Arthur Wilson was the youngest of five children of Henry Bainbridge Wilson, a wealthy wool and skin broker from Newcastle-upon-Tyne. From the age of 14 Arthur was educated in Scotland at Glenalmond College near Perth where he played cricket and rugby for the first XI and XV respectively. After Glenalmond he moved to Cornwall to study at the Camborne School of Mines and played for their rugby XV and it was not long before he won the first of his 17 Cornwall caps, including one for the 17-3 win over Durham in the 1908 County Championship final at Redruth. He figured in the Cornwall match against the Australian tourists at Camborne in 1908 and again in the Olympic Games at White City when, yet again, the Wallabies inflicted defeat upon he Duchy.
Wilson won his only England cap in 1909 in the 11-5 win over Ireland at Lansdowne Road, Dublin. It was England’s first win at Lansdowne Road since 1895. After leaving Camborne College as a qualified mining engineer, he moved to the Gold Coast (now Ghana) where he utilised his skills before spending some time as a tea-planter in India. He served with the Royal Fusiliers during World War I but sadly was killed in action during the Third Battle of Ypres in 1917. Because of the nature of his death, there is some uncertainty over the exact date and place of death.
Great Britain