The son of a Chief Justice of Dominica, he joined the navy as a follower of Sir John Jervis on board the ship of the line HMS Foudroyant.

[3] By 1780 Wilson was serving on the flagship of Vice-Admiral Richard Howe, the ship of the line HMS Victory, and took part in the successful relief of Gibraltar in January after which in February he was promoted to post-captain.

[1][5] In January 1781 he took command of the brand new post ship HMS Eurydice and sailed to join the squadron of Sir Samuel Hood in the Leeward Islands.

[7] Continuing in Hood's squadron, Eurydice and Wilson were thus participants in the Battle of the Saintes between 9 and 12 April, where the French admiral François Joseph Paul de Grasse was finally captured.

[7] After having made a trip back to England with dispatches Wilson returned and was appointed to the command of the ship of the line HMS Fame in either April or May, staying with Hood's squadron to cruise off Hispaniola to observe the remaining enemy forces.

[7][9] Wilson was not unemployed for long, as with the French Revolutionary War beginning he was given command of the ship of the line HMS Bellona in March 1793, serving in the fleet of Admiral, the now Lord, Howe in the English Channel.

[11] Wilson continued his successful month by later capturing the French 44-gun frigate la Duquesne, adding that to a tally of ships taken in the Leeward Islands that included several privateers.

[10] Wilson sailed Bellona home to England sometime after this but returned on 13 February 1796 to join the Cape of Good Hope Squadron of Rear-Admiral George Elphinstone.

[Note 2][13] Wilson was politically active in his native Suffolk and supported the parliamentary candidacy of 'Gaffer' Gooch in 1820, which was based on improving agricultural and commercial rights.

While Gooch was successful, Wilson was hissed and booed by the crowd for his martial stance against poachers which had previously resulted in a violent attack on his land.