Theodore Percival Cameron Wilson (April 25, 1888 - March 23, 1918), was an English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 poet and novelist of World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

, best known for his poem Magpies in Picardy.

Wilson was born in Paignton

Paignton

Paignton is a coastal town in Devon in England. Together with Torquay and Brixham it forms the unitary authority of Torbay which was created in 1998. The Torbay area is a holiday destination known as the English Riviera. Paignton's population in the United Kingdom Census of 2001 was 48,251. It has...

, Devon

Devon

Devon is a large county in southwestern England. The county is sometimes referred to as Devonshire, although the term is rarely used inside the county itself as the county has never been officially "shired", it often indicates a traditional or historical context.The county shares borders with...

, one of the six children of a vicar and a grandson of the novelist Thomas Percival Wilson, also a clergyman. The youngest brother, became a successful actor, and one sister, Marjorie, was a published poet.

Wilson preferred to be known as "Jim" rather than by any of his given forenames. He went to Oxford

University of Oxford

The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...

 in 1907 as a non-collegiate student, and left without a degree in about 1910 to become a teacher at a preparatory school

Preparatory school (UK)

In English language usage in the former British Empire, the present-day Commonwealth, a preparatory school is an independent school preparing children up to the age of eleven or thirteen for entry into fee-paying, secondary independent schools, some of which are known as public schools...

. His first novel, The Friendly Enemy, was published in 1913. Before the First World War

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

 broke out, he spent much of his leisure time at the Poetry Bookshop in London, where he got to know Harold Monro

Harold Monro

Harold Edward Monro was a British poet, the proprietor of the Poetry Bookshop in London which helped many famous poets bring their work before the public....

.

In August 1914 he joined the armed forces, and the following year he obtained a commission in the Sherwood Foresters

Sherwood Foresters

The Sherwood Foresters was formed during the Childers Reforms in 1881 from the amalgamation of the 45th Regiment of Foot and the 95th Regiment of Foot...

. He reached the Western Front in February 1916. Having gained promotion to the rank of captain, he was killed at Hermies

Hermies

Hermies is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region of France.-Geography:Hermies is a farming village situated southeast of Arras, at the junction of the D5 and the D19 roads.-Population:-References:*...

in France two years later, and his collected poems were published by Monro in 1919.

Further reading

• T P Cameron Wilson by Merryn Williams (Cecil Woolf, 2006)