Bot at 13:06, 6 September 2022

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[[File:Archdale Wilson.jpg|thumb|Sir Archdale Wilson, 1st Baronet]]
Lieutenant-General '''Sir Archdale Wilson, 1st Baronet''', [[Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath|GCB]] (1803 – 9 May 1874) was a British [[Bengal Army]] and [[British Army]] artillery officer who saw service during the [[Second Sikh War]] and the [[Indian Rebellion of 1857]], during which he was commended for his part in the capture of [[Delhi]] and the [[relief of Lucknow]]. For his actions during the rebellion, Wilson was knighted and created a baronet. He later returned to the United Kingdom, where he became a Colonel commandant of the [[Royal Artillery]].

==Biography==

=== Early life and career ===
The fifth of thirteen sons (alongside one daughter) of the Rev. George Wilson, of [[Kirby Cane]], [[Norfolk]], rector of [[Didlington]] (younger brother of the tenth [[Baron Berners]],<ref>Burke's Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage thirtieth edition, 1868, pg 1185</ref> Wilson was educated at [[Norwich School]].<ref>The Norvicensian, No. 1, 1873, pg 39</ref> After training at the [[Honourable East India Company]]'s military college at Addiscombe, Wilson was commissioned in the [[Bengal Artillery]] aged eighteen. Reaching India in 1819 he subsequently saw active service in the [[siege of Bharatpur]] and during the [[Second Sikh War]]. As an artilleryman Wilson was appointed to staff positions which included adjutant-general of the Bengal Artillery and superintendent of the Cossipore foundry.<ref>{{cite book|first=Saul|last=David|page=80|title=The Indian Mutiny|date=4 September 2003|isbn=0-141-00554-8}}</ref>

=== Indian Rebellion of 1857 ===
In 1857 Wilson was serving as Brigadier Commandant of Bengal Artillery at [[Meerut]], the regimental headquarters.<ref>The Norvicensian, No. 1, 1873, pg 40</ref> This was the military station where the mutiny of the Bengal Army first broke out on 10 May 1857. Wilson was to be criticised for his inactivity in Meerut, enabling the bulk of the [[sepoy]] mutineers to escape to Delhi.<ref>{{cite book|first=Saul|last=David|page=93|title=The Indian Mutiny|date=4 September 2003|isbn=0-141-00554-8}}</ref> Departing on 27 May, Wilson did however lead his column to victory over the mutineers in an action between Meerut and Delhi on the 30th, then joined with the Delhi Field Force, the commander of which, [[Henry William Barnard|Sir Henry Barnard]], died soon after, Wilson being selected (in preference to three senior officers)<ref>Forty-one Years in India: From Subaltern to Commander-in-Chief, Field-Marshal Lord Roberts of Kandahar, Asian Educational Services, 2005, pg 108</ref> in command on 17 July. Delhi was garrisoned by 30,000 fighting men, with Wilson being in command of a mere 7,000; assailed by the enemy, and in very poor health,<ref>The Tears of the Rajas: Mutiny, Money and Marriage in India 1805–1905, Ferdinand Mount, Simon & Schuster, 2015, pg 502</ref> Wilson nevertheless held his troops' position until, on 4 September, the siege train arrived from the Punjab. Delhi was then captured after six days of street fighting. Wilson subsequently commanded the whole of the Artillery at the [[siege of Lucknow]] in 1858, for which successes he was nominated in succession a Companion, Knight Commander, and Knight Grand Cross (17 Nov. 1853) of the [[Order of the Bath]], created a baronet 8 January 1858 (with an amended patent issued 8 July 1858, allowing the succession of his baronetcy to the heirs male of his eldest brother, George) and was granted a pension of £1,000 by the East India Company.

==Personal life==
Wilson was married in 1842 to Ellen, daughter of General Warren Hastings Leslie Frith, Commandant of the Bengal Artillery; they had no children, and he was succeeded in his baronetcy at his death in 1874 by his nephew, [[Roland Wilson (barrister)|Roland]], son of his eldest brother, Rear-Admiral George Knyvet Wilson, R.N.<ref>The Norvicensian, No. 1, 1873, pg 39</ref><ref>Burke's Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage thirtieth edition, 1868, pg 1185</ref>

==References==
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[[Category:1803 births]]
[[Category:1874 deaths]]
[[Category:British military personnel of the Indian Rebellion of 1857]]
[[Category:Bengal Artillery officers]]
[[Category:People educated at Norwich School]]
[[Category:Baronets in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:British military personnel of the Second Anglo-Sikh War]]
[[Category:British East India Company Army generals]]
[[Category:Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath]]
[[Category:Royal Artillery officers]]
[[Category:Military personnel from Norfolk]]

Archdale Wilson - Revision history

Bot at 13:06, 6 September 2022