Francis Adrian Wilson

Wilson was commissioned into the Royal Artillery as a second lieutenant on 1 July 1895,^[1] and promoted to a lieutenant on 17 November 1897.^[2]

He served in the Second Boer War in South Africa, during which he was promoted to captain on 6 February 1901. He was mentioned in despatches (including the final despatch by Lord Kitchener dated 23 June 1902^[3]), and was awarded the Distinguished Service Order (DSO).^[4] The war ended in June 1902, and Wilson returned to the united Kingdom on the SS Syria two months later, arriving in Southampton in early September.^[5]

He served as Chief of the General Staff in Australia from 1911 to 1912,^[6] and then returned to United Kingdom to prepare for the First World War; his service in that war led to the award of the Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George^[7] and the Légion d'honneur.^[8]

After the war he became colonel Royal Artillery for Eastern Command for which service he was awarded the Companion of the Order of the Bath.^[9]

In 1903, he married Mabel Crosfield, with whom he had a son and a daughter. He died in 1954 at his home near Farnham, Surrey.^[6]