WILSON, ALEXANDER [1]*

Carpenter and builder, of 3 Leeson Street, Dublin, listed as such in Wilson's Dublin Directory for the years 1809 to 1813. A person of this name was admitted a freeman of Dublin as a member of the Carpenters' Guild by Grace Especial at Michaelmas 1810.(1) He may be the 'A. Wilson' who made plans for the Erasmus Smith School in Lombard Street, Dublin, in 1811.(2)   According to the recollections of his fellow tradesmen, writing in 1834, Wilson had earlier been in good business, employing six men, but was now 'very poor'.(3)

(1) 'An alphabetical list of the Freemen of the City of Dublin, 1774-1824', The Irish Ancestor XV (1983), Nos. 1 & 2, 132.
(2) Plans in Erasmus Smith drawings collection, High School, Rathmines. Dublin.
(3) Royal Irish Academy, Haliday MS 4B 31;  this manuscript is a copy of a report presented to Daniel O'Connell in 1834 to support the argument for repealing the Act of Union by describing the catastrophic impact the Act had had on the tradesmen of Dublin.