Rediscovered after 150 years, the life story of Major General Richard G B Wilson has never been published until now. Pursued by Danger is the vivid account of one soldier’s survival in his own words.
From Napoleon to the Victorian era, Wilson’s reminiscences reveal the action, danger, rivalries, and hard-won rewards of being an army officer in Britain’s Royal Artillery. The recently graduated lieutenant was rushed to the war-torn Low Countries, where he joined the now-famous Rogers’ Battery. Having led his gunners through the losses of Quatre-Bras to victory at Waterloo, near-death experiences followed him for the rest of his career.
His army postings took him to the Mediterranean, the Caribbean and beyond, where he faced down perils from rioters to epidemics and pirates. Even at the end of his military service, where he supervised experiments on new weapons, he narrowly escaped the explosion that claimed the lives of his men.
Wilson rewards the modern reader with his delight in the natural world and now-extinct regional customs, but he shocks with the difficulty involved in journeying and clinging to life.
Richard G B Wilson (1793–1876) was an army officer in Britain’s Royal Artillery from 1813 to 1855. He studied and was commissioned at RMA Woolwich in London.
Aged 20, he was posted to the Netherlands and saw active service in the Napoleonic Wars. After some skirmishes, Wilson led his artillerymen into battle at Quatre-Bras and Waterloo. General Picton died next to Wilson’s gun.
After 41 years of international postings, he retired as superintendent of experiments, a weapons research specialist.