Charles Rivers Wilson

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Sir Charles Rivers Wilson (1831-1916) was a British civil servant and financier.

Wilson was born in 1831. He studied at Eton College and Balliol College, Oxford. He entered the Treasury in 1856, was private secretary to the Chancellor of the Exchequer (Robert Lowe) from 1868 to 1873. He was Royal Commissioner for the Paris Exhibition of 1878, having been already appointed Comptroller General of Office for Reduction of National Debt in 1874.

Whilst holding this position, Wilson visited Egypt in 1876 and early in 1878 was selected as vice-president of the Commission to enquire into the Egyptian financial situation. Few months later, Wilson was nominated Financial Minister in Egypt

In 1879, Wilson and the first Prime Minister of Egypt, Nubar Pasha, were the victims of a serious outrage by the mob in the streets of Cairo–an incident which was the direct precursor of the Arabi revolt and the British occupation of Egypt in 1882. In April 1880, on the fall of the Khedive Ismail and the inauguration of his son Tewfik as Khedive, Wilson was appointed president of the Commission for the Liquidation of the Egyptian Debt, with full powers to regulate the financial position of Egypt. On the conclusion of this duty he returned to his post in London, and in March 1885 he became joint British Representative on the Suez Canal Board. On retiring from his post as Comptroller General of the National Debt Office in 1894, he became in 1895 president of the Grand Trunk Railway of Canada. He was created a K.C.M.G. in 1880 and was promoted G.C.M.G. in 1895. He died on February 9, 1916.

[edit] References

• This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition article "Sir Charles Rivers Wilson", a publication now in the public domain.
• Farnie, D.A. (2004). ‘Wilson, Sir Charles Rivers (1831–1916)’ (subscription required). Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. DOI:10.1093/ref:odnb/36948.