[3rd Bart.]. English admiral, born at Swaffham, Norfolk, on the 4th of March 1842, the son of Rear-Adml. George Knyvet Wilson. He entered the navy in 1855, and served in the naval operations of the Crimean War and the Chinese campaign of 1857–58. In 1876 he was appointed to the “Vernon,” the torpedo school-ship at Portsmouth. Having reached the rank of captain in 1880, he took part in 1881 in the operations against Alexandria and in 1884 won the Victoria Cross for bravery at El Teb. He became rear-admiral in 1895, was appointed Third Sea Lord and Controller of the Navy in 1897, and in 1901 became Vice-Admiral, receiving the K.C.B. in 1902. From 1901 to 1903 he commanded the Channel Squadron, and from 1903 to 1907 was Commander-in-chief of the Home and Channel Fleets. In 1907 he was promoted by Order in Council to the rank of Admiral of the Fleet, and in 1909 was appointed First Sea Lord in succession to Lord Fisher. He retired in 1912, and received the Order of Merit. He died at Swaffham on the 25th of May 1921.
Wilson was from the early ’nineties till practically the end of his life the most universally respected figure in the British navy. Himself the most unassuming man, careless of honours (he refused a peerage) and indeed of his personal appearance, he was a scientific sailor of the highest type, and a recognized master of strategy and tactics, whose advice, in and out of office, carried the greatest weight. He had no party, no favourites, and did not advertise. He was a silent man, whom everyone trusted; and during the World War he was still a power behind the Admiralty, and the ungrudging servant of his country.
