General A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of highest military ranks, high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry. In some usages the term "general officer" refers t ...

Sir Robert Thomas Wilson (17 August 1777 – 9 May 1849) was a British general and politician who served in

Flanders Flanders (, ; Dutch: ''Vlaanderen'' ) is the Flemish-speaking northern portion of Belgium and one of the communities, regions and language areas of Belgium. However, there are several overlapping definitions, including ones related to culture, ...

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

, the

Iberian Peninsula The Iberian Peninsula (), ** * Aragonese and Occitan: ''Peninsula Iberica'' ** ** * french: Péninsule Ibérique * mwl, Península Eibérica * eu, Iberiar penintsula also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in southwestern Europe, defi ...

Prussia Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an em ...

, and was seconded to the

Imperial Russian Army The Imperial Russian Army (russian: Ру́сская импера́торская а́рмия, tr. ) was the armed land force of the Russian Empire, active from around 1721 to the Russian Revolution of 1917. In the early 1850s, the Russian Ar ...

in 1812. He sat as the Whig

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

(MP) for

Southwark Southwark ( ) is a district of Central London situated on the south bank of the River Thames, forming the north-western part of the wider modern London Borough of Southwark. The district, which is the oldest part of South London, developed ...

from 1818 to 1831. He served as the

Governor of Gibraltar The governor of Gibraltar is the representative of the British monarch in the British overseas territory of Gibraltar. The governor is appointed by the monarch on the advice of the British government. The role of the governor is to act as the ...

from 1842 until his death in 1849.

Early career

Born in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, he was the grandson of a Leeds wool merchant, and the fourth child of painter and portraitist Benjamin Wilson. Orphaned at the age of twelve he was raised and educated by his uncle and guardian, William Bosville, later attending

Westminster School (God Gives the Increase) , established = Earliest records date from the 14th century, refounded in 1560 , type = Public school Independent day and boarding school , religion = Church of England , head_label = Hea ...

. He eloped in his twenties with Jemima, the daughter of Colonel William Belford. She bore him thirteen children in the following 15 years.

Military life

He had a distinguished career in the Army and the diplomatic service. In 1794, as an

ensign An ensign is the national flag flown on a vessel to indicate nationality. The ensign is the largest flag, generally flown at the stern (rear) of the ship while in port. The naval ensign (also known as war ensign), used on warships, may be diffe ...

in the 15th Light Dragoons, Wilson fought in the celebrated

Battle of Villers-en-Cauchies In the Battle of Villers-en-Cauchies, fought on 24 April 1794, a small Anglo-Austrian cavalry force routed a vastly more numerous French division during the Flanders Campaign of the French Revolutionary Wars. Villers-en-Cauchies is 15 km ...

where a handful of cavalry smashed a much larger French force. He was made a

Knight Bachelor The title of Knight Bachelor is the basic rank granted to a man who has been knighted by the monarch but not inducted as a member of one of the organised orders of chivalry; it is a part of the British honours system. Knights Bachelor are the ...

in 1801. That year also saw him serving in Egypt under General Abercromby and later General Hely-Hutchinson as the French were driven out of Cairo and Alexandria. In 1804 he became a lieutenant-colonel in the 19th Light Dragoons. In 1806 he joined a diplomatic mission to Prussia led by Hutchinson, with whom he had served in Egypt. Wilson was present at the battle of Eylau and Friedland. He was briefly at Tilsit at the signing of the

Treaty of Tilsit The Treaties of Tilsit were two agreements signed by French Emperor Napoleon in the town of Tilsit in July 1807 in the aftermath of his victory at Friedland. The first was signed on 7 July, between Napoleon and Russian Emperor Alexander, when t ...

and claimed to have crossed to the French side of the river while disguised as a Cossack in the company of a friend who was also a Cossack general. After the treaty was signed he travelled to St Petersburg and unaware of the secret clauses, campaigned vigorously for continued friendship between Britain and Russia. When the British ambassador discovered that Russia was about to declare war, Wilson was despatched to Britain with the news. It was hoped that he could overhaul a Russian courier who had been sent ahead of him, which he did in Stockholm. Having left St Peterburg on the eighth of November, he arrived in Scarborough Yorkshire, England on the thirtieth. By four AM on the second of December he was waking up the British Foreign Secretary, George Canning, with the news. The early warning enabled Britain to detain a Russian warship then in its waters and unaware of the impending war declaration. During the

Peninsular War The Peninsular War (1807–1814) was the military conflict fought in the Iberian Peninsula by Spain, Portugal, and the United Kingdom against the invading and occupying forces of the First French Empire during the Napoleonic Wars. In Spain ...

he organized Portuguese soldiers into the

Loyal Lusitanian Legion The Loyal Lusitanian Legion (LLL) was a foreign volunteer corps of the British Army, organized with Portuguese émigrés in England, that fought in the Peninsular War. The LLL was created by the initiative of Portuguese Army Colonels José Maria ...

.Chandler, p 490 During the British retreat from the Iberian peninsula in January 1809, Wilson refused to comply with the withdrawal and instead decided to oppose the incoming 9,000-man corps commanded by the French General

Pierre Belon Lapisse Pierre Belon Lapisse, Baron de Sainte-Hélène (25 November 1762 – 30 July 1809) commanded an infantry division in Napoleon's armies and was fatally wounded fighting against the British in the Peninsular War. He enlisted in the French Army during ...

. He installed half of his 1,200 Lusitanian Legion in the fortress of Almeida and arranged the rest in a thin screen. He then harried the opposition with such remorseless energy that Lapisse, convinced he was confronted by a far more numerous enemy, switched entirely to the defensive.Gates, p 149 In summer 1809, Wilson's Legion again formed an important part of the Anglo-Portuguese network of advance posts and was placed on the Spanish frontier to provide early warning of French moves while the British commander

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...

advanced on Oporto.Robertson, p 78 In Wellington's advance on Talavera in spring 1809, Wilson's Lusitanians again formed a valuable flank guard. Although heavily outnumbered, they managed to stop Marshal Victor's advance into Portugal by partially blowing up the bridge at Alcantara. In the aftermath of the

Battle of Talavera The Battle of Talavera (27–28 July 1809) was fought just outside the town of Talavera de la Reina, Spain some southwest of Madrid, during the Peninsular War. At Talavera, a British army under Sir Arthur Wellesley combined with a Spanish ar ...

, when the French General Victor and his corps threatened to cut Wellington's forces off from the south, Wilson's small flank column of 1,500 men surprised Victor's 19,600 men from the north. In the face of this unclear threat, Victor panicked and precipitously withdrew to Madrid.Gates, p 186 On 12August 1809, Wilson with 4,000 men, including two battalions of the Legion, was defeated by French forces under Marshal

Michel Ney Michel Ney, 1st Duke of Elchingen, 1st Prince of the Moskva (; 10 January 1769 – 7 December 1815), was a French military commander and Marshal of the Empire who fought in the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. He was one o ...

at the

Battle of Puerto de Baños The Battle of Puerto de Baños (12 August 1809) saw a Portuguese-Spanish column led by Robert Wilson attempt to defend a mountain pass against Marshal Michel Ney's VI Corps. After a nine-hour combat, Wilson's force broke up and scattered into ...

. Facing treble the number of French, Wilson nevertheless managed to maintain his position for nine hours. He lost nearly 400 men while inflicting 185 casualties on the French. Wilson returned to Russia in 1812 as a liaison officer joining and describing in detail Kutuzov's campaign against Napoleon, showing that he was a sharp observer, an experienced general but also a British politician during the events of

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...

's disastrous retreat from Moscow. In addition he assisted in the November 1815 escape of the Bonapartist Lavalette from Paris.

Parliament

In 1817, near the start of the

Great Game The Great Game is the name for a set of political, diplomatic and military confrontations that occurred through most of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century – involving the rivalry of the British Empire and the Russian Empi ...

, he published the anti-Russian "A Sketch of the Military and Political Power of Russia". In 1818, Wilson became an MP for

. In 1821 and by now a Radical, he attended the funeral of Queen Caroline whose treatment by her husband George IV had made her popular. Her supporters became unruly, and soldiers fired over the heads of the crowd. Wilson intervened, stating that "It is quite disgraceful to continue firing in this manner, for the people are unarmed. Remember you are soldiers of Waterloo; do not lose your honours gained on that occasion. You have had cannon shot at your head, never mind a few stones." The firing ceased as the officer in charge recognised Wilson, and the troops backed off. A few weeks later Wilson was dismissed from the Army by the

Duke of York Duke of York is a title of nobility in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. Since the 15th century, it has, when granted, usually been given to the second son of English (later British) monarchs. The equivalent title in the Scottish peerage was Du ...

Later career

Wilson was reinstated in the Army and promoted to lieutenant-general in 1830. He reached the rank of full general in 1841 and was appointed

in 1842. He wrote a great deal about history and politics.

Death

Wilson died suddenly on 9May 1849 at Marshall Thompson's Hotel in

Cavendish Square Cavendish Square is a public garden square in Marylebone in the West End of London. It has a double-helix underground commercial car park. Its northern road forms ends of four streets: of Wigmore Street that runs to Portman Square in the much lar ...

, London. He is buried along with his wife in the north aisle at

Westminster Abbey Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is an historic, mainly Gothic church in the City of Westminster, London, England, just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is one of the United ...

References

;Notes ;Some of his own works * * * (Third edition) * (Second edition, edited by Rev. Herbert Randolph) * (edited by Rev. Herbert Randolph) ;Secondary sources * * * * * *