Archdale Wilson

Sir Archdale Wilson, 1st Baronet

Sir Archdale Wilson, 1st Baronet (1803 – 9 May 1874) was a distinguished soldier in the British Indian Army, who fought at the siege of Bharatpur in 1825-6, and was commended for his part in the capture of Delhi when that city staged a rebellion agansit British colonial government, being made K.C.B. 17 November 1853, and created a baronet 8 January 1858.

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,[1] Wilson was educated at Norwich School.[2]

Having entered the service of the Bengal Artillery of the Indian Army aged eighteen, Wilson continued his career with growing reputation until he reached the rank of Brigadier Commandant of Bengal Artillery at Meerut, the regimental headquarters.[3] Here a revolt broke out, and under Wilson's command victory over this first wave was achieved. Departing on 27 May, Wilson led 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, Sir Henry Barnard, died soon after, Wilson being selected (in preference to three senior officers)[4] 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,[5] 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.

Wilson was married in 1842 to Ellen, daughter of Gen. 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, son of his eldest brother, Rear-Admiral George Knyvet Wilson, R.N.[6][7]

References

  1. ↑ Burke's Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage thirtieth edition, 1868, pg 1185
  2. ↑ The Norvicensian, No. 1, 1873, pg 39
  3. ↑ The Norvicensian, No. 1, 1873, pg 40
  4. ↑ Forty-one Years in India: From Subaltern to Commander-in-Chief, Field-Marshal Lord Roberts of Kandahar, Asian Educational Services, 2005, pg 108
  5. ↑ The Tears of the Rajas: Mutiny, Money and Marriage in India 1805–1905, Ferdinand Mount, Simon & Schuster, 2015, pg 502
  6. ↑ The Norvicensian, No. 1, 1873, pg 39
  7. ↑ Burke's Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage thirtieth edition, 1868, pg 1185
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