 John went to Geelong Grammar School and in 1862 was apprenticed to the firm Crouch & Wilson at age 16, where he continued to work for 18 years, finishing as head assistant.While there he worked on such prominent projects as the Deaf School and Blind Institute, both built in the 1860s on St Kilda Road, the main building for MLC in Hawthorn in 1882, and numerous churches, as well as some of his own projects.The practice of Crouch & Wilson passed to the sons of the principals in 1881, when Crouch retired, and Ralph Wilson left to join with Bewicke to create Wilson & Beswicke on 2 January 1882, until Wilson's death in 1889.