Fonds F3159 - Robert James Wilson fonds

The Rev. Robert James Wilson, M.A., D.D., (1872-1941) was a Presbyterian and United Church minister and administrator. He was born on June 14, 1872 near Bond Head, Ontario, to James, a teacher turned farmer, and Agnes Robinson Wilson. He attended Bradford High School before studying at the University of Toronto, where he earned a B.A. in 1900, an M.A. in 1901, and finally a divinity degree from Knox College. In 1914, Knox College would also grant him an honourary Doctor of Divinity. He was ordained in the Presbytery of Westminster, British Columbia in 1903, and was called to serve as the minister for St. Andrew's Church, Vancouver. In 1918, he was called to Chalmers Presbyterian Church in Kingston, Ontario. A prominent supporter of church union, he was appointed in 1923 to take charge of publicity for the union movement, which necessitated a move to Toronto. He served as the Secretary of the Bureau of Literature and Information under the Joint Committee on Church Union and The United Church of Canada, stepping down in 1929. He was then called to serve as the minister at College Street United Church in Toronto, where he eventually retired in 1939. Wilson was also at different times involved with the Social Service Council of Ontario, serving as its president in the mid-1920s, and the St. Christopher Settlement House. Wilson was married to Mary Northway and had four children: John, Isabel, Nancy, and Florence. He died on September 10, 1941 at the age of 69.