Biography of Tom Wilson

Thomas George Wilson (junior)

Born 16 September 1896 Tom Wilson was something of a “black sheep” of the family and a bit of a daredevil.  He followed his paternal grandfather’s trade of shipwright but joined the Territorial Army at Seaham Harbour in February 1915, serving as a driver with the 3^rd Northumberland (Reserve) Brigade of the Royal Field Artillery (Transport).  Both field guns and their ammunition were horse-drawn throughout the Great War.  After the war he went to sea as a ship’s carpenter, his first ship being the “Rhode Island,” aboard which his father was Chief Engineer.

At some point he “jumped ship” in North America and, much like Robert Louis Stevenson’s “Vagabond,” lived on his wits by “riding the rails” as a “hobo,” taking work when he could.  Tom returned to the U.K. but employment soon became scarce.  The Hartlepools were badly hit by the economic downturn of the 1920s and Thirties.  Tom Wilson was effectively unemployed for seven years.  During these lean times he lived mostly at the family home, taking work as an odd-job man.

He also met with tragedy in his personal life.  Tom married a clergyman’s daughter but both his wife and young child died of pneumonia.  He moved to Scotland circa 1936/7, obtaining work as a “Dockyard Matey” at Rosyth Naval Dockyard.  There, he remarried and gained a stepson.  A hard drinker and a keen golfer, Tom Wilson is remembered for a sharp wit and irreverent sense of humour.

Source: “The Wilsons of Whitby and West Hartlepool,” Vol. 4 by Stuart James Wilson.  See images.  

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