Wilson, John Lascelles Jenner

John Lascelles Jenner Wilson was born in Sydney on 14 September 1898. During 1901-1907, he lived with his family in India, where his father was a schoolmaster. The family moved to the United Kingdom, and Wilson went to school in Harrogate, Yorkshire, also at the City of London Secondary School. There then followed a move to New Zealand, where Wilson attended Auckland Grammar School. He served in the New Zealand Armed Forces from 1918-1919.

Wilson went on the land between 1919 and 1924, but the venture failed. He became involved in adult education through the Department of Tutorial Classes at Auckland University College in 1925, and subsequently became a Council member, and Chairman of the Worker's Education Association. In 1929, Wilson was awarded a W.E.A. bursary to attend Auckland University College, from where he graduated B.A. in 1934. He became a part-time Lecturer at the College in 1934, and in the same year also was appointed Tutor - Organizer for the Department of Tutorial Classes at Otago University College.

In 1936, Wilson was appointed Assistant Director of Tutorial Classes at the University of Sydney. During the second world war, he served in the Australian Army Education Service from 1941 to 1946, attaining the rank of Lieutenant - Colonel, and ending his service in 1946 as Director of the Army Education Service. From 1946 to 1950, he was seconded from the University to the Commonwealth Office of Education. Wilson was appointed Director of Tutorial Classes in the University of Sydney in 1950, and was also to be Editor of the Current Affairs Bulletin, a publication that the University had, at the instigation of Wilson and F.A. Bland, taken over from the Commonwealth government. Other positions held by Wilson included member of the A.B.C. Federal Talks Advisory Service, 1950-1963; Trustee, Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences, 1950-1968; Member, N.S.W. Advisory Board of Adult Education, 1950-1968; Member and Chairman of Australian Association of Adult Education, 1960-1968; Member, Australian College of Education, 1957-1963.

During his time at the University of Sydney, Wilson initiated the Group Discussion Scheme, which he had seen in operation in New Zealand. The Scheme began in 1937, and grew to some 200 Discussion Groups around New South Wales. The Scheme first offered 12 different courses, and by 1986 there were 150 courses available, with the 500th course being offered in that year. One observer has remarked that Wilson was an innovator, open to ideas, but not always fortunate in his staff. He retired from the University of Sydney in 1963, and worked for a year with the A.B.C. University of the Air. In 1965, he was appointed Acting Director of Adult Education at the Australian National University, a post that was expected to last one year, but which in fact lasted until 1969. He then worked until 1987 as a Tutor in the University of Sydney Group Discussion Scheme.

Wilson had married Hazel May Emms in 1934, and had two children, Christopher John Lascelles Wilson, and Jeremy Giles Jenner Wilson. He died on 24 June 1988, his wife having pre-deceased him, probably in 1982. [A Hazel May Wilson of Wahroonga late of Pymble, died on 12 July 1982 at age 77, death notice in SMH 14 July 1982; source Ryerson Index)