J.C. Wilson & Co. Limited was publisher of some of Canada’s earliest patriotic postcards, dating to late in the 19th and early 20th centuries, overlapping with the Second Anglo-Boer War.

J.C. Wilson Patriotic Postcards, Envelopes & Stationery

J.C. Wilson & Co. Limited was a Montreal, Quebec-based maker of papers who printed a series of patriotic postcards and envelopes, from 1897 to 1902, to "show the patriotic feeling of the colonies towards the mother country".

One of the most detailed essays on Wilson Patriotics and their many varieties is one by Henry Gates, published in 1957, referencing the cards in his own collection. While additional varieties of cards have been uncovered since that time, his study is referenced on the following pages.

The postcards on this site are labeled with titles corresponding to catalogue numbers assigned by Michael J. Smith in his The Canadian Patriotic Postcard Checklist 1898 - 1928, an indispensable reference for collectors of Canadian patriotic postcards.

Check out one of the highlights of the collection shown on this site, the Boer War Usages of J.C. Wilson patriotics.

The Wilson Family

According to Joseph Graham, "James Crockett Wilson was born in Ireland in 1841 the son of Samuel Wilson and Elizabeth Crockett. They arrived in Montreal in the spring of 1842, five years before the beginning of the Irish potato famine." "In 1870, he set up his own company manufacturing paper bags and is credited with making the first flat-bottomed paper bag and with being the first to supply paper bags to grocery stores in Canada. Further information is available in Joseph Graham’s book “Naming the Laurentians”, which makes extensive use of material from Patty Brown, the great, great grand-daughter of J.C. Wilson and member of the Toronto Postcard Club.

For an extended biography of the Wilson family and their role in founding one of the largest paper companies in Canada, see the web site by Patty Brown.