Andrew Wilson (traveller)

Andrew Wilson (1831–1881) was a Scottish traveller and author.

Life

He was the eldest son of the missionary

.

After his return to England he contributed to

on Asian questions, as well as to ‘Blackwood.’

At the beginning of the

. Ill-health delayed the publication till 1878 of his book ‘The Ever-Victorious Army: a History of the Chinese Campaigns under Lieutenant-colonel C. G. Gordon, C.B., R.E., and of the Suppression of the Tai-Ping Rebellion,’ an account of the suppression of the movement of 1863–4. Wilson's chief source of information was Gordon's Private Journal then unpublished.

In 1875 Wilson published travel writing under the title ‘The Abode of Snow: Observations on a Journey from Chinese Tibet to the Indian Caucasus through the Upper Valleys of the Himalaya.’ The book is based on articles in Blackwood's Magazine. A second edition was issued next year. Before his final departure from India Wilson made an excursion into the state of Kathiawar. His last contribution to ‘Blackwood’, written in the spring of 1877, was a retrospect of African travel (‘Twenty Years of African Travel’).

The last years of his life were passed in England in the Lake district. He died at Howton on Ullswater on 9 June 1881.

References

• "Wilson, Andrew (1831-1881)" . Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.

Attribution

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: "Wilson, Andrew (1831-1881)". Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.