Wilson, George W. (George Washington), 1853-

George Washington Wilson was born in 1823 and at the age of twelve he left home to become a carpenter. He then trained as a portrait painter before turning to photography in 1853. By the 1860s he owned printing works in Aberdeen that produced thousands of prints with views from all over Britain, and later images of the Continent and the rest of the world. He received comission from both Prince Albert and Queen Victoria. He died in 1893.

George Washington Wilson was born in Banffshire on 7 February 1823 and was educated to be an artist, at which he was accomplished. He established himself as a portrait painter in Aberdeen in 1849, but in a few years was experimenting with outdoor photography and photographic portraits. Patronage from Queen Victoria (1819-1901) from the 1850s made his photography famous, and he both exhibited and sold books of his plates, winning a huge number of prize medals. He set up a company which both fed and benefited from the fashionable interest in Scottish tourism in the mid to late 19th century, but although his sons were also keen photographers the business was sold up soon after Wilson's death in Aberdeen on 9 March 1893. A large collection of his plates are now held by Aberdeen University Library, and many of his photographs are still well-known today.