 John Joseph, known as J.J. Willson, was senior partner in the firm of Willson, Walker & Co. which owned the Sheepscar tannery, at one time the largest in the country.He was instrumental to the movement for the foundation of Leeds Art Gallery, working on a committee alongside John Atkinson Grimshaw and others, and he was a vice president of the Yorkshire Union of Artists when John William Waterhouse was president.J.J., Margaret and Dorothy exhibited at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition; on five occasions in Margaret's case.