27 March 1762[1] – 8 May 1842) was a general officer of the British Army who served in the Royal Artillery for some forty-five years, including several campaigns of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars.
He was born in 1762, the second son of Major Wiltshire Wilson of Wollock Grange, Northumberland, formerly of the 1st Royal Dragoons, and a daughter of Ralph Phillips of Colchester.
[2] In October he was thrown into Nieuport with his two guns in company with the 53rd Foot and two Hessian battalions, where they were attacked by the whole French army under General of Brigade Dominique Vandamme.
Vandamme met with an obstinate resistance, the sluices were opened, and his siege batteries inundated, and when abandoning the regular attack he attempted a night assault on 25 October, his front was so limited between the river and the inundation that Wilson, with his two guns placed to command the enemy's approach, was able by firing rapidly into the advancing foe over one hundred rounds of grape and round shot, to create such fearful havoc that the French withdrew just at the critical time when enlarged gun-vents and distorted muzzles were rendering Wilson's guns useless.
The arrival of British forces on 29 October caused Vandamme to raise the siege on the following day, leaving his battering guns behind.
In consequence of the gallantry displayed by the fishermen of Nieuport, the Duke of York incorporated them into a company of artillery, and gave the command of it to Wilson in June 1794.
[4] In 1796 he was promoted to captain and went to the Cape of Good Hope with a company of artillery, but returned home the following year.