Mr. Wilson was appointed Headmaster of the newly erected Blaydon Secondary School as from 1st January, 1912, taking over the staff and pupils of the Blaydon Pupil Teachers’ Centre in addition to the younger entrants to form 1.  Brought up in Shildon, near Darlington, he entered Borough Road Training College, London, and later graduated at University College, Nottingham.  He seems to have liked Nottingham, where he spent 18 years altogether , his last appointment there being at the High Pavement Secondary School, teaching Mathematics.

For most of the years that Mr Wilson spent at Blaydon, the school drew its pupils from a large area which included the whole of the Blaydon Parliamentary Constituency and there was keen competition for the places available.  It was soon evident that under Mr Wilson’s  guidance the school was progressing in a manner which would lead to success, not only in academic achievement, but also in the spirit which accompanied it - easy friendship, zest and happiness.  He showed the greatest interest in the general life of his pupils - in sport, in social activities and in his support for all other out-of-school pursuits.  Old Blaydonians  (whose Association he founded) often speak with pride of happy schooldays, a thought  which binds them together.  Thank Mr Wilson for that!  It was not long before the school was producing a regular flow of senior pupils of high attainment, ambitious to go still higher by study at the Universities   To assist  such students, Mr Wilson made strenuous and successful efforts to gain considerable financial support from generous industrialists in the area.

My impression of Mr Wilson, gained during the first eight years of my teaching career, are of a man much respected by staff and pupils, thoughtful and kind, a good organiser, shrewd and practical.  He was very much the Captain of his Ship and quick to make up his mind.  A suggestion he would always consider and if his face lit up you knew that he liked it but if his moustache began to twitch then that meant that it would be prudent not to pursue it!  His loyal Secretary for a long time was Miss Mary Bewley, a former pupil and she can recall many instances  of his thoughtfulness, as for example, the occasion when she was helping him to check the final draft of the timetable.  He suddenly said with a smile, "Mary, we’ll call it a day.  Your mind isn’t on it, is it?  I think you are waiting for a toot from your friend’s motorbike."  (The friend was her future husband, the late Mr Hugh Yielder.)

In the early twenties, when amateurs all over the world became attracted by the wonders of wireless, he became an enthusiastic addict and this remained his chief hobby.  Another of his interests was bridge and shortly after he retire d I was surprised to read in a Devonshire newspaper that when playing with friends in Ryton, they had had the rare distinction of each being dealt a complete suit of cards.

Mr Wilson retired on 31st August 1934 and died in Darlington in the early fifties at the age of about 78.