Edward Pellew Wilson, Jr.

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Edward Pellew Wilson Jr. (31 March 1832, Salvador, Bahia – 19 September 1899, Laranjeiras, Sergipe) was a British-Brazilian businessman.

[edit] Biography

Wilson, Jr. was the eldest son of Edward Pellew Wilson (a wealthy businessman and merchant who had settled in Brazil and a cousin of Sir James Milne Wilson) and a godchild of Lord Exmouth, his grandfather's friend. He and his brothers were engineers and developed business in Brazil, Portugal and France. He held shares in various financial companies of Rio de Janeiro and railway companies of France and in 1884, founded the Telephone Company of Bahia. Stemming from his contract with the Imperial Government of Brazil to provide coal to the ships of the Imperial Navy during the War of the Triple Alliance, Wilson, Jr. was known as the "King of Coal" and provided his tugboats for the warships.

Wilson, Jr. owned various well known buildings in Rio, notably the Edifício das Mil Colunas (Building of the Thousand Columns, where, today, the Maritime Court is situated) and Chácara da Floresta on Morro do Castelo. He was the founding president of the International Company of Commerce and Industry and amongst others, was a shipowner, capitalist, warehouse owner, honorary consul of Italy in Pernambuco and Rio and builder of the biggest dry dam on the island of Mocanguê. The main enterprise of his family was the shipping line Wilson & Sons, which he and his brothers, Alexander and James, later ran.

Throughout his career, Wilson, Jr. was awarded several honours: Knight of the Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus (1864), Commander of the Imperial Order of the Rose (1867), Commander of the Order of the Conception of Villaviciosa (1875) and Commander of the Order of Christ (1878). In 1891, Carlos I of Portugal created him Conde de Wilson.

In 1894, Wilson, Jr. was detained by Floriano Peixoto for his role in the Revolta da Armada and subsequently exiled back to England for a year. He later died in the Hotel das Paineiras in Laranjeiras and was buried in the grounds of his residence, the Palacete dos Leões. He had six children (Eduardo, Alfred, Carlos, Alice, Amélie "Millie" and Stella) by his wife, Felisbella "Yayá" Ernestina Cintra née da Silva.

Titles of nobility
Preceded by New creation	Conde de Wilson 1890–1899	Succeeded by Eduardo Pellew Wilson

This article is based on a translation of an article from the Portuguese Wikipedia.