Charles Wilson (librarian)

Charles Wilson
Charles Wilson during the 1910s
Member of the New Zealand Parliament for Wellington Suburbs
In office 23 April 1897 – 15 November 1899
Preceded by	Thomas Wilford
Succeeded by	Thomas Wilford
Personal details
Born	1 January 1857 Harrogate, Yorkshire, England
Died	9 February 1932(1932-02-09) (aged 75)
Political party	Liberal Party
Occupation	teacher, editor, politician, librarian

Charles Wilson (1 January 1857 – 9 February 1932) was a New Zealand politician of the Liberal Party. He was the first chief librarian of the General Assembly Library.

Wilson was born in 1857 in Harrogate, Yorkshire, son of John Wilson, a chemist from West Park. He attended Harrogate College and whilst one online biography in addition lists the University of Oxford, other biographies suggest that as a young man, he worked in the woollen trade in Bradford before going to Paris and Lille, aged about 18.

He emigrated to New Zealand on the Otaki, which reached Port Chalmers on 24 December 1879. He stayed in Dunedin for a few months and then accepted a position as assistant master at Te Aro School in Wellington. In 1882, he joined the staff at the Wanganui Collegiate School, where he worked for three or four years.

He then had a career change and worked as a journalist. His first job was as a sub-editor at the Wanganui Chronicle in Wanganui, with subsequent employment by the Gisborne Standard in Gisborne, and the Evening News in Napier. He then founded and edited the Marton Mercury in Marton, a small settlement southeast of Wanganui. In 1892, he became editor of the New Zealand Mail, which was a newspaper with a leaning towards the Liberal Party.

On 2 June 1894, Wilson married Lucilla Naomi Carter of Motukaraka, Hokianga Harbour.

Wilson was one of nine candidates in the three-member Wellington electorate in the 1896 election, where he came fifth.