John Cracroft Wilson
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Sir John Cracroft Wilson KCSI CB MP |
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John Cracroft Wilson
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| Member of the New Zealand Parliament for City of Christchurch |
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In office 1861 – 1866 |
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| Preceded by | Henry Sewell |
| Succeeded by | James FitzGerald |
| Member of the New Zealand Parliament for Coleridge |
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In office 1866 – 1870 |
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| Preceded by | new constituency |
| Succeeded by | John Karslake Karslake |
| Member of the New Zealand Parliament for Heathcote |
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In office 1872–1875 |
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| Preceded by | John Hall |
| Succeeded by | James Temple Fisher |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 21 May 1808 Onamore, India |
| Died | 2 March 1881 (aged 72) Cashmere |
| Spouse(s) | Elizabeth (née Wall) Jane Torie (née Greig) |
| Relations |
William Wilson (uncle) Logan Campbell (son-in-law) Mary Grigg (granddaughter) |
| Children | 8 (Laura, William, Emma, Frederick, Constance, Alexander, Laura & Walter) from first marriage |
| Residence | Cracroft Wilson estate |
| Occupation | civil servant, farmer, politician |
Sir John Cracroft Wilson KCSI CB MP (21 May 1808 – 2 March 1881), also known as Nabob Wilson, was a British-educated civil servant in India, farmer and politician in New Zealand.
John Cracroft Wilson was born in Onamore, India, the son of Alexander Wilson, FRS, a judge in the Madras Civil Service and a noted botanist, and Elizabeth Clementina Wilson (née Cracroft). His mother was from the long established family, the Cracrofts of Hackthorn Hall in Lincolnshire. Her family name was given to him as a second Christian name, a custom that has been followed by the family ever since; they are thus known as the Cracroft Wilsons.
He was educated at Haileybury College and Brasenose College, Oxford. He returned to India in 1828 and entered the Bengal Civil Service as a cadet, advancing to become a magistrate.
He married Elizabeth (née Wall), probably on 4 November 1828 at Westminster, or Brixton, Surrey. His wife died in 1843 in Moradabad after giving birth to their eighth child. He married again on 12 October 1844 to Jane Torie Greig in Bareilly near Moradabad. There were no children of this second marriage.
In 1853 his health broke down and he was ordered to convalesce in a cooler climate. He wanted to find a country suitable for the retirement of employees of the East India Company. Accordingly, he sailed to Australia on the Queen with his wife, daughter Emma, many servants, stock and exotic livestock. He did not like Australia, but met Alfred Cox, who was buying sheep for his next venture in the Canterbury region of New Zealand. Wilson decided to also go to Canterbury, and, after purchasing sheep and cattle in Sydney, took them to Lyttelton in the Akbar. After a disastrous journey where much of his stock died and 1,200 sheep had to be jettisoned, he arrived on 8 April 1854. His stock was transferred to the nearby Gollans Bay (the bay in Lyttelton Harbour beneath Evans Pass), where he lost more stock to tutu poisoning and southerlies. His party made its way over the Port Hills via the Bridle Path. He took up 108 hectares (1.08 km2) of land on the other side of the Port Hills and named the farm Cashmere (now a suburb of Christchurch) after Kashmir in India. He leased three more runs further away from Christchurch which he named Broadlands, High Peaks, and Cracroft. The run at Cracroft, near Hinds, was at 20,392 hectares (203.92 km2) the second largest in Canterbury. At his Cashmere station, he built a house with 11 rooms and several farm buildings. Wilson left Lyttelton on 19 December 1844 on the Waterwitch for India, and the following year, his eldest son arrived to take over the management of the properties. His wife and daughter would follow him some time later, and they would not arrive in Moradabad before 1857. His daughter met Logan Campbell on the journey, whom she married in 1858.
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