He attended Merton College in Oxford, England where he obtained the following degrees: B.A. 1564, M.A. 1570, B.D. 1576, D.D. 1607.

Prebendary of Saint Paul's and Rochester Cathedrals, and held the rectory at Cliffe, Kent. In 1584, he became a Canon of Windsor in place of Dr. William Wickham who was promoted to the see of Lincoln, being about that time made chaplain to Edmund Grindall, the Archbishop of Canterbury, who was his wife's uncle.

Will

He made his will on 23 Aug 1613; it was proved on 27 May 1615. It said, "Will of William Wilson, Canon of Saint George's Chapel, Windsor Castle ... to be buried in the chapel near the place where the body of my dear father lies. If I die at Rochester or Cliff, in the county of Kent, then to be buried in cathedral church of Rochester, near the bodies of wives Isabel and Anne. To my cousin Collins, prebendary at Rochester ... to the Fellows and Scholars of Martin College, Oxford ... my three sons Edmond, John and Thomas Wilson, daughter Isabel Guibs and daughter Margaret Rawson ... my goddaughter Margaret Somers which my son Somers had by my daughter Elizabeth, his late wife ... to my god-son William Sheafe, at the age of twenty one years ... son Edmond, a fellow of King's College, Cambridge, eldest son of me, the said William ... to son John the lease of the Rectory and Parsonage of Caxton in the county of Cambridge, which I have taken in my name ... to Thomas Wilson my third son ... son Edmond to be executor and Mr. Erasmus Webb, my brother in law, being one of the Canons of St. George's Chapel, and my brother, Mr. Thomas Woodward, being steward of the town of New Windsor, to be overseers. Witnesses: Thomas Woodwarde, Joh. Woodwarde, Robert Lowe & Thomas Holl."

Death and Burial

He died on 15 May 1615 at Windsor, Berkshire, England. He is buried at St. George's Chapel at Windsor Castle, next to his father. His tomb states: "To me to live is Christ, and to dye is Gain. Philip. I.21. Here underneath lies interr'd the Body of William Wilson, Doctour of Divinitie, and Prebendarie of this Church by the Space of 32 Years. He had issue by Isabell his Wife six Sons and six Daughteres. He dy'd the 15th of May, in the Year of our Lord 1615, of his Age the 73, beloved of all in his Lyfe, much lamented in his Death." [1]