Wilson A. Y. (1776-1866), engineer, manager of Izhorsky Plants

Categories / Economy/Personalia
WILSON Alexander Yakovlevich (1776-1866), production manager, general engineer (1853). Native of Scotland, he and his father Yakov Wilson, a blacksmith, came to Russia in 1784. He served in Tsarskoe Selo from 1790 and at Sestroretsky Gun Works thereafter. He was an assistant to K. K. Gascoigne at Lugansky Plant, Alexandrovsky Plant, and Izhorsky Plant. As director of Izhorsky Plants from 1806 and manager of the Plants between 1827 and 1856, he completed re-equipment of the plants and set up manufacture of steamboats, steam engines, marine machinery, as well as artillery weapons and other goods. He designed workshop buildings, Drainage Canal No. 3 with a dam (known today as Komsomolsky Canal), and an enclosure of the main dam (known today as Svobody Boulevard). It was on Wilson’s initiative that an urban landscaping project was completed in the town of Kolpino, St. Nicholas’ Church was erected, and the first girls’ school was opened. He was simultaneously in charge of Alexandrovskaya Manufactory of Empress Maria’s Institutions in 1806-60. Wilson also served as designer of a flax-mill building that was constructed in the 1810s to become the first production facility with a metal framework in St. Petersburg. Wilson was a founding member of Nevskaya Cotton Manufactory in 1833 (today, Kirov Thread-Spinning Factory) and the Russian Cotton Manufactory in 1835 (today, Vereteno Spinning Mill). He was buried in Kolpino (the grave has not been preserved).

Reference: Бурим Л. Д., Ефимова Г. А., Лопатенко Н. Л. "Один ответствовать должен...": Очерки о директорах Ижор. з-дов. СПб., 2001. С. 34-43.

L. D. Burim. Wilson Alexander Yakovlevich
Бурим Л. Д., Ефимова Г. А., Лопатенко Н. Л. "Один ответствовать должен...": Очерки о директорах Ижор. з-дов. СПб., 2001 Sestroretsk Instrumentation Plant
Izhora Plants
Empress Maria's Department of Institutions
Kirov Spinning and Filar Factory
Vereteno Spinning Factory