Herbert Haydon Wilson


Herbert Haydon Wilson, DSO was a British officer and polo player who competed in the 1908 Summer Olympics.

Biography

Wilson was the youngest son of Sir Samuel Wilson, of Victoria, Australia.
He was commissioned a Lieutenant in the Sherwood Rangers 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, where he served with the 3rd Battalion from 1900 to 1901. In March 1901 he was appointed a Companion of the Distinguished Service Order for gallantry in defence of posts in the Boer attack on Lichtenburg. 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.
In the 1908 Olympics, he was a member of the British polo team Roehampton, which won the gold medal.
Wilson was killed in action aged 42 during the First World War, serving as a captain with the Royal Horse Guards near Arras. He was buried in the Faubourg D'Amiens Cemetery nearby.