Wilson, Robert Thomas, Sir, 1777-1849

WILSON, SIR ROBERT THOMAS, brother of Major William Wilson (qv); b. 17 Aug 1777; adm. 19 Apr 1786; left 1788; at Winchester Coll. 1789-91; Cornet, 15th Light Dragoons 24 Apr 1794; Lieut., 30 Oct 1794; Capt., 21 Sep 1796; Maj., Hompesch’s Mounted Riflemen 28 Jun 1800; Lieut. -Col., 27 Feb 1802; half-pay Oct 1802; 19th Light Dragoons Aug 1804; 20th Light Dragoons 7 Mar 1805; Brevet Col. and ADC to King 25 Aug 1810; Lieut. -Col., 22nd Light Dragoons 10 Dec 1812; Major-Gen., 4 Jun 1813; served in Flanders 1794-5; one of the eight officers commanding the two squadrons of the 15th Light Dragoons which participated in the rout of a much superior French force at Villers-en-Cauchies 24 Apr 1794, preventing the capture of the Emperor Francis II by the French; for this brilliant action Wilson and the other officers were presented with a commemporative gold medal in 1798 by the Emperor, who also conferred on them in 1800 the Cross of the Order of Maria Theresa; George III permitted them to accept this order on 2 Jun 1801, with the rank of Baron of the Holy Roman Empire and knighthood attached; served at the Helder 1799, in Egypt 1801 and at the Cape of Good Hope 1806; present at battle of Eylau 1807; commanded Royal Lusitanian Legion in Portugal 1808-9, receiving rank of Brigadier-Gen. in Portuguese army; accompanied Sir Robert Liston to Constantinope in 1812, with local rank of Brigadier-Gen. in British army; British Commissioner with the Russian Army in 1812-3, taking part in the battles of Lutzen, Bautzen, Dresden, Kulm and Kranpen; British Commissioner with Austrian Army in Germany and Italy 1813-4, serving at Leipzig, Vicenza, Verona and Valaggio; assisted in escape of Comte de Lavalette from Paris and sentenced to three months’ imprisonment 24 Apr 1816; MP Southwark 1818-31; dismissed from British army 15 Sep 1821 for attempting to prevent bloodshed during the disturbance at Queen Caroline’s funeral on the previous day; went to Spain in 1823 to take part in the war there; reinstated in Army with rank of Lieut. -Gen. on accession of William IV in 1830; although he had entered the House of Commons as a member of the Radical wing of the Whig party, he refused to vote for the Reform Bill of 1831, which he regarded as “the initiatory measure of a republican form of government”, and retired from active political life; Col., 15th Light Dragoons, from 29 Dec 1835; Gen., 23 Nov 1841; Governor and Commander in Chief, Gibraltar 4 Oct 1843 – Nov 1848; although the recipient of a number of distinctions from the Allied Sovereigns, he was never honoured by his own; author, The History of the British Expedition to Egypt, 1802, and other works; m. at Gretna Green 7 Jul 1797, and at St. George’s, Hanover Square, London 10 Mar 1798 Jemima, dau. of Col. William Belford, Harbledown, Kent; d. 9 May 1849. Buried North Aisle, Westminster Abbey. DNB.

International Standard Archival Authority Record for Corporate Bodies, Persons and Families - ISAAR(CPF) 2nd edition

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Users should note that the information recorded here that is not to be found in the first two volumes of the Record of Old Westminsters and its first Supplement has been assembled from various published and manuscript sources by Hugh Edmund Pagan MA FSA, and all new resulting text is his copyright, © 2014.

The Record of Old Westminsters: A biographical list of all those who are known to have been educated at Westminster School from the earliest times to 1927, Volumes 1 & 2, compiled by G. F. Russell Barker and Alan H. Stenning, London, 1928.