Sir Walter Stuart James Willson (16 November 1876 – 16 April 1952) was an Dublin-born business man and banker in British India who became a member of the Legislative Assembly of India. He retired to England, but maintained close links with India until his death in 1952.

Life

Willson was the eldest surviving son of Albert Willson (1843–1922), of Waldegrave Park, Twickenham, by his marriage to Mary Elizabeth (1852- 1919), a daughter of William Latimer CE, of

Drogheda Drogheda ( , ; , meaning "bridge at the ford") is an industrial and port town in County Louth on the east coast of Ireland, north of Dublin. It is located on the Dublin–Belfast corridor on the east coast of Ireland, mostly in County Louth ...

, Ireland. He was educated at St Paul's School.Bernard Burke, Charles Harry Clinton Pirie-Gordon, ''A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry'', Vol. 3 (Shaw, 1937), p. 2455 In 1921, Willson was a director of Turner Morrison, & Co., Ltd. and a member of the Calcutta Municipal Corporation. In 1924, he was appointed to the Legislative Assembly of India, as a Nominated Non-Official representing Commerce, and served until 1928. On 3 July 1926, it was announced that Willson was to be

knighted A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the Christian denomination, church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood ...

, and this was carried out by Lord Irwin, Viceroy of India, at Viceregal Lodge, Delhi, on 18 January 1927. In 1928, he presented a portrait by

Tilly Kettle Tilly Kettle (1735–1786) was a portrait painter and the first prominent English portrait painter to operate in India. Life He was born in London, the son of a coach painter, in a family that had been members of the Brewers' Company of freem ...

Elijah Impey Sir Elijah Impey (13 June 17321 October 1809) was a British judge, the first chief justice of the Supreme Court of Judicature at Fort William in Bengal, Chief Justice of the Sadr Diwani Adalat and MP for New Romney. Life He was born the young ...

, First Chief Justice of the Supreme Court at Fort William, to the Victoria Memorial Hall, Calcutta. He was later a director of the

Imperial Bank of India The Imperial Bank of India (IBI) was one of the oldest and the largest commercial bank of the Indian subcontinent, and was subsequently transformed into the State Bank of India in 1955. Initially, as per its royal charter, it acted as the cen ...

. Willson had houses at 2, Hastings Park Road, Alipore, Calcutta, Bengal, and Kenward, Tonbridge, Kent, and was a member of the

Oriental Club The Oriental Club in London is an exclusive Private Members’ Club established in 1824 Charles Graves describes it as fine in quality as White's but with the space of infinitely larger clubs. It is located in Stratford Place, near Oxford S ...

, the Ranelagh Club, the Royal Bombay Yacht Club, and the

Royal Calcutta Turf Club The Royal Calcutta Turf Club (RCTC) is a horse racing organisation which was founded in 1847 in Calcutta, British India (now Kolkata). Horse events and sports were initially organised for the British cavalry at Akra before they were moved to the ...

. In October 1921, Willson received a grant of arms, blazoned “Sable, in the dexter canton a sun, issuant therefrom seven rays or, upon the sun an albatross wings elevated proper. Crest — On a wreath of the colours, upon a cannon sable, an albatross as in the arms. Badge — A portcullis chained, surmounted by a sun in splendour or.” After retiring to Kent, Willson was a member of the Tunbridge Wells Corporation from 1932 to 1935.

Personal life

In 1919, Willson married Ethel Winifred (1894 - 1961), a daughter of John James Morris (1858 - 1919) and Eliza Ann Boyes (1868 -1928), and they had two sons, Walter James Latimer (1921- 1994) and Cornelius William Latimer (1936 - 2020) and three daughters, Winifred Latimer (1920 -2007), Rachel Mary Latimer (1923- 2011), and Margaret Naomi Latimer (1925 - 2020). In 1942 their son, by then Major W. J. L. Willson of the Grenadier Guards, married Anne Mildred Curzon (born 1923), one of the daughters of Richard Curzon, 2nd Viscount Scarsdale, and they had two sons and a daughter. In 1943, their daughter Rachel Mary married Mervyn Christopher Thursby-Pelham, a young Welsh Guards officer who was later a brigadier. They had a son and a daughter. Willson died on 16 April 1952 at a nursing home in Tonbridge, leaving an estate valued for probate at £140,035, .”WILLSON sir Walter Stuart James”
in Probate Index for 1952 at probatesearch.service.gov.uk, accessed 5 April 2020; “WILLSON Walter S J 75” in Deaths for Tonbridge, vol. 5b (1952), p. 802

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Willson Walter Stuart James 1876 births 1952 deaths Knights Bachelor Members of the Central Legislative Assembly of India People educated at St Paul's School, London Irish expatriates in British India Bankers from British India