Lieutenant-General Sir Archdale Wilson, 1st Baronet, GCB (1803 – 9 May 1874) was a British Bengal Army and

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

artillery officer who saw service during the Second Sikh War and the

Indian Rebellion of 1857 The Indian Rebellion of 1857 was a major uprising in India in 1857–58 against the rule of the British East India Company, which functioned as a sovereign power on behalf of the British Crown. The rebellion began on 10 May 1857 in the fo ...

, during which he was commended for his part in the capture of

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders ...

and the

relief of Lucknow The siege of Lucknow was the prolonged defence of the British The Residency, Lucknow, Residency within the city of Lucknow from rebel Sepoy, sepoys (Indian soldiers in the East India Company, British East India Company's Army) during the Indian ...

. 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 The Royal Regiment of Artillery, commonly referred to as the Royal Artillery (RA) and colloquially known as "The Gunners", is one of two regiments that make up the artillery arm of the British Army. The Royal Regiment of Artillery comprises t ...

Biography

Early life and career

The fifth of thirteen sons (alongside one daughter) of the Rev. George Wilson, of

Kirby Cane Kirby Cane is a scattered village and civil parish centred west northwest of Beccles and northeast of Bungay. It is in south-east Norfolk. It housed 375 people in 152 households as at 2001 – then 434 in 179 households at the 2011 Census, ...

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...

, rector of

Didlington Didlington is a village in the Breckland district of mid-Norfolk, East Anglia, England in the United Kingdom. It has an area of with a population of 48. At the 2011 Census the minimal population was included in the civil parish of Ickburgh. The ...

(younger brother of the tenth

Baron Berners Baron Berners is a barony created by writ in the Peerage of England. From creation to first abeyance (1455–1693) The barony was created in 1455 for Sir John Bourchier, youngest son of William Bourchier, 1st Count of Eu, and younger brothe ...

, Wilson was educated at

Norwich School Norwich School (formally King Edward VI Grammar School, Norwich) is a selective English independent day school in the close of Norwich Cathedral, Norwich. Among the oldest schools in the United Kingdom, it has a traceable history to 1096 as a ...

. After training at the

Honourable East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Southea ...

'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 The siege of Bharatpore was a siege that took place in the Indian princely state of Bharatpur (now part of Rajasthan) between December 1825 and January 1826. British troops under Lord Combermere initially surrounded the state's capital until ...

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.

Indian Rebellion of 1857

In 1857 Wilson was serving as Brigadier Commandant of Bengal Artillery at

Meerut Meerut (, IAST: ''Meraṭh'') is a city in Meerut district of the western part of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. The city lies northeast of the national capital New Delhi, within the National Capital Region and west of the state capital ...

, the regimental headquarters. 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. 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, Sir Henry Barnard, died soon after, Wilson being selected (in preference to three senior officers) 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, 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 The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I of Great Britain, George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate medieval ceremony for appointing a knight, which involved Bathing#Medieval ...

, 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, son of his eldest brother, Rear-Admiral George Knyvet Wilson, R.N.Burke's Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage thirtieth edition, 1868, pg 1185

References

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