The Wilsons, of Camp Hall, Water Lane, Leeds had been in the linen business since 1754. John's father, John Wilson Snr (1731–1821), was a linen and buckram manufacturer with premises at Hope Mills, Water Lane. John Snr bought Seacroft Hall, at the time occupying a rural position in the parish of Whitkirk, separate from Leeds, and the large estate included Seacroft Windmill, a coaching inn and brewhouse. This collection includes a drawing of Whitkirk church.
John Wilson Jnr (1808–1891) inherited the Seacroft estate. Educated at Rugby School and Trinity College, Cambridge, he went on to become a JP for the West Riding of Yorkshire and a Captain in the 2nd West Yorkshire Militia. In 1846 he married Anna Maria Isabella Macleod, whose father was Roderick Macleod of Cadboll, co. Ross, a politician, and mother was the daughter of William Cunninghame, a merchant of Lainshaw, Ayr.
Wilson's drawings in this collection record his travels in the UK in the 1860s and 1870s, with locations in Scotland in particular and the Torquay area of Devon, both of which had connections with his wife. Anna had inherited Sandridge Park at Stoke Gabriel near Totnes, via an indirect line from the childless John Dunning, First Lord Ashburton. John and Anna Wilson had five children, one of whom, Louisa, was born in France; another, Arthur Henry Wilson, inherited Sandridge Park. This collection includes a drawing of their daughter Constance, who married Rev Charles John Aylmer Eade, Vicar of Aycliffe, Durham.
The Wilsons undoubtedly had connections with other influential individuals in the area, such as the Tottie family, who had resided at Seacroft Grange, bought by John Wilson, and the noted local artist George Walker (1781–1856), who resided at nearby Killingbeck Hall.
