Celebrating birthday of man who left memorable legacy
» BIRTHDAYS come round every year, and for some of us those years seem to fly by quicker and quicker.
And at The Wilson we have been celebrating Edward Wilson’s birthday.
He was born on July 23, 1872 to Edward Thomas and Mary Agnes Wilson.
As was the custom he was born at home, at 6 (now 91) Montpellier Terrace in a front room on the first landing.
The second son and fifth child and despite being the son of a local doctor who was influential in local civic and society events, his birth went unremarked by the press.
The media were far more concerned with the thunderstorms and floods which deluged Cheltenham in the ensuing days.
Wilson’s death was a different matter – 41 years later news of his passing was broadcast around the world and memorials were commissioned to celebrate his life and mourn his death.
Birthdays were important events in the Wilson home.
Edward Thomas Wilson liked to ‘pen a poem’ as he put it, some of his verses including clues to the present he was giving, a celebration of an inkwell or hints about bird books.
All the Wilsons made their own birthday cards and we have some of Edward Wilson’s own in the collection.
One of the earliest is of a blue tit, signed Ted, the name his family used for him.
This must have been painted when he was seven or eight and already shows his extraordinary talent for observing and depicting wildlife.
True to form his parents collected his drawings and paintings and mounted them in scrapbooks and albums.
Ted did this too – scrapbooking was a popular Victorian pursuit – and his became a special archive so he could look back on his work.
The drawings are in volumes known as the Nature Notebooks and are still owned by the family, but generously loaned to The Wilson.
We have pages on show in the Open Archive Gallery.
We change the display every six months to avoid too much light falling on the drawings and causing damage.
We are showing pictures of owls and a red kite called Milan who caused so much havoc among local farmers he was rehoused at London Zoo, plants including bluebell and seaholly and some great tits.
The images were chosen by members of the Wilson family, children Mair and Elin Hopkins, who have been brought up to love nature as so many of the family do.
Edward Wilson was so much more than just an Antarctic explorer – he was a doctor, naturalist, artist and devoted family member and loyal friend.
We are pleased at The Wilson to celebrate his birthday and ask you to watch out for future events, especially around his birthday.
We have great things planned for his 150th in 2022.
Meanwhile do pop into the museum to see the displays in the Open Archive.
» The Wilson is open from Tuesday to Saturday 9.30am-5.15pm, Thursday 9.30am-7.45pm and Sunday 9.45am-5.15pm.
For information on all our events, visit cheltenhammuseum.org.uk/ or follow us on Facebook and Twitter as @ Thewilsonchelt.