Robert Thomas Wilson

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Robert Thomas Wilson

Robert Thomas Wilson (born August 17, 1777 in London , † May 9, 1849 in London) was a British general and politician .

Life

Robert Thomas Wilson was the fourth child and third son of the landscape painter Benjamin Wilson and, after completing his studies, embarked on a military career. He joined the British Army in Holland in March 1793 as a cornet and was given a post in the 15th Dragoon Regiment. In the campaign of 1794 he distinguished himself several times in Flanders ; in particular, at the meeting at Cambrai on April 24 of this year , he saved Emperor Franz II from the risk of being captured. Soon after, he was appointed captain , serving during the uprising in Ireland in 1798 and accompanying the Duke of York on his second unfortunate expedition to Holland in 1799 . After his return to England he joined the regiment established by Baron von Hompesch as a major in 1800 and followed General Abercromby to Egypt in 1801 . After the surrender on June 28, 1801, Wilson returned to England and published the work An historical account of the British Expedition to Egypt (2 vols., London 1802), which caused a sensation because he said that Napoleon was in Jaffa his soldiers suffering from plague were poisoned and the Turkish prisoners shot.

After the dissolution of the Hompesch regiment, Wilson was placed in the position of lieutenant colonel on half pay in 1802 and used his leisure time to compose the pamphlet An inquiry into the present state of the military force of the British Empire (London 1804), in which he zealously opposed the corporal punishment of soldiers in the English army. Soon employed again with the 20th Dragoon Regiment, he went to Brazil under Sir David Baird in 1805 and took part in the conquest of the Cape of Good Hope in January 1806 .

In November 1806, Wilson accompanied General Hutchinson, who was commissioned with a secret mission to the Russian court , to visit Emperor Alexander I in Saint Petersburg , where he joined the Russian army as a volunteer and attended most of the battles in the war against France. After the Peace of Tilsit (July 1807) he stayed in Petersburg for some time and was honored by the emperor. After returning to England, the government sent him back to Russia on an important mission. However, when the prospect of an alliance with France was imminent, Wilson left Petersburg and traveled so quickly that he arrived before the departure of a Russian transport fleet, which he had cleverly prevented from leaving. The British Admiralty thus gained time to seize the frigate Lespectnoi, which was still off Portsmouth , and a whole Russian fleet would have been taken, had it not been for adverse winds to prevent Sir Sidney Smith from carrying out his orders.

At the outbreak of the war in Spain (1808) Wilson received the order to go to Lisbon and to organize a Portuguese auxiliary army, which should act jointly with the English. He therefore eagerly formed the Lusitan Legion in 1809, which under his leadership rendered essential services to the English army. In 1810 he was appointed colonel and in 1812 as British brigadier general of the English embassy in Constantinople and negotiated the peace between Russia and the Sublime Porte with Chichagov , after which he went to Saint Petersburg.

In 1812, Wilson was a member of the Russian headquarters as a military reporter to his government and as a trusted agent for Emperor Alexander, and provided valuable information about Napoleon's Russian campaign , especially about the persecution of the Grande Armée by the Russian. During the campaign of 1813 he was mostly in the Austrian army, in particular he rendered excellent services to the Austrian cavalry in the Battle of Leipzig with his skillful formation. But the British government did not show him the slightest recognition of his services, because he was very frank in criticizing him and advocating the rights of the people.

In January 1816, Wilson's involvement in the rescue of Napoleon's confidante Lavalette , who had been sentenced to death after the second Restoration of the Bourbons, caused a sensation . After Wilson's involvement in his escape was discovered by the police through intercepted letters and he was brought before the French assists with the permission of the Duke of Wellington , he was after their judgment in April 1816 with two other British escape helpers Lavalettes, Captain John Hely-Hutchinson and Michael Bruce, sentenced to three months in prison. When he returned to London in July 1816, he was enthusiastically received by the people and his numerous friends, while a daily order from the English Prince Regent dated May 10th reprimanded his behavior for abuse of the British uniform. In a rather irritable mood, he turned back to writing. The work A sketch of the military and political power of Russia in the year 1817 (London 1817) attracted most attention for its bold assertions and daring judgments.

Wilson now went over to the reformers and volunteered to Venezuela in 1818 to serve under Simón Bolívar , but soon fell out with him and returned home. In 1819 he joined the House of Commons for Southwark , where, acting in the liberal sense, he demonstrated excellent speaking talent. His advocacy of Queen Caroline in her adultery and his demonstrative participation in her funeral resulted in his expulsion from the army in 1821. When the French army entered Spain in 1823 to suppress the constitution , he went to the Iberian Peninsula and served the Cortes . However, he was badly wounded near Coruña and fled to Gibraltar . The monarchs of Austria, Russia and Prussia declared him forfeited of their medals because he had fought for the constitutional party in Spain, for which some public papers in London congratulated him.

Wilson was now again attending the sessions in the House of Commons and always spoke frankly. In 1826 he was re-elected to Parliament for Southwark, but was defeated in the 1831 election because he had spoken out against the Reform Bill. When King William IV ascended the English throne in July 1830, he reinstated Wilson in his previous rank in the army, promoted him to lieutenant general and dated his patent back to May 27, 1825. In 1835 he became holder of the 15th Hussar Regiment, in November 1841 a real general and in October 1842 Governor of Gibraltar , in which post he remained for seven years. Soon after his return he died on May 9, 1849 in London at the age of 71.

Works

  • An historical account of the British Expedition to Egypt , 2 vols., London 1802
  • An inquiry into the present state of the military force of the British Empire , London 1804
  • Account of the campaigns in Poland in 1806 and 1807, with remarks on the character and composition of the Russian army , London 1811
  • A sketch of the military and political power of Russia in the year 1817 , London 1817
  • Narrative of Events During the Invasion of Russia by Napoleon Bonaparte , London 1860 (German Secret History of the Campaign of 1812 in Russia , Leipzig 1861)
  • Private diary of travels, personal services and public events during missions and employments with the European armies in the campaigns of 1812–1814 , ed. by Wilson's nephew H. Randolph, 2 vols., London 1861

literature

Web links

predecessor Office successor
Alexander Woodford Governor of Gibraltar
1842–1848 		Robert William Gardiner
personal data
SURNAME Wilson, Robert Thomas
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British general and politician, Member of the House of Commons
DATE OF BIRTH 17th August 1777
PLACE OF BIRTH London
DATE OF DEATH May 9, 1849
Place of death London