Sir Arnold Talbot Wilson
(1884-1940), Soldier, explorer, author and politicianSitter in 10 portraits
Soldier, explorer, author and politician. Served in Persia 1907-14 and surveyed previously unknown territories in the southwest of the country. Returned to Persia, 1918, and was instrumental in establishing an effective civil administration. Elected MP for Hitchen, 1933, Wilson was an outspoken campaigner for improvement in the conditions of the working classes, co-authoring two important books, Industrial Assurance (1937) and Workmen's Compensation (1939-41), which anticipated and influenced the seminal Beveridge report.
by William Rothenstein
sanguine
NPG 6698
by Walter Stoneman
bromide print, 1921
NPG x186208
by Walter Stoneman
negative, 1921
NPG x67264
by Walter Stoneman
bromide print, 1921
NPG x67265
by Howard Coster
half-plate nitrate negative, 1930s
NPG x87322
by Howard Coster
half-plate nitrate negative, 1930s
NPG x87323
by Howard Coster
nitrate negative, 1930s
NPG x87324
by Howard Coster
nitrate negative, 1930s
NPG x87325
by Howard Coster
nitrate negative, 1930s
NPG x87326
by Howard Coster
nitrate negative, 1930s
NPG x87327
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Andy Whysall
05 April 2021, 17:48
Died night of 31/05 - 1/06 1940. Was serving with the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve as a pilot officer/air gunner (aged 56) in 37 Sqdn RAF. His Wellington 1c (L7791)was taking part in a raid, on German positions near Nieuport in Belgium, in support of the evacuation of British forces at Dunkirk, which was just a few miles to the south west of Nieuport. He died when the aircraft crashed (probably shot down by ground fire) near Heuringhem, about 11 miles south of Dunkirk. He and the two pilots were killed. The navigator/bomb-aimer and the other air gunner survived and were captured. Wilson was probably the oldest, and certainly the most decorated member of Bomber Command to die in action in WW2. He was the serving member of Parliament for Hitchin in Hampshire and as such might also have been the only Member of Parliament to die on active service with the RAF. He is buried in Heuringhem churchyard. Photograph of his CWGC headstone at: https://www.ww2cemeteries.com/eringhem-churchyard.html. The older airgunner character of Sir George Corbett in the Powell and Pressburger film 'One of Our Aircraft is Missing' (1942) is based on Arnold Wilson.