Wilson, John, pseudonym Christopher North 1785-1854
Scottish critic and essayist

Born in Paisley, Renfrewshire, he studied at Glasgow University and Magdalen College, Oxford, where he won the Newdigate Prize for poetry. He bought an estate in 1807 at Elleray, Westmoreland (now Cumbria), and became acquainted with the Lake District circle of poets (Wordsworth, Coleridge, Thomas De Quincey, Robert Southey). There he wrote three long poems, The Isle of Palms (1812), The Magic Mirror (1812, addressed to Sir Walter Scott) and The City of the Plague (1816). Having lost his estate through an uncle's mismanagement, Wilson settled in Edinburgh as an advocate in 1815. In 1817 he joined John Gibson Lockhart and James Hogg in launching Blackwood's Magazine. Despite lacking any qualification for the post, he was appointed Professor of Moral Philosophy at Edinburgh (1820-51). As contributing editor of Blackwood's he wrote several notable series under his pseudonym, such as Noctes Ambrosianae (1822-35), and a series of rural short stories, Lights and Shadows of Scottish Life (1822). He also published two novels, The Trials of Margaret Lyndsay (1823) and The Foresters (1825). His Works (1855-58) were edited by his son-in-law, James Frederick Ferrier.

Bibliography: E Swan, Christopher North (1934)