Herbert Haydon Wilson, DSO (14 February 1875 – 11 April 1917) was a British officer and

polo player Polo is a ball game played on horseback, a traditional field sport and one of the world's oldest known team sports. The game is played by two opposing teams with the objective of scoring using a long-handled wooden mallet to hit a small hard ...

who competed in the

1908 Summer Olympics The 1908 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the IV Olympiad and also known as London 1908) were an international multi-sport event held in London, England, United Kingdom, from 27 April to 31 October 1908. The 1908 Games were ori ...

Biography

Wilson was the youngest son of Sir Samuel Wilson, of Victoria, Australia. He was commissioned a

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 ...

in the Sherwood Rangers (Nottinghamshire Yeomanry) on 25 December 1895. Following the outbreak of 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 ...

in late 1899, Wilson volunteered to serve in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

, and was in February 1900 appointed a lieutenant of the

Imperial Yeomanry The Imperial Yeomanry was a volunteer mounted force of the British Army that mainly saw action during the Second Boer War. Created on 2 January 1900, the force was initially recruited from the middle classes and traditional yeomanry sources, but su ...

, where he served with the 3rd Battalion from 1900 to 1901 (twice Mentioned in Despatches). In March 1901 he was appointed a

Companion of the Distinguished Service Order The Distinguished Service Order (DSO) is a military decoration of the United Kingdom, as well as formerly of other parts of the Commonwealth, awarded for meritorious or distinguished service by officers of the armed forces during wartime, typic ...

(DSO) for gallantry in defence of posts in the Boer attack on Lichtenburg. Promoted to a

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 ...

, he relinquished his commission with the 3rd Battalion on 18 July 1901, and was granted the honorary rank of captain in the Army. He received the substantive rank of captain in the Sherwood Rangers on 20 December 1902. In the

1908 Olympics The 1908 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the IV Olympiad and also known as London 1908) were an international multi-sport event held in London, England, United Kingdom, from 27 April to 31 October 1908. The 1908 Games were ori ...

, he was a member of the British polo team ''Roehampton'', which won the gold medal. In 1911 he was an investor in J.M.P.F.W. Ltd. the company behind the Parker expedition to Jerusalem who were looking for the Ark of the Covenant. His brothers Clarence Wilson and

Gordon Chesney Wilson Lieutenant-Colonel Gordon Chesney Wilson (3 August 1865 – 6 November 1914) was a British Army officer and husband of the war correspondent Lady Sarah Wilson. As an Eton College student he assisted in thwarting Roderick Maclean's assassination ...

both went on the expedition. Wilson was killed in action aged 42 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 ...

, serving as a captain with the

Royal Horse Guards The Royal Regiment of Horse Guards (The Blues) (RHG) was a cavalry regiment of the British Army, part of the Household Cavalry. Raised in August 1650 at Newcastle upon Tyne and County Durham by Sir Arthur Haselrigge on the orders of Oliver Cr ...

near

Arras Arras ( , ; pcd, Aro; historical nl, Atrecht ) is the prefecture of the Pas-de-Calais Departments of France, department, which forms part of the regions of France, region of Hauts-de-France; before the regions of France#Reform and mergers of ...

in the

Second Battle of Arras The Battle of Arras (also known as the Second Battle of Arras) was a British Empire, British offensive on the Western Front (World War I), Western Front during the First World War. From 9 April to 16 May 1917, British troops attacked German Empi ...

. He was killed on the 11th April 1917 near the village of

Monchy-le-Preux Monchy-le-Preux () is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in the Hauts-de-France region of France. Geography Monchy-le-Preux is situated southeast of Arras, at the junction of the D33 and the D339 roads. Junction 15 of the A1 autorout ...

. Four regiments of the 3rd Cavalry Division were sent forward to exploit an anticipated breakthrough. They were the Royal Horse Guards, the 10th Hussars and the Essex Yeomanry. They rode through a snowstorm to the frontline north of the village. There they were met by deadly machine-gun fire and shelling and dismounted to create a defensive line. The cavalrymen took cover but had to tether their horses where they fought. Six hundred cavalrymen and many more horses became casualties. It was in this action that Herbert Wilson died, defending the small village against a German counter-attack. He was buried in the Faubourg D'Amiens Cemetery nearby.Wilson, Herbert Hayden
''Commonwealth War Graves Commission'', Retrieved 28 September 2008

References

External links

profile
* http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/575407 {{DEFAULTSORT:Wilson, Herbert Haydon 1875 births 1917 deaths English polo players Polo players at the 1908 Summer Olympics Olympic polo players for Great Britain Olympic gold medallists for Great Britain Royal Horse Guards officers British military personnel killed in World War I Roehampton Trophy International Polo Cup Sherwood Rangers Yeomanry officers Medalists at the 1908 Summer Olympics British Army personnel of World War I Olympic medalists in polo

Biography

See also

References

External links