Benjamin Wilson (painter)

Benjamin Wilson (1721-1788) was an English painter, etcher and scientist. [For information, see Sir Robert Wilson's "Life of General Sir Robert Wilson" (London: John Murray, 1862), chapter 1. See also Andrew Graciano, ed., "The Memoirs of Benjamin Wilson, FRS: Painter and Electrical Scientist," "Walpole Society" (forthcoming in 2012). Dr. Graciano is Assistant Professor of Art History at the University of South Carolina.] He was the 14th child of Major Wilson, a wealthy York clothier whose house was decorated by a French artist, Jacques Parmentier (d 1730). His father's business failed and Wilson moved to London, where he became a clerk and began to study painting, possibly with Thomas Hudson. In 1746 and 1748-50 he was in Dublin, where he practised successfully as a portrait painter. On his return to London he settled into Godfrey Kneller's old house in Great Queen Street and built up a lucrative portrait practice, which was probably patronized chiefly by Yorkshiremen in London. One of these, Sir John Savile, later Earl of Mexborough, may have introduced him to Edward Augustus, Duke of York (1739-67), who in 1773 appointed Wilson painter to the Board of Ordnance, though he painted little after 1769.

When he became a scientist he opposed Benjamin Franklin's theory of positive and negative electricity. Instead, Wilson supported Isaac Newton's gravitational-optical ether, which he supposed to differ in density around bodies in accordance with their degrees of electrification. Wilson also opposed Franklin's theory of lightning rods, holding that blunt conductors performed better than pointed ones. His best experimental work was on the electrical properties of the tourmaline. He was elected fellow of the Royal Society in 1751 and received its gold medal in 1760 for his electrical experiments.