Education Wilson was born in
Banbury, Oxfordshire, and educated at
Brighton College, where he played for the college football team in 1876 and 1877, being captain in the latter year. He then went up to
Exeter College, Oxford, where he won
blues for football in 1879, 1880 and 1881.
Football career Wilson was called into the
England team for their first-ever meeting with
Wales. The match was played at the
Kennington Oval on 18 January 1879 in a
blizzard. Due to the atrocious snowfall both captains agreed to play halves of only 30 minutes each. The poor attendance (reports range from 85 to 300) was also attributed to the weather. Some sources suggest that
William Clegg turned up 20 minutes late for the game. Clegg, a
solicitor, was working late on a case (the trial of
Charles Peace, the Banner Cross murderer) and was unable to leave
Sheffield for London on the Friday night. The next morning, the southbound train with Clegg on it, was delayed by heavy snow. The match started without Clegg and England played with ten men until he arrived. Despite this, England won the match by two goals to one, with
Herbert Whitfeld and
Thomas Sorby scoring for England. In
1880, he was part of the
Oxford University team that reached the
FA Cup Final, where they met the previous year's losing finalists,
Clapham Rovers. This was the university's fourth appearance in the Cup Final since the Cup was inaugurated in 1872, and, having "conquered much-fancied Nottingham Forest in the semi-final" were favourites to take the trophy. In the event, the Rovers defence were able to keep the university forwards at bay, and with Wilson and his fellow
full-back Robert King tiring towards the end of the second half, and the prospect of extra time imminent,
Francis Sparks "made a clever run down the wing, crossed to the waiting
Clopton Lloyd-Jones who had the simple task of slotting the ball between the Oxford goalposts to secure a one-goal lead." This was the last appearance in an FA Cup Final for both teams. His second England call-up came for the match against
Scotland on 12 March 1881, in which England went down to a "humiliating" 6–1 defeat, with Scotland's goals including a
hat-trick from
John Smith and two from
George Ker. Wilson also played for the
Old Brightonians and represented
Sussex. He was described by
Charles Alcock in his 1882
"Football Annual" as "a splendid back; strong kick; very fast and active; his unexpected demise, in June, was deeply regretted by all who knew him".
Cricket career Wilson also played cricket at
first-class level. He played in one match for the
University against the Gentlemen of England in June 1881, when he scored 51 in the university's second innings in a drawn match. Immediately after this match, he played for
Surrey against
Gloucestershire. In this match, in which he was the
wicketkeeper, he was dismissed
lbw to
W. G. Grace, who led his team to a victory by 8 wickets. ==Death==