Rae Wilson was further provoked by Hood's "Drinking Song By a Member of a Temperance Society" published in 1836 in the Athenæum.

[30] The death of his wife Frances, 18 months after the marriage, prompted Rae Wilson to write a privately-circulated memorial tribute.

[26] In recognition of his honorary doctorate, Rae Wilson left to Glasgow university £300 to provide an annual prize for an essay on Christ and the benefits of Christianity.