Charles Henry Wilson was created the First Baron Nunburnholme in 1907. The statue is life size, sculpted in Portland Stone and depicts him standing in his Baronial robes.
The Statue
"GV II Memorial statue by sculptor Derwent Wood, and erected c1907. Life size Portland stone standing figure in court dress. Square ashlar pedestal with plinth, corner volutes and dentillated cornice with corner breaks. Convex panelled south side has a crest and an inscription. Shaped granite base of two steps."
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The Person
Charles Henry Wilson, 1st Baron Nunburnholme (22 April 1833 – 21 October 1907), was a prominent English shipowner who became head of the Thomas Wilson Sons & Co. shipping business.
Together with his brother he expanded the activities of the company, into one of the largest in Britain. He also served as Liberal MP for Hull for thirty years, and in 1906 received the title Baron Nunburnholme.
Charles was the eldest son of Thomas Wilson, the head of Thomas Wilson Sons & Co., a Hull shipping company founded in the Swedish ore trade. He was educated at Kingston College in Hull, along with his brother Arthur, before eventually joining the family business, where they both became joint managers in 1867.
Under the brother's management the shipping company rapidly expanded adding Adriatic, Sicilian, American and Indian services to the pre-existing Norwegian and Baltic trade. In 1891 the company became a private limited company, with capital of £2.5 million, and expanded with the acquisition of Bailey and Leetham (Hull) in 1903; and the shipping interests of the North Eastern Railway in 1908. Wilson was also became chairman of Earle's Shipbuilding, the United Shipping Company and the Hull Steam Fish and Ice Company.
"Hull". Caricature by Ape published in Vanity Fair in 1885.
Wilson served as High Sheriff of Hull, and from 1874 to 1905 he was Liberal Member of Parliament (MP) for the Hull constituency, from 1885 representing Hull West. Although opposed to the Boer War, he lent the company's finest vessel, Ariosto, at the government's disposal.
He was given the Freedom of the City of Hull in 1899, and in 1906 he was raised to the peerage as Baron Nunburnholme, of the City of Kingston upon Hull.
Lord Nunburnholme died at his residence, Warter Priory, Warter, Pocklington, East Riding of Yorkshire, on 21 October 1907 and was buried on 31 October. His eldest son Charles, who had succeeded him as MP for Hull West, inherited the Barony."
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There is an inscription on the front of the plinth.
CHARLES HENRY
WILSON
FIRST BARON
NUNBURNHOLME
BORN 1833 - DIED 1907
32 years a member of parliament
for Hull
a great benefactor to the city.
Erected by public subscription.