Lt Col R H F Wilson DSO

Richard Henry Francis Wharton Wilson was born on 18 Aug 1855. He was the second son of Sir Mathew Wharton Wilson 2nd Bt of Eshton Halland Gratiana Mary Thomas. He joined the Royal Navy as a Midshipman on HMS Rattlesnake and took part in the Ashanti Campaign of 1873, being present at the taking of Kumasi and the overthrow of King Kofi Kalkalli. He was wounded in the campaign, on 14 Aug 1873. He was commissioned on 26 July 1876 and joined the 10th Hussars at Muttra.
He was with the 10th Hussars in the Afghan War of 1878-80, at Ali Masjid, Futtehabad and in the actions around Kabul in Dec 1879. He applied for a post in the second phase of the war and was appointed Transport officer on the Kabul Field Force being present at the siege of Sherpore, and was on Lord Roberts’s march to Kandahar, and at the battle of Kandahar. He was promoted to captain on 1 Mar 1884, serving in the Sudan, at El Teb and Tamai, then volunteered for the 1885 campaign attached to the Cavalry Brigade, for which he was promoted to brevet-major on 15 June 1885.
On 21 Aug 1895 he was appointed DAAG for Instruction in the Home District but retired from the army in 1896. As a civilian he lived at Kildwick Hall, Yorkshire, and was landlord of Kildwick which suffered from a typhoid epidemic in 1899. He was criticised for failing to take responsibility. He did restore the Old Priory in Priest Bank Road in 1899 and build Moorend in Starkey Lane in 1934.
He re-enlisted for the Boer War and was given command of the 12th Battalion IY. They were in General Hart’s column which drove the enemy from the Johannesburg waterworks. They killed the Boer leader Daniel Theron and went on to fight at Elandsfontein and Buffelsdoorn Pass. In 1901 he commanded his own column pursuing Beyers in Northern Transvaal. They fought against De Wet together with Rimington’s unit.
He served with the 10th Hussars for more than 20 years. The regimental gazette published a short biography of him in April 1913 which paid tribute to his popularity: ‘He commanded the affection of every officer and man in the regiment. He is possessed of conversational powers beyond the average, and a vein of wit that was never pointed by ill nature. His sallies and jests have never failed to entertain, and his society was in consequence much sought and courted. Known to the officers as “Wharty" and to the NCOs and men as “Sweater”, (a reflection on his unworried, perpetually cheery demeanour), we can unhesitatingly declare, that no officer or man who has had the luck to serve with Colonel Wilson, but is glad that he did so; who does not still retain in his memory some episode with regard and admiration of “Wharty” (or of “Sweater”) which will never wholly fade a way.’
On 17 Jan 1889 he married Annabella Margaret Walker-Drummond daughter of John Forbes Walker-Drummond. They had a daughter, Margaret Dorothy who was born in 1894 and died in 1912, aged 18. Colonel Wilson died on 14 Dec 1936 at the age of 81. He was buried in St Andrews Churchyard, Gargrave, Craven District, North Yorkshire.

Regimental Details | Soldiers