Christopher Wilson

Christopher Wilson (1765–1845) was an English businessman, banker and political activist of anti-reform views. Early life He was the eldest son of Christopher Wilson and his wife Margaret Parke. He attended Hawkshead School with William Wordsworth. Wilson went into the cotton spinning trade, near Staveley. He had a business interest in gunpowder, being a partner in the Low Wood Gunpowder Mill at Haverthwaite. This mill was a major supplier of export gunpowder for Africa to Liverpool, up to the Slave Trade Act 1807. Wilson was connected to Liverpool through his uncle Thomas Parke. Wilson joined the Kendal Bank, founded by his father, Joseph Maude, and Thomas Crewdson, as a partner, in 1795. He became senior partner in 1812, when the bank became Wilson, Crewdson & Co.