The Famous Faces of Clan Wilson

It seems fitting to start with the man who created the original version of the beautiful tartan we sell today: the distinguished weaver, William Wilson, born in 1727. William was drawn to textiles from an early age, and showed a prodigious talent for weaving, so much so that he was accepted as a weaver into the Incorporation of Chapman in Bannockburn, aged only 22. This meant he was licensed to sell his products to the local community and gave him a level of prestige that would have raised his reputation as a craftsman greatly.

He started the firm William Wilson and Sons and was immediately a big success. His work was so significant in fact, that he launched an entirely new method of supplying clothing and had a great impact on traditional Scottish dress for years to come!

Wilson’s company was the first industrial supplier of tartans, as he used his state-of-the-art mechanical looms to create the same patterns over and over again. To begin with, he differentiated the patterns by assigning them each a number, but he soon began to associate each tartan with a specific family name, launching the widespread use of clan tartans that we know today. We certainly have a lot to thank Wilson for here at ScotlandShop!

He also displayed a keen eye for business, identifying lucrative opportunities with seeming ease. One key example followed the creation of numerous Highland Regiments in the late 1700s, each of which needed multiple tartan uniforms to give to their men. Wilson managed to become the main producer and supplier for the regiments, which generated even more recognition and admiration for his company.

However, while his business-savviness is undeniably impressive, we found ourselves most touched by his family values. In 1780, Wilson created a particularly striking tartan as a wedding gift for his son and his son’s new wife, Janet. It made such a great impression at the ceremony that it was adopted as the Wilson family tartan soon after!

As William had an unrivalled impact on the Scottish textiles industry and the development of traditional Scottish dress, many more modern Wilsons went on to impact the world in different, but equally remarkable ways.

One Wilson we couldn’t ignore is Harold Wilson, who served as the Prime Minster of the United Kingdom not once, but twice!

Born in Huddersfield, Yorkshire, in 1916, Wilson was the son of a chemist and teacher who showed great academic promise throughout his childhood. He was admitted to Oxford University to study Modern History, but switched to Philosophy, Politics and Economics before graduating with a first-class degree.

After completing his education, he quickly rose through the ranks in politics, becoming an MP in 1945, the Shadow Chancellor in 1955, then Shadow Foreign Secretary in 1961. He won his first election in 1964 as leader of the Labour Party, and quickly set about putting his ideas for the country into action.

Many of his policies were groundbreaking and changed the landscape of the UK irreversibly. Perhaps the most notable was his abolishment of the death penalty in 1965, though he also had a great impact on gay rights, women’s liberation, and discrimination against ethnic minorities.

Wilson then used his second term as Prime Minister, beginning in 1974, to focus on issues such as housing, health, pensions, and help for disabled people and children living in poverty. He was also deeply passionate about reforming education and showed great inventiveness by launching the Open University! As the Open University today utilises the internet to provide a more accessible form of higher education, Wilson used the most cutting-edge provisions available at the time, promoting the use of radio and TV to make university available for more working-class people.

We’ve found it intriguing to note the similarities between William Wilson’s forward thinking in the business world of the 18th century, and Harold Wilson’s progressive and imaginative policies. It’s clear that a mixture of shrewdness and pluck runs deep in Wilson blood!

Our next two famous faces for today have made rich contributions to culture, no doubt benefiting from the enviable Wilson creativity!

Jacqueline Wilson is a beloved children’s author who has written over 100 books; she is renowned for her style of addressing ‘dark’ topics with a heartfelt and warm touch. She wrote her first story aged just 9 years old, and worked in publishing after graduating, until she got her big break in her 40s when she released the now famous ‘The Story of Tracy Beaker.’ With Tracy Beaker, she found her audience, and quickly went on to write hit book after hit book, including titles such as Hetty Feather, The Illustrated Mum, Double Act, Dustbin Baby, and Candyfloss.

Soon, she became arguably one of the most famous contemporary British writers, and even held the title of the most borrowed author from libraries in the UK from 2002 until 2008! Her success has been commemorated with various rewards and accolades, including the Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize, The British Book Awards, and the Blue Peter People’s Choice Award. ‘The Story of Tracy Beaker’ and ‘Double Act’ were even named as runners-up for the extremely prestigious Carnegie Medal.

Wilson has also been granted a number of impressive titles reflective of her great success and popularity. In 2002, she was made an OBE to recognise her contribution to literacy in schools, and in 2005 she was appointed as the Children’s Laureate, a role given to writers who have shown ‘outstanding achievement.’ The Laureate has a responsibility to promote the importance of stories and creativity in children’s lives, and Wilson was clearly impassioned by this task. She encouraged adults to help children engage with books by reading aloud to them as often as possible, and also spoke keenly about the need to make more books available for blind people.

It's touching to know that so many children in the UK and beyond have had their early cultural experiences so enriched by a member of the great Wilson family!

Our final famous face of today has also made amazing contributions to the arts, though this time within the music field.

Nancy Sue Wilson, born on the 20th of February 1937, was an American singer who enjoyed a fruitful career in jazz, blues, R&B, pop, and soul. She released music for over 5 decades and has nearly 2 million monthly listeners on Spotify to this day!

Nancy was raised in Ohio and honed her vocal skills as a child by singing in local church choirs and performing in school talent shows. Her flair for entertainment was obvious even at this young age, and she became the host of a local TV show while she was still a high school student!

After graduating from university, she moved to New York City to pursue her dreams of stardom, and it didn’t take long for her to succeed. A club called ‘The Blue Morocco’ hired Wilson as a regular performer, which helped her to catch the eye of the major label, Capitol Records. Her debut single, ‘Guess Who I Saw Today,’ was such a hit that Capitol commissioned her to release 5 albums in her first two years with them, demonstrating Wilson’s jaw-dropping dedication to her craft and work ethic!

Wilson maintained this vigour throughout her career and reaped many rewards for her efforts, including 3 Grammys for 2 different genres: best rhythm and blues recording in 1965 for ‘How Glad I Am', and best jazz vocal album in 2005 and 2007 for ‘Turned to Blue’ and ‘R.S.V.P’ respectively.

Wilson was not only known for her musical prowess, however, she was also a major figure in the Civil Rights Movement, so much so that she was inducted into the International Civil Rights Walk of Fame at the Martin Luther King Jr National Historic Site in 2005.

Image Sources:

William Wilson

Harold Wilson

Jacqueline Wilson

Nancy Sue Wilson