Canadian Army Veterinary Corps
Robert Harold WILSON
Lieutenant
Died 21 October 1917 · Aged 35
Record note: Birth-date note: the supplied facts give 22 January 1882, while the supplied biography gives 11 January 1882. The original birth or service record needs to be checked before choosing a day. Cause-of-death note: the reproduced Canadian record contains the classification ‘Corrosive Sublimate Mercury Poisoning, Suicide’. The biography also describes a later change of the inquest verdict to accidental death. A separate original inquest or contemporary report is needed to document that later revision.
His story
Lieutenant Robert Harold Wilson was born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on 11 January 1882. He graduated from the Ontario Veterinary College. Wilson was a veteran of the South African War.
Robert Wilson was originally sent overseas as a private with the 109th Brigade, which left Canada for England on 10 October 1916, but transferred to the Canadian Veterinary Corps and was commissioned as Temporary Lieutenant on 1 September 1917.
Soon after gaining his commission, Lieutenant Wilson was admitted to London General Hospital, where he died on 21 October 1917. The initial inquest into his death determined that Lieutenant Wilson committed suicide by taking mercury. This verdict was later changed to accidental death when it was found that Wilson had taken mercury as a stimulant to continue work when he came down sick. Unfortunately, he took an overdose of the stimulant and died as a result.
Lieutenant Wilson’s body was transported back to Canada, where he was given a military funeral. He is buried in Toronto Mount Pleasant Cemetery.
Photographs and documents
Before the war
- Nationality
- Canadian
- Date of Birth
- 22 January 1882
- Place of Birth
- Toronto, Ontario, Canada
- Veterinary College and Date of Graduation
- Ontario Veterinary College
Military service
- Last Rank
- Lieutenant
- Regiment/Service
- Canadian Army Veterinary Corps
- First Theatre of War
- France 1917
Medals and commemoration
- Name on RCVS Honour Board
- No
- Name In Officers who died in Great War
- No
- Medals and Awards
- British War Medal 1914-1918; Victory Medal
Death and burial
- Date of Death
- 21 October 1917
- Age at Death
- 35
- Place of Death
- London, England
- Cause of Death
- Mercury poisoning
- Cemetery
- Toronto Mount Pleasant Cemetery
- Location
- Toronto, Canada
- Grave Reference
- 12-8-20
- Commonwealth War Grave
- Yes - Private Headstone
Sources and further reading
Cite this biography
Graham Hodgkins and Pete Matthews, “Robert Harold Wilson”, Veterinary Virtual War Memorial, https://vetsremembered.org/people/robert_harold_wilson/.
Contribute information
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