Lieutenant-Colonel Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colonel. ...

Francis Tyrwhitt Drake Wilson, OBE (9 April 1876 – 19 March 1964) was a

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 ...

officer and

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

er who played

minor counties The National Counties, known as the Minor Counties before 2020, are the cricketing counties of England and Wales that do not have first-class status. The game is administered by the National Counties Cricket Association (NCCA), which comes unde ...

cricket for

Suffolk Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include Lowes ...

and first-class cricket for

Army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

, Army and Navy, and

Marylebone Cricket Club Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) is a cricket club founded in 1787 and based since 1814 at Lord's Cricket Ground, which it owns, in St John's Wood, London. The club was formerly the governing body of cricket retaining considerable global influence ...

(MCC) sides. Born in

Cottesbrooke Cottesbrooke is a village and civil parish in West Northamptonshire in England. At the time of the 2001 census, the parish's population was 144 people, falling marginally to 143 at the 2011 census. The villages name means 'Cott's/Codd's brook ...

, a small

Northamptonshire Northamptonshire (; abbreviated Northants.) is a county in the East Midlands of England. In 2015, it had a population of 723,000. The county is administered by two unitary authorities: North Northamptonshire and West Northamptonshire. It is ...

village, Wilson was the oldest of three cricketing brothers, each of whom played for Suffolk in the

Minor Counties Championship The NCCA 3 Day Championship (previously the Minor Counties Cricket Championship) is a season-long competition in England and Wales that is contested by the members of the National Counties Cricket Association (NCCA), the so-called national cou ...

. The youngest brother,

Herbert Wilson Herbert Rees Wilson FRSE (20 March 1929 – 22 May 2008) was a physicist, who was one of the team who worked on the structure of DNA at King's College London, under the direction of Sir John Randall. Biography Early life He was born the son o ...

, went on to play for (and briefly captain)

Sussex Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the English ...

, playing more than 100 matches over eleven seasons at the club. The three brothers played together on numerous occasions, from the 1908 season through to the 1910 season. Francis Wilson was the last brother to debut for Suffolk, but on his debut against

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 ...

in June 1908, which marked the first time the three brothers appeared together, he scored 183 runs. His last recorded appearance for Suffolk was a single match in August 1911, against Norfolk. By this time, he had made his first-class debut, playing for a combined Army and Navy side against a Combined Universities team.First-class matches played by Francis Wilson (5)
– CricketArchive. Retrieved 27 November 2014. Despite his earlier

century A century is a period of 100 years. Centuries are numbered ordinally in English and many other languages. The word ''century'' comes from the Latin ''centum'', meaning ''one hundred''. ''Century'' is sometimes abbreviated as c. A centennial or ...

for Suffolk, Wilson achieved more success as a bowler at higher levels. Bowling

leg break Leg spin is a type of spin bowling in cricket. A leg spinner bowls right-arm with a wrist spin action. The leg spinner's normal delivery causes the ball to spin from right to left (from the bowler's perspective) when the ball bounces on the ...

s, he took eight wickets on his first-class debut, which included a five-wicket haul, 5/60, in the second innings. Wilson's next two first-class matches came in the

1913 Events January * January 5 – First Balkan War: Battle of Lemnos (1913), Battle of Lemnos – Greek admiral Pavlos Kountouriotis forces the Turkish fleet to retreat to its base within the Dardanelles, from which it will not ven ...

and 1914 seasons, in the inter-services Army vs

Navy A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval warfare, naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral zone, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and ...

games. He captained the Army to a 170-run victory in the June 1914 fixture, and was subsequently selected for the MCC in a match against

Cambridge University , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

the following month, played at

Lord's Lord's Cricket Ground, commonly known as Lord's, is a cricket venue in St John's Wood, London. Named after its founder, Thomas Lord, it is owned by Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and is the home of Middlesex County Cricket Club, the England and ...

. Wilson's fifth and final first-class match came in the Army–Navy fixture during the 1920 season, after the conclusion of the First World War. Aged 44, he recorded his best bowling figures, 5/57, in the Navy's first innings, helping his side win by an innings and 14 runs. Wilson had been commissioned into the army as a

second lieutenant Second lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces, comparable to NATO OF-1 rank. Australia The rank of second lieutenant existed in the military forces of the Australian colonies and Australian Army until ...

in the

Suffolk Regiment The Suffolk Regiment was an infantry regiment of the line in the British Army with a history dating back to 1685. It saw service for three centuries, participating in many wars and conflicts, including the First and Second World Wars, before bein ...

on 5 September 1896, and was promoted to

lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations. The meaning of lieutenant differs in different militaries (see comparative military ranks), but it is often sub ...

on 13 December 1897. He saw active service with the 1st battalion in South Africa during the

Second Boer War The Second Boer War ( af, Tweede Vryheidsoorlog, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, the Anglo–Boer War, or the South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer Republics (the Sout ...

, during which he was promoted to

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

on 14 October 1901. After the end of this war in June 1902, the battalion returned home on the SS ''Canada'' in September that year. He reached the rank of lieutenant-colonel during the

First world war World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. He was appointed an OBE in 1924, and retired the following year, settling in

Great Horkesley Great Horkesley is a village approximately 3 miles north of Colchester in the county of Essex, UK, and is part of the borough of Colchester. Horkesley is located in what is known as "Horkesley Heath", which is a combination of two villages: Gr ...

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

.Lt.-Col. Francis Tyrwhitt Drake Wilson
– The Peerage. Retrieved 27 November 2014. He played competitive cricket into his fifties, for the

Free Foresters Free Foresters Cricket Club is an English amateur cricket club, established in 1856 for players from the Midland counties of England. It is a 'wandering' (or nomadic) club, having no home ground. The Free Foresters were founded by the Rev. Willi ...

and for Gentlemen of Essex sides.Miscellaneous matches played by Francis Wilson (13)
– CricketArchive. Retrieved 26 November 2014. Wilson died in Great Horkesley in 1964, aged 87. His son, Colonel Nathaniel John Wilson (also an OBE), married a daughter of Sir Pierce Lacy, 1st Bt., a previous

High Sheriff of Suffolk This is a list of Sheriffs and High Sheriffs of Suffolk. The Sheriff is the oldest secular office under the Crown and is appointed annually (in March) by the Crown. The Sheriff was originally the principal law enforcement officer in the county a ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilson, Francis 1876 births 1964 deaths Army and Navy cricketers British Army cricketers British Army personnel of World War I English cricketers Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers Officers of the Order of the British Empire People from Cottesbrooke Suffolk cricketers Suffolk Regiment officers Military personnel from Northamptonshire British Army personnel of the Second Boer War Cricketers from Northamptonshire