| Olympic medal record | ||
|---|---|---|
| Men's Polo | ||
 | 1908 London | Team competition |
Herbert Haydon Wilson, DSO (14 February 1875 – 11 April 1917) was a British officer and polo player who competed in the 1908 Summer Olympics. [1] [2]
| Olympic medal record | ||
|---|---|---|
| Men's Polo | ||
| 1908 London | Team competition |
Herbert Haydon Wilson, DSO (14 February 1875 – 11 April 1917) was a British officer and polo player who competed in the 1908 Summer Olympics. [1] [2]
Wilson was the youngest son of Sir Samuel Wilson, of Victoria, Australia.
He was commissioned a Lieutenant in the Sherwood Rangers (Nottinghamshire Yeomanry) on 25 December 1895. Following the outbreak of the Second Boer War in late 1899, Wilson volunteered to serve in South Africa, and was in February 1900 appointed a lieutenant of the Imperial Yeomanry, [3] [4] where he served with the 3rd Battalion from 1900 to 1901 (twice Mentioned in Despatches). In March 1901 he was appointed a Companion of the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) for gallantry in defence of posts in the Boer attack on Lichtenburg. [5] Promoted to a captain, he relinquished his commission with the 3rd Battalion on 18 July 1901, and was granted the honorary rank of captain in the Army. [6] He received the substantive rank of captain in the Sherwood Rangers on 20 December 1902. [7]
In the 1908 Olympics, he was a member of the British polo team Roehampton, which won the gold medal.
In 1911 he was an investor in J.M.P.F.W. Ltd. the company behind the Parker expedition to Jerusalem who were looking for the Ark of the Covenant. His brothers Clarence Wilson and Gordon Chesney Wilson both went on the expedition. [8]
Wilson was killed in action aged 42 during the First World War, serving as a captain with the Royal Horse Guards near Arras in the Second Battle of Arras. He was killed on the 11th April 1917 near the village of Monchy-le-Preux. Four regiments of the 3rd Cavalry Division were sent forward to exploit an anticipated breakthrough. They were the Royal Horse Guards, the 10th Hussars and the Essex Yeomanry. They rode through a snowstorm to the frontline north of the village. There they were met by deadly machine-gun fire and shelling and dismounted to create a defensive line. The cavalrymen took cover but had to tether their horses where they fought. Six hundred cavalrymen and many more horses became casualties. It was in this action that Herbert Wilson died, defending the small village against a German counter-attack. He was buried in the Faubourg D'Amiens Cemetery nearby. [9] [10] [8]
Lieutenant-Colonel Sir John Gilmour, 2nd Baronet was a Scottish Unionist politician. He notably served as Home Secretary from 1932 to 1935.
Brigadier-General Paul Aloysius Kenna, VC, DSO was an English-born British Army officer of Irish descent and recipient of the Victoria Cross (VC), the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that could be awarded to British and British Empire forces. He also competed at the 1912 Summer Olympics.
Brigadier-General Francis Aylmer Maxwell, was a British Army officer in the Second Boer War and First World War. He was also a recipient of the Victoria Cross (VC), the highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.
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Charles Compton William Cavendish, 3rd Baron Chesham,, styled The Honourable Charles Cavendish between 1863 and 1882, was a British soldier, courtier and Conservative politician. He served as the last Master of the Buckhounds under Lord Salisbury from 1900 to 1901.
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Lady Sarah Wilson DStJ RRC became one of the first woman war correspondents in 1899, when she was recruited by Alfred Harmsworth to cover the Siege of Mafeking for the Daily Mail during the Second Boer War.
Major-General Hubert Ion Wetherall Hamilton, was a senior British Army officer who served with distinction throughout his career, seeing battle in the Mahdist War in Egypt and the Second Boer War in South Africa, before being given command of the 3rd Division at the outbreak of the First World War. Just two and a half months later, at the height of the Race for the Sea, Hamilton was killed by artillery fire while surveying the front line, the first British divisional commander to be killed in action during the conflict. He had received several honours for his service and was popular amongst his men, who nicknamed him "Hammy" and expressed sorrow at his death; each regiment in his division despatched representatives to his funeral, despite being involved in heavy fighting less than a mile away.
The Montgomeryshire Yeomanry was a Welsh auxiliary unit of the British Army first formed in 1803. It served in home defence and for internal security, including deployments to deal with Chartist disturbances in the 1830s. It provided volunteers to the Imperial Yeomanry during the Second Boer War and formed three regiments for service during World War I. It was broken up and converted to infantry and artillery in 1920.
Lieutenant General Sir Charles Toler MacMorrough Kavanagh, was a British Army officer who commanded the Cavalry Corps during the First World War, most notably at the Battle of Amiens in 1918.
Brigadier-General Cyril Rodney Harbord, was a cavalry officer in the British Indian Army, where he served in the 30th Lancers.
Major-General Sir Reginald Walter Ralph Barnes was a cavalry officer in the British Army. He served in several regiments, and commanded a battalion of the Imperial Yeomanry, the 10th Royal Hussars, the 111th Brigade, and three divisions.
Brigadier-General Sir Charles Loftus Bates was a British Army officer who served in the Second Boer War and the First World War. He was a cavalry officer in the 1st (King's) Dragoon Guards and the commanding officer (CO) of the Northumberland Hussars, part of the Yeomanry reserve.
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Brigadier-General Herbert Cecil Potter, was a senior British military officer, 'Military Chief' of Belfast and Colonel Commandant of the 3rd Indian Infantry Brigade, Peshawar. A catalogue of Potter's papers described him as a 'quintessential member of the British officer class'.
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Lieutenant-Colonel Gordon Chesney Wilson was a British Army officer and husband of the war correspondent Lady Sarah Wilson. As an Eton College student he assisted in thwarting Roderick Maclean's assassination attempt on Queen Victoria in 1882, before joining the Royal Horse Guards in 1887. Wilson was promoted quickly, and as a captain was appointed aide-de-camp to Robert Baden-Powell at the start of the Second Boer War, in which role he served through the Siege of Mafeking. He was created a Member of the Royal Victorian Order in 1901.
