Wilson Street


Wilson Street is a thoroughfare in Glasgow, the largest city in Scotland. The street runs east from Virginia Street through the Merchant City until it meets Candleriggs.

History

The street was opened in 1790 and was, along with Brunswick Street, John Street and Hutcheson Street, part of Glasgow's second 'new town'.
It was named after George Wilson, a Glasgow merchant, who founded Wilson's School, to the north of the Trongate. Wilson died in London in 1778.

Controversy

Many of the tobacco lords profited from the use of slaves to pick their tobacco crop. As part of the Black Lives Matter campaign in 2020, many of Glasgow's streets in the Merchant City area - named after the Tobacco Lords - were unofficially renamed by anti-racism protesters.
The protesters placed alternative street names celebrating prominent black men and women alongside the official street names. Wilson Street was alternatively named Rosa Parks Street, celebrating the famous civil rights campaigner, noted for her role in the Montgomery bus boycott.