brigade-major during the suppression of the Irish Rebellion, and in 1799 was with the 15th in the Helder expedition. Having in 1800 purchased a majority in a regiment serving in the Mediterranean he was sent on a military mission to Vienna in that year, but returned to take part in the battle of Alexandria. In 1802 he published an account of the expedition to Egypt, which was shortly afterwards translated into French, and created a considerable impression by its strictures upon French officers' barbarity. Wilson shortly afterwards produced a translation of General Regnier's work on the same campaign, with comments. Shortly afterwards Wilson published a work on the defects of the British army system which is remembered as the first protest against flogging. In 1804 he bought the colonelcy of the 19th light dragoons, in 1805 exchanged into the 20th, and in 1806 served with the 20th in the Cape of Good Hope expedition. In 1807 he was employed as military attache of a mission to the king of Prussia, and so was present at Eylau, Heilsberg and Friedland, of which battles he published an account in 1810. Returning to England with dispatches from St Petersburg he reached London before the Russian declaration of war and so gave the admiralty twenty-four hours' start in the operation at sea. In the early part of the Peninsular War Wilson raised and commanded the Lusitanian Legion, an irregular Portuguese corps which did good service in 1808 and 1809 and formed the starting-point of the new Portuguese army organized by Beresford in 1810. His services were rewarded by knighthood, a colonelcy in the British army and the Portuguese order of the Tower and Sword. In 1811, with the rank of brigadier-general, he went to Turkey, and in 1812 he travelled thence to Russia, where he was attached to Kutuzov's headquarters during the pursuit of the retreating French, being present at Malo-Jaroslavietz, Vyazma and Krasnoye. His account of the campaign, published in 1860, is one of the most valuable works on these events. He continued to serve with the Russian army during 1813 and distinguished himself at Lutzen and Bautzen, the emperor Alexander decorating him with the knighthood of the St George order on the battlefield. He was promoted major-general in the British army about the same time. He was at Dresden, Kulm and Leipzig, and distinguished himself at the last great battle so much that Schwarzenberg writing to the British ambassador at Vienna attributed to Wilson's skill a large part in the successful issue of the battle. But his services in the counsels of the Allies were still more important on account of the confidence reposed in him personally by the allied sovereigns. But Castlereagh, treating Wilson as a political opponent, removed him to the minor theatre of Italy, in spite of the protests of the British ambassador. With the Austrian Army of Italy he served through the campaign of 1814. In 1816 after Waterloo he contrived the escape of one of Napoleon's supporters, condemned to death by the Restoration government, and was imprisoned for three months with his comrade in this adventure, Captain Hely-Hutchinson (3rd earl of Donoughmore), and censured by the commander-in-chief in a general order. In 1817 he published The Military and Political Power of Russia, in 1818 he became member of parliament for Southwark and in 1821 he interposed between the mob and the troops on the occasion of Queen Caroline's funeral, for which his political opponents secured his dismissal from the army, without compensation for the price of his commissions. He took an active part in politics on the opposition side, and also spent some time in Spain during the wars of 1822-23. On the accession of William IV., his political services in the formation of the Canning ministry of 1827 were rewarded by reinstatement in the army with the rank of lieutenant-general. But, disapproving of the Reform bill, he resigned his place in the Commons. He was promoted general in 1841 and appointed governor of Gibraltar in 1842. He died in London on the 9th of May 1849.
Besides the works mentioned above, Wilson left a diary of his travels and experiences in 1812-1814, published in 1861, and an incomplete autobiography, published two years later.
WILSON, THOMAS, (c. 1525 -1581), English statesman and critic, the son of Thomas Wilson of Strubby, in Lincolnshire, was born about 1525. He was educated at Eton and King's College, Cambridge, where he joined the school of Hellenists to which Cheke, Thomas Smith, Walter Haddon and others belonged. He graduated B.A. in 1546 and M.A. in 1549. In 1551 he produced, in conjunction with Walter Haddon, a Latin life of Henry and Charles Brandon, dukes of Suffolk. His earliest work of importance was The Rule of Reason, conteinynge the Arte of Logique set forth in Englishe (1551), which was frequently reprinted. It has been maintained that the book on which Wilson's fame mainly rests, The Arte of Rhetorique, was printed about the same time, but this is probably an error: the first edition extant is dated January 1553. It is the earliest systematic work of literary criticism existing in the English language. Wilson threw in his lot with the Dudley family, and when they fell, he fled to the Continent. He was with Sir John Cheke in Padua in 1555-1557, and afterwards at Rome, whither in 1558 Queen Mary wrote, ordering him to return to England to stand his trial as a heretic. He refused to come, but was arrested by the Roman Inquisition and tortured. He escaped, and fled to Ferrara, but in 1560 he was once more in London. Wilson became Master of St Katherine's Hospital in the Tower, and entered parliament in January 1563. In 1570 he published a translation, the first attempted in English, of the Olynthiacs and Philippics of Demosthenes, on which he had been engaged since 1556. His Discourse upon Usury appeared in 1572. From 1574 to 1577, Wilson, who had now become a prominent person in the diplomatic world, was principally engaged on embassies to the Low Countries, and on his return to England he was made a privy councillor and sworn secretary of state; Walsingham was his colleague. In 1580, although he was not in holy orders, Queen Elizabeth made Wilson dean of Durham. He died at St Katherine's Hospital on the 16th of June 1581, and was buried next day, "without charge or pomp," at his express wish. The Arte of Rhetorique gives Wilson a high place among the earliest artificers of English style; and it is interesting to see that he was opposed to pedantry of phrase, and above all to a revival of uncouth medieval forms of speech, and encouraged a simpler manner of prose writing than was generally appreciated in the middle of the 16th century.
WILSON, THOMAS (1663-1755), English bishop, was born at Burton, Cheshire, and educated at Trinity College, Dublin. He was ordained in 1686, and became curate at Newchurch Kenyon, Lancashire. In 1692 he was appointed chaplain to the 9th earl of Derby, who in 1697 offered him the bishopric of Sodor and Man. He was consecrated bishop in 1698. His episcopate was marked by a number of reforms in the Isle of Man. New churches were built, libraries founded and books were printed in Manx, his Principles and Duties of Christianity (London, 1707) being the first book published in that language. He also encouraged farming, and set the example of planting fruit and forest trees. In order to restore discipline in the island he drew up in 1704 his well-known Ecclesiastical Constitutions. The judgments of his courts often brought him into conflict with the governors of the island, and in 1722 he was even imprisoned for a time in Castle Rushen. In 1737, however, the jurisdiction of the civil and spiritual courts was better defined by new statutes, the lordship of the island having passed in 1736 to James Murray, 2nd duke of Atholl, with whom Wilson had no personal difficulties. In 1749 on Zinzendorf's invitation he accepted the title of Antistes—a synonym for bishop—in the Moravian Church.
A life of Wilson, by John Keble, was published with his Works (Oxford, 1847-1863). The Sodor and Man Theological School in the Isle of Man is called in his memory the Bishop Wilson School.
WILSON, SIR WILLIAM JAMES ERASMUS, generally known as Sir Erasmus Wilson (1809-1884), British surgeon and philanthropist, was born in London on the 25th of November 1809, studied at St Bartholomew's Hospital in London, and at Aberdeen, and early in life became known as a skilful operator and dissector. It was his sympathy with the poor of London and a suggestion from Thomas Wakley of the Lancet, of which Wilson acted for a time as sub-editor, which first led him to take
