Portrait of Sir William James Erasmus Wilson (1809-1884), half-length, in a black coat and black cravat, his arms folded before him

Sir William James Erasmus Wilson (1809-1884) was a dermatologist and philanthropist. He was assistant to Jones Quain, Professor of Anatomy and Physiology at the newly formed University College where he remained until Quain's retirement in 1836. He published his Practical and Theoretical Treatise on Diseases of the Skin in 1842. He was knighted in 1881. (D.A. Power, rev. Geoffrey L. Asherson, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography).