General Sir Thomas Spencer Wilson, 6th Baronet (25 January 1727 – 29 August 1798) was an officer of the

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

and politician who sat in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...

from 1774 to 1780. The son of Sir Thomas Wilson, 4th Baronet, he was educated at

Charterhouse School Charterhouse is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school (English independent boarding school for pupils aged 13–18) in Godalming, Surrey, England. Founded by Thomas Sutton in 1611 on the site of the old Carthusian monastery in Charter ...

. He succeeded his brother in the baronetcy in 1760. By his wife, Jane Weller, he had one son and three daughters. One daughter, Margaretta, married Charles Perceval, 2nd Baron Arden and another, Jane, married his brother

Spencer Perceval Spencer Perceval (1 November 1762 – 11 May 1812) was a British statesman and barrister who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from October 1809 until his assassination in May 1812. He is the only British prime minister to have been as ...

, the future prime minister. He joined the British Army as an ensign in the

8th Regiment of Foot Eighth is ordinal form of the number eight. Eighth may refer to: * One eighth, , a fraction, one of eight equal parts of a whole * Eighth note (quaver), a musical note played for half the value of a quarter note (crotchet) * Octave, an interval b ...

in 1744. He reached the rank of captain in that regiment, and on 14 April 1762, became a

captain-lieutenant Captain lieutenant or captain-lieutenant is a military rank, used in a number of navies worldwide and formerly in the British Army. Northern Europe Denmark, Norway and Finland The same rank is used in the navies of Denmark (), Norway () and Fin ...

in the

2nd Regiment of Foot Guards The Coldstream Guards is the oldest continuously serving regular regiment in the British Army. As part of the Household Division, one of its principal roles is the protection of the Monarchy of the United Kingdom, monarchy; due to this, it often ...

. He progressed through the ranks to Major-General in 1777. He was made colonel of the 50th Regiment of Foot from 1777 until his death, promoted to lieutenant-general in 1782 and full general in 1796. He took part in the war in Flanders, the rebellion in Scotland, the war in Germany, where he was aide-de-camp to Lord Waldegrave at the

battle of Minden The Battle of Minden was a major engagement during the Seven Years' War, fought on 1 August 1759. An Anglo-German army under the overall command of Prussian Field Marshal Ferdinand of Brunswick defeated a French army commanded by Marshal of F ...

, and in three expeditions on the coast of France. He was MP for

Sussex Sussex (Help:IPA/English, /ˈsʌsɪks/; from the Old English ''Sūþseaxe''; lit. 'South Saxons'; 'Sussex') is an area within South East England that was historically a kingdom of Sussex, kingdom and, later, a Historic counties of England, ...

from 1774 to 1780.

References

* John Brooke
WILSON, Sir Thomas Spencer, 6th Bt. (1727-98), of Uckfield, Suss.
in ''

The History of Parliament The History of Parliament is a project to write a complete history of the United Kingdom Parliament and its predecessors, the Parliament of Great Britain and the Parliament of England. The history will principally consist of a prosopography, in w ...

: the House of Commons 1754-1790'' (1964). , - 1727 births 1798 deaths People educated at Charterhouse School Baronets in the Baronetage of England British Army generals King's Regiment (Liverpool) officers Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regiment officers British MPs 1774–1780 Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies Coldstream Guards officers 18th-century British Army personnel {{British-Army-bio-stub