Artist Info
Sir Adam Wilson
Wilson was born in Edinburgh to Andrew Wilson and Jane Chalmers on September 22, 1814. In 1830, he immigrated to Trafalgar Township, where he started work as a clerk for his uncle George Chalmers, who owned a mill and store in Halton County.
Wilson became a pupil of Robert Baldwin Sullivan in 1834. In 1839, he was called to the Bar of Upper Canada and in 1850; he was elected a bencher of the Law Society of Upper Canada. He was also grated the title of Queen's Council.
Wilson entered politics and in 1855 was chosen as alderman for St. Patrick's Ward. He left politics before returning in 1858, after he was nominated for mayor by George Brown's Municipal Reform Association. The election was the first direct popular vote for mayor. He was successful again in 1860 but did not run in 1861.
Wilson was the Solicitor General for Ontario in 1862 and resigned in May 1863. He was appointed a judge of the Court of Queen's Bench. He switched to Common Pleas in August, before returning to Queen's bench in 1868. In 1878, Wilson was made chief justice of the Court of Common Pleas, and then became chief justice of Queen's Bench in 1884. He retired in 1887 and was knighted. Wilson died in Toronto on December 28, 1891.
In 1856, Wilson was appointed to a task force with five other lawyers including John Hillyard Cameron, Oliver Mowat, and David Breakenridge Read to revise and consolidate the statutes that would become the Public General Statutes of the Province of Canada. He was appointed to the Ontario Law Reform Commission in 1871.
