John Wilson Guernsey`s Architect

We are pleased to be issuing a set of stamps featuring the work of architect, John Wilson. He was a Clerk of Works for the Board of Ordnance who became one of the most celebrated architects of Guernsey for the buildings he designed between 1813 and 1831.

Despite the recognition of his work in Guernsey - he worked mostly in stucco in the neoclassical, Gothic Revival or Jacobean styles - he appears to have done little work outside the island and remains a rather elusive figure.

Wilson was posted from Woolwich to Guernsey around 1813 to oversee the barracks being built there and in Alderney.

John Wilson left Guernsey in 1831 and retired from UK government service in 1845. He moved to Southampton, where he lived in Shirley, Southampton. He died in 1866, the same year as his wife, Ann.