Charles Richard Wilton
Charles Richard Wilton was a journalist in the State of South Australia, a longtime literary editor of The Advertiser and authored, under the pen name of "Autolycus", a long-running weekly column in The Courier of Mount Barker.
History
He was born in Brunswick, Victoria to John Wilton and his first wife, his cousin Sarah Nowill Wilton. Richard Wilton, canon of York Cathedral, was an uncle.He began his working life as an articled clerk in a Melbourne law firm, but left them around 1878 to work as a draughtsman for the Adelaide architectural firm of Woods & McMinn. He had a literary bent, and some years previously had started writing for the Press, and had articles published in the Melbourne Spectator and Daily Telegraph. It seems that he had affinity for printers' ink, for by 1877 he had left architecture to join J. C. F. Johnson, Dan Magill, and W. J. Kennedy, in producing the Adelaide Punch. For a time he replaced George Ash as editor of the Narracoorte Herald, then for eight years edited the Mount Barker Courier. He never lost contact with the people of Mount Barker, and as "Autolycus", contributed a weekly column to the Courier for 36 years; right up to the week of his death. He also used this nom de plume for occasional contributions to The Bulletin.
In 1889 he returned to Melbourne, where he edited the Weekly Times, and sub-edited the Daily Telegraph |Daily Telegraph in place of Joe Melvin. In his spare time he edited Life a popular magazine first appearing in 1904.
In April 1890 he was back in Adelaide as theatre critic and sub-editor of The Advertiser, subsequently leader of the Advertiser and Hansard staff, positions he held until ill-health forced him to retire.
Other interests
Despite his change of career, he retained an interest in architecture and designed a number of buildings in the Mount Barker region, including:- The Mount Barker Courier's original building
- A residence for John Paltridge, father of Amelia, who married Charles Dumas, founder of the Courier.
- The Bridgeport Hotel, Murray Bridge
Family
He married Annie Isabel Gladstones on 3 July 1883. Their children included:- Professor John Raymond Wilton married Winifred Aimee Welbourn on 25 May 1936.
- Dr. Alexander Cockburn Wilton MB, BS of Clarendon was a godson of Sir John Alexander Cockburn.
- Dorothy Kenyon Wilton married William Albert Smith in 1928.
- Richard Gladstones Wilton, a hydraulic engineer, married Annie Heath on 27 December 1917.