Admiral George Wilson (4 March 1756 – 6 March 1826) was an officer in the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

who saw service in the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was the armed conflict that comprised the final eight years of the broader American Revolution, in which Am ...

and the

French Revolutionary War The French Revolutionary Wars () were a series of sweeping military conflicts resulting from the French Revolution that lasted from 1792 until 1802. They pitted France against Great Britain, Austria, Prussia, Russia, and several other countries ...

. The son of a Chief Justice of Dominica, he joined the navy as a follower of Sir John Jervis on board the

ship of the line A ship of the line was a type of naval warship constructed during the Age of Sail from the 17th century to the mid-19th century. The ship of the line was designed for the naval tactics in the Age of Sail, naval tactic known as the line of battl ...

. In January 1780 he served on Vice-Admiral

Richard Howe Admiral of the Fleet Richard Howe, 1st Earl Howe (8 March 1726 – 5 August 1799) was a Royal Navy officer and politician. After serving in the War of the Austrian Succession, he gained a reputation for his role in amphibious operations agai ...

flagship A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of navy, naval ships, characteristically a flag officer entitled by custom to fly a distinguishing flag. Used more loosely, it is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, typically ...

HMS ''Victory'' at the relief of Gibraltar, after which he was promoted to

post-captain Post-captain or post captain is an obsolete alternative form of the rank of captain in the Royal Navy. The term "post-captain" was descriptive only; it was never used as a title in the form "Post-Captain John Smith". The term served to dis ...

. While in command of the

post ship Post ship was a designation used in the Royal Navy during the second half of the 18th century and the Napoleonic Wars to describe a sixth-rate ship (see rating system of the Royal Navy) that was smaller than a frigate (in practice, carrying ...

he participated in the

Battle of Saint Kitts The Battle of Saint Kitts, also known as the Battle of Frigate Bay, was a naval battle fought on 25 and 26 January 1782 during the American Revolutionary War between a British fleet under Rear Admiral Sir Samuel Hood and a larger French fleet ...

and

Battle of the Saintes The Battle of the Saintes (known to the French as the Bataille de la Dominique), also known as the Battle of Dominica, was an important naval battle in the Caribbean between the British and the French that took place 9–12 April 1782. The Brit ...

in 1782 before he was appointed to the ship of the line . Wilson was given command of the

frigate A frigate () is a type of warship. In different eras, the roles and capabilities of ships classified as frigates have varied. The name frigate in the 17th to early 18th centuries was given to any full-rigged ship built for speed and maneuvera ...

during the Spanish Armament and then at the beginning of the French Revolutionary War, the ship of the line . In ''Bellona'' he served extensively on the

Leeward Islands Station The Leeward Islands Station originally known as the Commander-in-Chief at Barbadoes and the Leeward Islands was a formation or command of the Kingdom of Great Britain and then the United Kingdom's Royal Navy stationed at English Harbour, Antigua, ...

, taking a 44-gun frigate in January 1795. He was then present at the

Capitulation of Saldanha Bay The capitulation of Saldanha Bay was the surrender to the British of a Batavian expeditionary force sent to recapture the Dutch Cape Colony in 1796. In 1795, early in the War of the First Coalition, French troops overran the Dutch Republic wh ...

in 1796 and the invasions of

Trinidad Trinidad is the larger, more populous island of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, the country. The island lies off the northeastern coast of Venezuela and sits on the continental shelf of South America. It is the southernmost island in ...

and Porto Rico in 1797. In 1799 Wilson was promoted to

rear-admiral Rear admiral is a flag officer rank used by English-speaking navies. In most European navies, the equivalent rank is called counter admiral. Rear admiral is usually immediately senior to commodore and immediately below vice admiral. It is ...

and rose through the ranks by seniority to become an

admiral of the red Admiral of the Red was a senior rank of the Royal Navy of the United Kingdom, immediately outranked by the rank Admiral of the Fleet (see order of precedence below). The rank did not exist prior to 1805, as the admiral commanding the Red squad ...

in 1819, however he never served at sea as an admiral. He died at his seat Redgrave Hall in

Suffolk Suffolk ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Norfolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Essex to the south, and Cambridgeshire to the west. Ipswich is the largest settlement and the county ...

on 6 March 1826 at the age of seventy.

Early life

George Wilson was born the son of the Honourable Thomas Wilson, who served as Chief Justice of Dominica, on 4 March 1756. His grandfather, Richard, also served in that position.

Naval career

Early career

Wilson joined the Royal Navy in around 1775 as a

midshipman A midshipman is an officer of the lowest Military rank#Subordinate/student officer, rank in the Royal Navy, United States Navy, and many Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth navies. Commonwealth countries which use the rank include Royal Cana ...

under Captain Sir John Jervis, where he served with him in the

.Winfield, ''British Warships 1714-1792'', p. 218. Wilson was promoted to

lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a Junior officer, junior commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations, as well as fire services, emergency medical services, Security agency, security services ...

on 28 January 1776. He briefly commanded the newly-recovered from July 1776 to early 1777. In 1777 ''Foudroyant'' joined the

Channel Fleet The Channel Fleet and originally known as the Channel Squadron was the Royal Navy formation of warships that defended the waters of the English Channel from 1854 to 1909 and 1914 to 1915. History Throughout the course of Royal Navy's history th ...

and as such he participated on 27 July 1778 in the Battle of Ushant. By 1780 Wilson was serving on the

of Vice-Admiral

, the ship of the line HMS ''Victory'', and took part in the successful relief of Gibraltar in January after which in February he was promoted to

Post-captain

His first action as a post-captain was to take command of the recently captured Spanish ship of the line ''Guipuscoano'' as HMS ''Prince William''.Winfield,''British Warships 1714-1792'', p. 533. In January 1781 he took command of the brand new

and sailed to join the squadron of

Sir Samuel Hood Admiral Samuel Hood, 1st Viscount Hood (12 December 1724 – 27 January 1816) was a Royal Navy officer and politician. As a junior officer he saw action during the War of the Austrian Succession. While in temporary command of , Hood drove a Fre ...

in the

Leeward Islands The Leeward Islands () are a group of islands situated where the northeastern Caribbean Sea meets the western Atlantic Ocean. Starting with the Virgin Islands east of Puerto Rico, they extend southeast to Guadeloupe and its dependencies. In Engl ...

.Winfield, ''British Warships 1714-1792'', p. 1257.Marshall, ''Royal Naval Biography'', p. 111. As such he participated in the

in January 1782 where after the French fleet had been repulsed, his was one of four ships that covered the landings of the invasion itself. Continuing in Hood's squadron, ''Eurydice'' and Wilson were thus participants in the

between 9 and 12 April, where the French admiral

François Joseph Paul de Grasse François Joseph Paul, Comte de Grasse, Marquis of Grasse-Tilly, KM (13 September 1722 – 11 January 1788) was a French Navy officer. He is best known for his crucial victory over the Royal Navy at the Battle of the Chesapeake in 1781 during t ...

was finally captured. After having made a trip back to England with dispatches Wilson returned and was appointed to the command of the ship of the line in either April or May, staying with Hood's squadron to cruise off

Hispaniola Hispaniola (, also ) is an island between Geography of Cuba, Cuba and Geography of Puerto Rico, Puerto Rico in the Greater Antilles of the Caribbean. Hispaniola is the most populous island in the West Indies, and the second-largest by List of C ...

to observe the remaining enemy forces.Winfield, ''British Warships 1714-1792'', p. 316. On 21 July ''Fame'' and Wilson sailed to America to wait out the hurricane months with the fleet of Admiral Hugh Pigot. Wilson stayed at

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

between 5 September and 24 October before returning to the Leeward Islands. He continued there until the

began to end, paying off ''Fame'' in July 1783. Wilson's next command came in August 1790 when he was given command of the frigate to prepare for any action resulting from the Spanish Armament that year and a similar threat from Russia in the following year.Winfield, ''British Warships 1714-1792'', p. 975. He was such a popular officer that he was able to find a complete crew for ''Inconstant'' within twenty-four hours of his assuming command. When the disputes were settled diplomatically he relinquished his command in September 1791. Wilson was not unemployed for long, as with the

beginning he was given command of the ship of the line in March 1793, serving in the fleet of Admiral, the now Lord, Howe in the

English Channel The English Channel, also known as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates Southern England from northern France. It links to the southern part of the North Sea by the Strait of Dover at its northeastern end. It is the busi ...

.Winfield, ''British Warships 1714-1792'', p. 331. On 13 October 1794 he and ''Bellona'' were detached from the fleet to join Vice-Admiral Benjamin Caldwell in sailing for the

and the

West Indies The West Indies is an island subregion of the Americas, surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, which comprises 13 independent island country, island countries and 19 dependent territory, dependencies in thr ...

, which Caldwell had been appointed commander-in-chief of. They arrived at

Martinique Martinique ( ; or ; Kalinago language, Kalinago: or ) is an island in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the eastern Caribbean Sea. It was previously known as Iguanacaera which translates to iguana island in Carib language, Kariʼn ...

on 14 November. While Caldwell served only briefly as commander-in-chief Wilson and ''Bellona'' stayed on the station, and on 5 January 1795 ''Bellona'' was cruising off Deseada Island in company with the frigate HMS ''Alarm'' when they discovered a fleet of French transports. The transports were escorted by two frigates and three armed ships; one of these, the 20-gun ''Duras'', was taken by the pair in the ensuing action.Marshall, ''Royal Naval Biography'', pp. 111-2. Wilson continued his successful month by later capturing the French 44-gun frigate ''la Duquesne'', adding that to a tally of ships taken in the Leeward Islands that included several

privateer A privateer is a private person or vessel which engages in commerce raiding under a commission of war. Since robbery under arms was a common aspect of seaborne trade, until the early 19th century all merchant ships carried arms. A sovereign o ...

s.Marshall, ''Royal Naval Biography'', p. 112. One of these was the privateer

schooner A schooner ( ) is a type of sailing ship, sailing vessel defined by its Rig (sailing), rig: fore-and-aft rigged on all of two or more Mast (sailing), masts and, in the case of a two-masted schooner, the foremast generally being shorter than t ...

''La Bellone'', taken on 11 May. Wilson sailed ''Bellona'' home to England sometime after this but returned on 13 February 1796 to join the Cape of Good Hope Squadron of Rear-Admiral

George Elphinstone George Elphinstone of Blythswood (died 1634) was a Scottish landowner, courtier, and Provost of Glasgow. Life George Elphinstone was the son of George Elphinstone of Blythswood (died 2 April 1585), a leading Glasgow merchant and shipowner, and ...

. On 17 August the squadron forced the surrender of a Dutch expeditionary force in the

. Wilson and ''Bellona'' then continued their attacks on privateers, taking the French 6-gun ''La Legere'' off Cape Descada on 7 January 1797 and destroying another three days later. Wilson then took part in the successful Invasion of Trinidad in February and in April similarly participated in the unsuccessful Invasion of Porto Rico. In the former invasion Wilson assisted with the other ships of the line of Rear-Admiral Henry Harvey's fleet in destroying a Spanish squadron of four ships of the line and a frigate before the main invasion force of Lieutenant-General

Sir Ralph Abercromby Lieutenant-General Sir Ralph Abercromby, (7 October 173428 March 1801) was a British Army officer, politician and colonial administrator who served as the governor of Trinidad in 1797. Rising to the rank of lieutenant general in the British ...

landed. Towards the end of 1797 Wilson was sent back to England in ''Bellona'' where he re-joined the Channel Fleet.Marshall, ''Royal Naval Biography'', p. 113.

Flag rank

Wilson was promoted to

on 14 February 1799 at which point he left ''Bellona'' and the Channel Fleet; he would not go to sea again. By seniority he became a

vice-admiral Vice admiral is a senior naval flag officer rank, usually equivalent to lieutenant general and air marshal. A vice admiral is typically senior to a rear admiral and junior to an admiral. Australia In the Royal Australian Navy, the rank of vic ...

on 23 April 1804 and an

admiral Admiral is one of the highest ranks in many navies. In the Commonwealth nations and the United States, a "full" admiral is equivalent to a "full" general in the army or the air force. Admiral is ranked above vice admiral and below admiral of ...

on 25 October 1809.

Other work

Wilson was politically active in his native

and supported the parliamentary candidacy of 'Gaffer' Gooch in 1820, which was based on improving agricultural and commercial rights. While Gooch was successful, Wilson was hissed and booed by the crowd for his martial stance against poachers which had previously resulted in a violent attack on his land. He also served the county as a

magistrate The term magistrate is used in a variety of systems of governments and laws to refer to a civilian officer who administers the law. In ancient Rome, a '' magistratus'' was one of the highest ranking government officers, and possessed both judi ...

Death

He died on 6 March 1826, at the age of seventy, at his seat Redgrave Hall in Suffolk.Urban, ''The Gentleman's Magazine'', p.273. Upon his death it was noted that as an officer he was 'generally beloved' throughout the navy. ''Monthly Magazine or British Register'', p. 546.

Family

He married Catherine Pollard of

Ewell Ewell ( , ) is a town in Surrey, England, south of Centre of London, central London and northeast of Epsom. At the 2011 United Kingdom census, 2011 Census, it had a population of 34,872. The majority (73%) was in the NRS social grade, ABC1 ...

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

, on 22 August 1801. Together they had four sons and two daughters including: * George St. Vincent Wilson (1806-1852) * Susan Mary Wilson (b. 1809) * John Wood Wilson (1812-1872) Wilson also had a sister, Lucinda, who married the master mariner

William Raven William Raven (1756–1814) was an English master mariner, naval officer and merchant. He commanded the whaler and sealing vessel ''Britannia'' and the naval store ship in Australian and New Zealand waters from 1792 until 1799. While in command ...

who in turn stood godfather for Wilson's daughter Susan.Parsons, 'Raven, William (1756-1814)'. Wilson's uncle was the politician

Rowland Holt Rowland Holt (c. 1723–1786) of Redgrave Hall, Suffolk, was a British politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1759 and 1780. Early life Holt was the son of Rowland Holt and his wife Elizabeth Washington, and the great-nephew of Joh ...

and upon the death of Holt's brother Thomas, he inherited the family home of Redgrave Hall.

Notes and citations

Notes

Citations

References

* * * * Syrett, David and R.L. DiNardo (1994). ''The Commissioned Sea Officers of the Royal Navy 1660-1815.'' Aldershot: Scholar Press. . * Urban, Sylvanus (1826). ''The Gentleman's Magazine and Historical Chronicle. From January to June, 1826. Volume XCVI.'' London: John Nichols and Son. * {{DEFAULTSORT:Wilson, George Royal Navy admirals Royal Navy personnel of the American Revolutionary War Royal Navy personnel of the French Revolutionary Wars 1756 births 1826 deaths