John Wilson was the Anglicized name of Captain Frederick Walgren, (8 July 1851-5 August 1899) a

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

sailor A sailor, seaman, mariner, or seafarer is a person who works aboard a watercraft as part of its crew, and may work in any one of a number of different fields that are related to the operation and maintenance of a ship. The profession of the s ...

and

o-yatoi gaikokujin The foreign employees in Meiji Japan, known in Japanese as ''O-yatoi Gaikokujin'' ( Kyūjitai: , Shinjitai: , "hired foreigners"), were hired by the Japanese government and municipalities for their specialized knowledge and skill to assist in th ...

(foreign professional) who was active in the development of

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the n ...

ese ties in the late 19th century. Walgren was born in Genarp, Skåne, Sweden on 8 July 1851. He entered into British service, changing his name to Wilson. Wilson initially resided in

Nagasaki is the capital and the largest city of Nagasaki Prefecture on the island of Kyushu in Japan. It became the sole port used for trade with the Portuguese and Dutch during the 16th through 19th centuries. The Hidden Christian Sites in the ...

Kyūshū is the third-largest island of Japan's five main islands and the most southerly of the four largest islands ( i.e. excluding Okinawa). In the past, it has been known as , and . The historical regional name referred to Kyushu and its surround ...

, living next-door to

Thomas Blake Glover Thomas Blake Glover (6 June 1838 – 16 December 1911) was a Scottish merchant in the Bakumatsu and Meiji period in Japan. Early life (1838–1858) Thomas Blake Glover was born at 15 Commerce Street, Fraserburgh, Aberdeenshire in northeast Sco ...

. The Wilson family subsequently resided in Nagasaki and

Kobe Kobe ( , ; officially , ) is the capital city of Hyōgo Prefecture Japan. With a population around 1.5 million, Kobe is Japan's seventh-largest city and the third-largest port city after Tokyo and Yokohama. It is located in Kansai region, whi ...

. He married a Japanese national on 11 January 1883 at

Christ Church, Yokohama Christ Church, Yokohama (横浜山手聖公会 Yokohama Yamate Seikokai), is a historic Anglican church located in Yamate, Yokohama, Japan. Providing a center of worship for both Japanese and English-language congregations the church traces its fo ...

, the

Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of t ...

church located in Yamate, overlooking the Port of Yokohama, Japan. His wife (b. 5 July 1860) upon baptism Anglicised her name from Naka Yamazaki to Sophia Wilson, and adopted her son, Nils Wilson. Their children were August, Frederick, Maria, Christina, Hilda, Hannah and John. Sofia Wilson was a confidant and neighbor of Tsuru Glover, the Japanese wife of Thomas Glover, and together with Tsuru's friendship with the Japanese

Ambassador An ambassador is an official envoy, especially a high-ranking diplomat who represents a state and is usually accredited to another sovereign state or to an international organization as the resident representative of their own government or s ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

, the stories of Naka and Tsuru may have been incorporated in

Giacomo Puccini Giacomo Puccini ( Lucca, 22 December 1858Bruxelles, 29 November 1924) was an Italian composer known primarily for his operas. Regarded as the greatest and most successful proponent of Italian opera after Verdi, he was descended from a long ...

's Madam Butterfly.

Naval Service of Japan

Captain Wilson was appointed Master of the First Grade to the

Meiji Emperor , also called or , was the 122nd emperor of Japan according to the traditional order of succession. Reigning from 13 February 1867 to his death, he was the first monarch of the Empire of Japan and presided over the Meiji era. He was the figure ...

. He was instrumental in the service of Japan during the

First Sino-Japanese War The First Sino-Japanese War (25 July 1894 – 17 April 1895) was a conflict between China and Japan primarily over influence in Korea. After more than six months of unbroken successes by Japanese land and naval forces and the loss of the p ...

. He was captain of the Sei-Kyo Maru, a transport ship and was involved in the

Battle of Yalu The Battle of the Yalu River (; ja, 黄海海戦, translit=Kōkai-kaisen; ) was the largest naval engagement of the First Sino-Japanese War, and took place on 17 September 1894, the day after the Japanese victory at the land Battle of Pyongy ...

(Battle of the Yellow Sea on 17 September 1894, carrying Vice-Admiral

Kabayama Sukenori Count was a Japanese samurai military leader and statesman. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"Kabayama Sukenori"in ''Japan Encyclopedia'', p. 441. He was a general in the Imperial Japanese Army and an admiral in the Imperial Japanese Navy. H ...

, chief of the Naval General Staff of Japan. The Sei-Kyo Maru was hit by four 12-inch shells, lost the protection of the main body of the fleet during the engagement, and was attacked by torpedo boats. She was saved from sinking and escaped from battle due to the naval expertise of Captain Wilson. This escape from battle made history, and became famous in Japanese Naval Military lore.

Recognition by Meiji Emperor

For these and other heroic naval exploits, including a daring rescue of a ship during stormy seas, John Wilson received recognition from the

of Japan, and received the sixth rank of the Japanese

Order of the Rising Sun The is a Japanese order, established in 1875 by Emperor Meiji. The Order was the first national decoration awarded by the Japanese government, created on 10 April 1875 by decree of the Council of State. The badge features rays of sunlight f ...

at the Imperial Palace in Edo on 25 December 1895.

Later life in Japan

Captain Wilson was active in the formation of Westernized Japanese firms, including the NYK (

Nippon Yusen Kaisha Nippon Yūsen Kabushiki Kaisha (Japan Mail Shipping Line), also known as NYK Line, is a Japanese shipping company and is a member of the Mitsubishi ''keiretsu''. The company headquarters are located in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. It operates a flee ...

) shipping firm of Japan, and is commemorated in the NYK Maritime Museum in Yokohama. His descendants remained in Japan for several generations, residing in

Yokohama is the second-largest city in Japan by population and the most populous municipality of Japan. It is the capital city and the most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a 2020 population of 3.8 million. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of T ...

and

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.46 ...

. Several descendants who retained Swedish citizenship later repatriated to Sweden after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, where they resided in

Gothenburg Gothenburg (; abbreviated Gbg; sv, Göteborg ) is the second-largest city in Sweden, fifth-largest in the Nordic countries, and capital of the Västra Götaland County. It is situated by the Kattegat, on the west coast of Sweden, and has ...

, Sweden and the United States. Wilson died on 5 August 1899 of stomach cancer in Yokohama. Wilson and his wife are buried in the

Yokohama Foreign Cemetery are chiefly located in Tokyo and at the former treaty ports of Kobe, Hakodate, Nagasaki, and Yokohama. They contain the mortal remains of long-term Japan residents or other foreigners who died in Japan, and are separate from any of the military c ...

on Yokohama Bluff, a gaijin bochi, which lies in a residential area for the

gaijin is a Japanese word for foreigners and non-Japanese citizens in Japan, specifically being applied to foreigners of non-Japanese ethnicity and those from the Japanese diaspora who are not Japanese citizens. The word is composed of two kanji: and ...

, or foreigners (外人), within Yokohama, where his granddaughter, Vivienne Joy Wilson Vaughn is also buried. His gravestone is marked with the compass and angle, a traditional mark of

Freemasonry Freemasonry or Masonry refers to fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local guilds of stonemasons that, from the end of the 13th century, regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities ...

Descendants

Captain Wilson's descendants entered into both Japanese and European culture. His stepson Nils adopted the Uzuki name and became Japanized, as did August, who became Aneshama, and Frederick, who took the family name of Asakoshi. Several of his later children became Europeanized, Maria marrying Marcel Van Lerberghe, a correspondent for Le Matin in Tokyo; his daughter Christina married the military

attaché In diplomacy, an attaché is a person who is assigned ("to be attached") to the diplomatic or administrative staff of a higher placed person or another service or agency. Although a loanword from French, in English the word is not modified accord ...

of the Russian Embassy Wsevolov Schalfeiyeff. His youngest son, John Wilson Jr. (professor) was a professor of commerce and business in Tokyo, Japan. A great-granddaughter of Captain John Wilson, Marianne Wilson (born Mary Ann Vaughn) was the subject of a highly controversial and widely reported case in international

family law Family law (also called matrimonial law or the law of domestic relations) is an area of the law that deals with family matters and domestic relations. Overview Subjects that commonly fall under a nation's body of family law include: * Marriage ...

, '' Sweden v. Yamaguchi'', decided in the

Tokyo High Court is a high court in Kasumigaseki, Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. The is a special branch of Tokyo High Court. Japan has eight high courts: Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya, Hiroshima, Fukuoka, Sendai, Sapporo, and Takamatsu. Each court has jurisdiction over one of ...

in 1956. (See ''Judicial system of Japan'',

Kasumigaseki Kasumigaseki (霞が関, 霞ヶ関 or 霞ケ関) is a district in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Chiyoda Special wards of Tokyo, Ward in Tokyo, Japan. It is the location of most of Japan's Cabinet of Japan, cabinet ministry offices. The name is often used ...

District of Tokyo)

References

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilson, John 1851 births 1899 deaths Japan–United Kingdom relations People in Kyushu Swedish expatriates in Japan British expatriates in Japan Deaths from stomach cancer