Robert Gerald Aldin Wilson was born in 1889, the elder child of Robert Alexander Wilson (1856-1922) and Ellen Julia Wilson née Aldin (1867-1958). His birth was registered in the 2nd quarter of 1889 in the Wandsworth Registration District, London. On 16 June 1889 he was baptised at Holy Trinity Church, Clapham, London, where in the baptismal register his family are shown to be living at 23 Grafton Square, Clapham and that his father was a surveyor.
In the 1891 census he is shown as Robert A. Wilson, aged one year and living at 23 Grafton Square, Clapham with his parents, together with a female companion and a housemaid. His father was still listed as a surveyor.
His younger brother, Douglas Charles Wilson (1894-1915), was serving as a Private in the 2nd Battalion, East Surrey Regiment when, aged 21 years, on 25 April 1915 he was reported missing, presumed dead and is commemorated on panel 34 of the Menin Gate Memorial to the Missing, Ypres (now called Ieper), Belgium.
The London Gazette dated 1 July 1916 shows that on 14 June 1916 he was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the Coldstream Guards. He was serving in the 1st Battalion of his regiment when, aged 27 years, he was killed at about 11am on 13 March 1917 in St Pierre Wood on the Albert to Bapaume Road, France, by a sniper. His body was buried in Plot 1, Row D, Grave 16 in the Guards Cemetery, 15 Rue André Briffeuil, 80360 Combles, France.
His army effects totalling £49-13s-6d were sent to father on 8 September 1917 and he was posthumously awarded the British War Medal 1914-1918 and the Victory Medal and these were sent on 21 February 1922 to his father at 75 Kirkstall Road, Streatham Hill, London, SW2.
He is shown as R·G·A·WILSON on the Manor House School war memorial at Holy Trinity Church, Rookery Road, Clapham Common, London, SW4. He is also commemorated on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission's website, on the Imperial War Museum's Lives of the First World War website, on the A Street Near You website, on the London WW1 Memorial website, on the Canadian Virtual War Memorial website and on the Royal British Legion's Everyone Remembered website.
Credit for this entry to: Andrew Behan.
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