Charles William Wilson

Sir Charles William Wilson (14 Mar 1836 to 25 Oct 1905^[1]) K.C.B., K.C.M.G., F.R.S., D.C.L., LL.D., M.E. was a British military officer and geographer.

Biography

Charles Wilson was born in Liverpool and was educated at the Liverpool Collegiate Institution and Cheltenham College. He attended the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich and was commissioned as an officer in the Royal Engineers in 1855.^[2]

In 1864, Wilson volunteered to work for the Ordnance Survey of Jerusalem, which produced a topographical map of the city and carried out other surveying related to its water supply. While Wilson was in Palestine, the Palestine Exploration Fund was founded; he was recruited to study the feasibility of a survey of western Palestine and select sites for future exploration. In November 1865, Wilson and his group landed in Beirut and surveyed their way south into Palestine. From January to April 1866, Wilson carried out further survey work in Palestine, noting archaeological and religious sites.

Wilson was appointed to the Ordnance Survey of Scotland and, in 1867, acted as Assistant Commissioner on the Borough Boundary Commission.

In 1867, he became a member of the Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund. In 1868, he volunteered to take part in the Ordnance Survey of Sinai, along with H. S. Palmer. For his work on this, he was awarded the Diploma of the International Geographical Congress in 1871, and in 1872, he was elected to the Council of the Society of British Archaeology. In 1874, he became a Fellow of the Royal Society.

On returning to Britain, he became Director of the Topographical Department at the War Office and Assistant Quartermaster‑General in the Intelligence Department. In 1876, he received a C.B. for the organisation of the Department. He then headed the Ordnance Survey of Ireland and also served on the Royal Commission for the Registration of Deeds and Insurances for Ireland in 1878. He was appointed British Commissioner on the Serbian Boundary Commission later that year.

From 1879 to 1882, he served as Consul‑General in Anatolia. In the summer of 1882, he took part in Sir Garnet Wolseley's expedition to Egypt to suppress the rebellion of Colonel Arabi. In 1884, Wilson was Chief of the Intelligence Department on Wolseley's expedition to relieve Gordon at Khartoum.

On his return to Britain, Wilson was appointed Director of the Ordnance Survey in Ireland and was Director‑General of the Ordnance Survey from 1886 to 1894. From 1895 until his retirement in 1898, he was Director‑General of Military Education. He served as chairman of the Palestine Exploration Fund from 1901 to 1906.

References

1. ^ http://www.jstor.org/pss/1776079?cookieSet=1
2. ^ Biography on the website http://www.royalengineers.ca/

3. The Life Of Major-General Sir Charles William Wilson, Royal Engineers, K.C.B., K.C.M.G., F.R.S., D.C.L., LL.D., M.E., by Colonel Sir Charles M. Watson, K.C.M.G., C.B., M.A., Late Royal Engineers with Portrait, Maps And Illustrations, published by John Murray, Albemarle Street, W., London, 1909.

External links

• Wilson and the Palestine Exploration Fund
• Wilson's obituary

Persondata
Name	Wilson, Charles William
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1836
Place of birth
Date of death	1905
Place of death