James L. WILSON

He was born in Galston, April 13, 1847, and he works at 20 Octavia Cottages, Greenock. He is not a professional maker, albeit his work has not a trace of the amateur about it. Nothing can be more true to the original than his copies of Gasparo da Salo, nor more beautifully finished than his last half-a-dozen instruments. He got a few lessons in violin-making from the late John A. Mann, and being of an artistic turn of mind, he soon made progress. He can paint very fairly in oil and water-colours, and he generally draws a bust of himself with indelible ink on the back of the violin under the button. His work as an amateur violin-maker is of great merit, and will bring him considerable fame by-and-by if he perseveres with it. He won the gold medal for an exhibit of violins at the Greenock Exhibition, 1893.