Enlisted at Coventry on the 4th of September 1849.
Age 22.
Height: 5' 9".
Trade: Servant.
At Scutari from the 14th of September 1854 and sent to rejoin the regiment on the 3rd of October.
Rode with No. 4 Troop, (T.S.M. O'Hara.) See copy of the Troop muster roll in the 17th Lancer "Scrapbook".
Wilson was Captain William Gordon's servant in the Crimea and was probably with him during the Charge.
Killed in action at Balaclava, 25th October 1854.
Entitled to the Crimean medal with clasps for Balaclava and Sebastopol.
On Sir William's Gordon's death in 1906 he was buried in Borgne Kirkyard (See photograph of his tombstone in the 17th Lancers Officer's Services Records) and Wilson has a memorial stone there also. Wilson's wife was employed at Earlston, the family seat, by Lady Gordon, presumably because of Wilson's service with her son, and it was probably she who put up the stone at Borgue, at least had it placed here by Sir William at her suggestion or instigation.
The Parish records for Borgue show a reference to the marriage of John Wilson of Borgue to Isabella Burnie, also of Borgue, on the 8th of July 1850. Although the date would fit, it is not clear if these two are one and the same people referred to in the previous paragraph.)
The presence of the stone to John Wilson was recorded by the local History Society several years ago as being No 205 in the Borgue Kirkyard, the inscription on it being, "John Wilson, 17th Lancers, belonging to this parish, who fell in the charge of the Light Brigade at Balaclava, 25. 10. 1854.", but a recent search has failed to find any trace of it.