Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

A scarce and early Great War 1914 ‘First Battle of Ypres’ M.C. group of four awarded to Captain C. B. Wilson, 10th Hussars and Royal Flying Corps, who subsequently served as a pilot with 15 Squadron, and forced one enemy aircraft down spiralling out of control, before being wounded in aerial combat and taken prisoner of war, 19 January 1916

Military Cross, G.V.R., reverse engraved ‘Lieut. C. B. Wilson. X. R.H. Hooge Woods. Nov. 1914’; 1914 Star, with clasp (Lieut: C. B. Wilson. 10/Hrs.); British War and Victory Medals, with M.I.D. oak leaves (Capt. C. B. Wilson. R.A.F.) remnants of lacquer, generally very fine or better (4) £2,000-£2,400

M.C. London Gazette 18 February 1915.

M.I.D. London Gazette 17 February 1915.

Charles Benjamin ‘Percy’ Wilson was born in Manchester in December 1885, and was the eldest son of Colonel H. M. Wilson, O.B.E., T.D. of Barmere, Whitchurch, Shropshire. He was educated Eton, and was commissioned in the 3rd (Militia) Battalion, King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry in May 1903, before gaining a regular commission in the 10th Hussars in 1905. He advanced to Lieutenant, and was posted as ADC to the Governor of Australia in 1911. Wilson transferred to the Reserve of Officers the following year.

Wilson initially re-engaged for service with the Staff during the Great War, and served in the French theatre of war from August 1914. He transferred back to the 10th Hussars when they arrived on the Western Front in October of the same year.

Wilson served with the regiment as part of the 6th Cavalry Brigade, 3rd Cavalry Division, and fought with them in a dismounted role during the First Battle of Ypres, 19 October - 22nd November 1914 (M.C.)

Having volunteered for service with the Royal Flying Corps, Wilson transferred to undertake pilot training at the end of March 1915. He gained his Royal Aero Club Certificate (No. 1835) in a Maurice Farman at Shoreham, 7 September 1915. Wilson was posted as a pilot for operational service with 15 Squadron (BE2c’s) in France at the end of 1915. They were employed as a reconnaissance unit, undertaking artillery spotting and photography of enemy positions.

Wilson was to have a very eventful couple of days on 17 and 19 January 1916. On the former he piloted BE2c 4107, with J. A. Lathean as his Observer, as an escort to a reconnaissance flight between Faust and Houthulst. He drove off a Fokker that attacked the reconnaissance machine, and then exchanged fire with another and chased it down from 9,000 feet. It was last seen spiralling towards the ground. Two days later he was shot down and wounded, with Second Lieutenant W. A. Brooking as his Observer. They were flying escort to another reconnaissance, when they were believed to have been shot down by Oberleutnant Michael Krug (later Generalleutnant in the Second World War). Brooking was killed, whilst Wilson was severely wounded in the pelvis and abdomen. He lost consciousness, however his aircraft miraculously managed to land safely seemingly by itself.

Wilson was taken prisoner of war, and later interned in Holland. He was promoted to Captain whilst still in captivity in May 1917, and was repatriated to the UK in July 1918. Wilson left the armed forces as an Honorary Captain, and resided at Irstead Lodge, Neatishead, Norfolk.

Wilson was appointed High Sheriff of Norfolk in 1942, the same year as his only son Second Lieutenant J. M. H. Wilson, 10th Hussars, was killed in action at the Battle of Sannu in North Africa. He left a Bequest to the Regiment in memory of his only son, and the Charles Benjamin Wilson Bequest still regularly donates funds to this day.

Captain Wilson died at his home in Neatishead, Norfolk in August 1957.

Sold with copied research, including photographic image of recipient in uniform.