Sir Archdale Wilson

Sir Archdale Wilson, 1st Baronet, was a British artillery officer in the East India Company's Bengal army and the general who commanded the force that retook Delhi from the rebels in September 1857. He was born on 3 August 1803 and died on 9 May 1874. He was the fifth son of a clergyman (Wikipedia says the fifth of thirteen sons). After the East India Company's military college at Addiscombe, he was commissioned second lieutenant in the Bengal Artillery on 10 April 1819, at the age of fifteen, and reached India that September. He served at the siege of Bharatpur in December 1825 and January 1826 (Dictionary of National Biography) and in the Second Sikh War (Wikipedia). Wikipedia says he was commissioned at eighteen, which does not fit these dates.

Key moments

• 10 May 1857: he is Brigadier Commandant of the Bengal Artillery at Meerut when the revolt begins there. He is later criticised for inactivity, which let most of the rebels reach Delhi. He leaves Meerut on 27 May, wins an action against the rebels on 30 May and joins Barnard's force at Alipur (Wikipedia; Lord Roberts's memoir).
• June 1857: reinforcements from the Punjab reach the Ridge. The Corps of Guides arrives on 9 June, and on 23 June the headquarters of the 4th Sikhs, about 850 men, with Punjab cavalry (Roberts).
• 17 July 1857: he takes command of the Delhi Field Force after Barnard's death, chosen over three senior officers, and is made major-general. The Dictionary of National Biography adds that Sir Thomas Reed had briefly held the command and resigned.
• September 1857: he holds the Ridge with about 7,000 men against a rebel garrison of some 30,000, in poor health. The siege train arrives from the Punjab on 4 September. John Nicholson, who has won at Najafgarh, and Punjab infantry regiments are in the attacking force (Dictionary of National Biography, Roberts).
• 14 September 1857: the assault goes in and the troops enter the city. Lord Roberts writes that Wilson, anxious and depressed after discouraging reports that afternoon, thought of falling back to the Ridge, that Nicholson, told of the idea, said in effect that he would shoot Wilson if it came to that, and that Baird Smith settled the matter by telling him they must hold on. Wilson gave up the idea.
• 20 September 1857: Delhi is fully taken after six days of street fighting. The Dictionary of National Biography gives 20 September, and some accounts give 21 September.
• 1857 to 1874: made KCB in November 1857 and a baronet in January 1858, given the thanks of Parliament and the Company and a pension of 1,000 pounds a year. He commands the artillery at Lucknow in 1858, goes on furlough that year and never returns to India. He is made GCB in 1867 and lieutenant-general in 1868.

What he is remembered for. Delhi was the rebels' capital, and its fall broke the centre of the uprising. The Dictionary of National Biography records that his leadership was debated: critics saw hesitation and nervousness, defenders pointed to his small force and said he relied on strong subordinates such as Baird Smith and Nicholson. For Punjab, the siege showed how quickly a province annexed in 1849 became the Raj's supply base and recruiting ground.