Tony Wilson (General)

Sir Mathew John Anthony (Tony) Wilson, 6th Baronet ( October 2, 1935 - December 6, 2019 in Woodstock , Vermont ) was a British general staff officer.

Military career

Educated at the Military Elite Academy in Sandhurst ( Royal Military Academy Sandhurst ) joined Wilson one of his twenty-first birthday, October 2, 1956 in the King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry (KOYLI) and the fourth consecutive generation already represented so his family who served in this regiment.

During the next several years Wilson took an active part in combat operations in Aden , Borneo , Malaya and Cyprus, and Northern Ireland .

In 1967 he was promoted to major and in January 1971 he was accepted as a Member (MBE) in the Order of the British Empire (Military Division). Shortly afterwards, in May 1972, he received the Military Cross , the third highest British military medal, for exemplary fulfillment of duties during his service time in Northern Ireland. In 1973 he was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel ( Lieutenant Colonel ) and after repeated missions in Northern Ireland and Hong Kong , he was honored in 1979 as Officer (OBE) of the Order of the British Empire (Military Division).

With the promotion to Colonel ( Colonel ) he was transferred to the General Staff of the Ministry of Defense in London , where he was promoted to Brigadier ( Brigadier General ) on December 31, 1980 and at the same time took over command of the 5th Infantry Brigade , which he also during of the Falklands War .

On December 31, 1982 he resigned from all military offices and left the British Army on January 31, 1983.

Falklands War

Wilson led the 5th Infantry Brigade, a major combat unit of the British Army . The second major formation was the 3rd Commando Brigade of the Royal Marines under the command of Brigadier Julian Thompson. Wilson's unit was responsible for the southern flank of the East Island and advanced there to the capital Stanley , located in the far east of the island . At first, Wilson was lucky because he was able to bridge a great distance within a few days with a daring maneuver shortly after his arrival on the islands, the so-called "bold move" and thus secure large stretches of land for the British. During the further advance, however, at noon on June 8, 1982, a momentous Argentine air raid occurred on two British dropships that were anchored in Port Pleasant (sometimes called Fitzroy or Bluff Cove ). 46 British soldiers and three Asian crew members were killed and 115 men suffered severe burns. It was the worst single event on the British side in this war. At the time of the attack, there were also several TV teams on site, so that the British were able to follow this event in front of their TVs at home in color and live - while the British government and military leadership were otherwise very keen on it throughout the entire course of the war, so Having to give as little information as possible to the public.

Wilson and his 5th Infantry Brigade are not only remembered for this incident.

Wilson went down in the history of the Falklands War also because he was the only high-ranking officer on the British side who received no honors, neither medals nor titles, after the end of the fighting, while all other British staff and general staff officers involved in the Falklands War were considered here.

On December 31, 1982, the general resigned from all military posts.

After 1982

From 1983 to 1985 Wilson was the managing director of the British "Wilderness Foundation United Kingdom", a non-profit organization that offers seminar participants the opportunity to experience nature and wilderness stays.

Mathew John Anthony Wilson emigrated to the USA with his wife Janet Mary, nee Mowll, shortly after the Falklands War and lived - largely withdrawn from the public - in the US states of Florida and Vermont . The Wilson couple, who married on December 1, 1962, had two children, the son Matthew Edward Amcotts Wilson, born on October 13, 1966, and the daughter Victoria Mary Wilson Roskill, born on August 31, 1968. From the marriages of the children three grandchildren were born so far.

At the death of his uncle Sir Mathew Martin Wilson, 5th Baronet, on March 20, 1991, he inherited the nobility title of 6th Baronet , of Eshton Hall in the County of, created in 1874 in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom for his great-great-great-grandfather York .

From 1995 there was an entry in the commercial register of the Florida-based "Dolphin Voyaging Inc.", which led him as President and Chief Executive Officer. The company was dissolved at the end of 2008.

Wilson's son last served as a captain in the 1st Battalion of the Light Infantry of the British Army and received the award " Mentioned in Despatches " in May 1993 for his Northern Ireland mission .

The daughter works as a lawyer in London.

He died in the United States on December 6, 2019.

literature

There are no publications published by Wilson himself about his military service. He has published the following publications on the topics of travel and sailing:

• Taking Terrapin Home A Love Affair with a Small Catamaran , 1994, ISBN 978-0-93983-724-3
• The Bahamas Cruising Guide with the Turks and Caicos Islands , 1997, ISBN 978-0-97220-264-0
• The Land of War Elephants Travels Beyond the Pale Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India , 2003, ISBN 978-0-96592-589-1
• Seeking Havens Travels Along a Line of Latitude 17 Degrees South in Andean Peru, Bolivia, and the South Pacific , 2006, ISBN 978-1-42597-776-4

His period of service during the Falklands War has so far only been described in a military-historical publication:

• The lonesome commander , Martin Mahle, 2012, ISBN 978-3-86991-664-4 (English original title: The lonesome Commander , Martin Mahle, 2012, ISBN 978-3-86991-663-7 ).

Web links

• Biography 6th Baronet of Eshton Hall: [1]
• Imperial War Museum, London, Photos: [2]
• Craven Herald & Pioneer newspaper online article of May 10, 2008: [3]

References and individual references

1. ↑ Sir Mathew John Anthony Wilson, 6th Bt. On thepeerage.com , accessed September 18, 2016.
2. ↑ London Gazette, February 22, 1957
3. ^ 5th Infantry Brigade in the Falklands War, page 6, Nick van der Bijl and David Aldea, 2002, ISBN 978-0-85052-948-7
4. ↑ London Gazette, December 31, 1970
5. ↑ London Gazette, May 22, 1972
6. ↑ London Gazette, June 25, 1979
7. ↑ London Gazette, January 26, 1981
8. ↑ London Gazette, March 14, 1983
9. ↑ The Falklands War: The Bluff Cove Disaster, Robert S. Bolia, MILITARY REVIEW, Nov-Dec 2004 ( Memento of the original from March 16, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 275 kB) 
10. ^ The Official History of the Falklands Campaign, Volume II, p. 607, Sir Lawrence Freedman, 2005, ISBN 978-0-41541-911-6
11. ^ Online article by the MercoPress news agency on November 19, 2003
12. ↑ ^{a b} 5th Infantry Brigade in the Falklands War, Nick van der Bijl and David Aldea, 2002, ISBN 978-0-85052-948-7
13. ↑ With the Gurkhas in the Falklands A War Journal, Mike Seear, 2002, ISBN 978-0-85052-916-6
14. ↑ The Commander Left Alone, Martin Mahle, 2012, ISBN 978-3-86991-664-4
15. ↑ Wilderness Foundation United Kingdom
16. ↑ Person sheet Janet Mary Mowll
17. ↑ Baronetage: WILSON of Eshton Hall, York in Leigh Rayment's Peerage
18. ^ Dolphin Voyaging Inc.
19. ↑ London Gazette, May 10, 1993
20. ^ British business directory
21. ↑ Obituary accessed on March 25, 2020

predecessor	title	successor
Mathew Wilson	Baronet, of Eshton Hall 1991 – present	current title holder