Comprised of: title deeds to their various estates and other properties in Fife and elsewhere (Ch.12871-12978), burgess tickets (Ch.12979-12984), military commissions (Ch.12985-12993) and other documents (Ch.12994-1296) relating to various members of the family, and a few apparently unrelated documents. An inventory, listing each document individually, is available.

A collection of five formal documents, 1544-1607, relating to the lands of Skeoch, Stirlingshire (Ch.8486-8490), together with an extract, 1711, of an acknowledgement of payment, 1710, by Charles Hope, 1st Earl of Hopetoun (Ch.8491), and a burgess ticket of Campbeltown, 1764, granted to John Walker, botanist (Ch.8492). An inventory is available.

It is preceded by a printed copy of the oath administered to burgesses.

Collection relates mainly to properties and military service.

The bulk and principal interest of the papers lie in the letters written by John Wilson to his mother, sister Jane and his wife Jane. Many of the letters relate to Wilson’s early life and shed light on his relations with his family, his life as a student in Glasgow and later in Oxford, and also at Elleray in the Lake District.

Included is a copy of a deed of sale of pictures, executed by Sir Thomas Hanmer, Baronet, of Hanmer and Mildenhall, Speaker of the House of Commons, endorsed, apparently, in Hanmer`s hand, 1718 (Ch.942).