Frank O'Brien Wilson

Sir Frank Wilson

Personal information
Full name	Frank O'Brien Wilson
Born	30 April 1883 Biarritz, France
Died	7 April 1962 (aged 78) Ulu, Kenya
Nickname	F. O'B.
Role	All-rounder
Domestic team information
Years	Team
1905	Europeans
1909	Devon (minor counties matches)
Career statistics
Competition FC Matches 1 Runs scored 9 Batting average 4.50 100s/50s 0/0 Top score 8 Balls bowled 192 Wickets 0 Bowling average n/a 5 wickets in innings 0 10 wickets in match 0 Best bowling 0/24 Catches/stumpings 0/–
Source: CricketArchive, 27 November 2014

Captain Sir Frank O'Brien Wilson CMG DSO JP (9 April 1876 – 19 March 1964) was a retired Royal Navy officer who settled in the Colony of Kenya. A volunteer in the East African Campaign of World War I, Wilson had a large property near Machakos, where he initially farmed ostriches, and later raised cattle. A pioneer of cricket in Kenya, he had earlier played minor counties cricket for Devon and Template:Cric FC cricket for a Europeans side in the annual Bombay Presidency Match.

Wilson was born at Biarritz, France, and raised at Cliffe Hall, his father's property on the southern bank of the River Tees (lying west of Darlington, County Durham, in what is now the district of Richmondshire, North Yorkshire). His father, Col. John Gerald Wilson CB, was an officer in the York and Lancaster Regiment, and died of wounds during the Boer War, at Tweebosch. Frank Wilson was one of seven children, and the youngest of four brothers. The oldest brother, Lt. Richard Bassett Wilson, was also killed in the Boer War, at Rustenburg. The second brother, Lt.-Col. Sir Murrough John Wilson, was a Conservative MP for Richmond, while the third brother, Lt.-Col. Denis Daly Wilson MC, was killed in action in France during the First World War. A grandson of Denis Wilson was James Ramsden, a Cabinet member as the final Secretary of State for War. Unlike his brothers, Frank Wilson enlisted in the Royal Navy, where he served from 1897 to 1910, including on the China station.

While in India in February 1906, Wilson played his only match of first-class cricket, appearing for the Europeans against the Hindus in the Bombay Presidency Match. He opened the Europeans' bowling in that game, but failed to take a wicket, and was also unsuccessful with the bat, scoring only nine runs across two innings. Later in the month, he also appeared for the Bombay Gymkhana against the touring Ceylonese side, where he opened both the batting and the bowling, taking six wickets for the match. During the 1909 English season, Wilson appeared in five minor counties matches for Devon. He opened the batting in all five matches, and also bowled occasionally, taking a five-wicket haul, 5/6, in his last minor counties match, against Carmarthenshire. Wilson had previously turned out for the Royal Navy Cricket Club on three occasions – against the MCC in 1906, and against the Army team in 1908 and 1909. He had recorded a five-wicket haul in the game against the MCC, 5/38, despite being the seventh bowler brought on to bowl. All of his matches for the Navy were played at Lord's.

Upon retiring from the navy in 1910, Wilson, in partnership with Maj. Frank Joyce, established a property of 23,000 acres (93 km²) at Ulu, Kenya (near Machakos), where they initially farmed ostriches. On the outbreak of the First World War, he established a unit of volunteers, Wilson's Scouts, which was incorporated into the East African Mounted Rifles and saw service in the East African Campaign. Wilson was later attached to a South African division, where he oversaw military transport along the Rufiji River, in present-day Tanzania. He was awarded the DSO for his service during the war, with his partner, Joyce, receiving the MC. When the pair returned to their property, Kilima Kiu, many of their ostriches had been killed, and they turned to dairy farming. Kilima Kiu was at one stage the "largest dairy farm in all East Africa", but Wilson and Joyce divided it between themselves in 1934, after a quarrel. In later years, Wilson's farm held 2,500 cattle and employed over 400 staff, managed largely by his two sons. He also bred Arabian horses. Under a policy of self-containment, the property had its own factory, pasteurisation facilities, cannery, school, and airstrip. Wilson was also involved in public life in Kenya, briefly representing Ukamba in the colony's legislative council, and later chairing the Board of Agriculture, for which he was made CMG in 1935 and knighted in 1949. He remained a keen cricketer, and was a pioneer of the sport in Kenya, serving as vice-president of the Kenya Kongonis Cricket Club. Wilson had married Elizabeth Frances Pease, a daughter of Sir Arthur Pease, 1st Baronet, in 1919, with whom he had four children. He died at Kilima Kiu in 1964. He and Frank Joyce both feature in the memoirs of Elspeth Huxley.