Born the son of Rear Admiral George Knyvet Wilson and Agnes Mary Wilson (née Yonge), Wilson was educated at Eton College before he joined the Royal Navy as a midshipman aboard the second-rate in 1855. He was present at the Battle of Kinburn in October 1855 during the Crimean War. He was transferred to fourth-rate HMS "Raleigh" on the China Station in September 1856 and then, following the loss of the "Raleigh" near Hong Kong, transferred to the second-rate HMS "Calcutta" and saw action in command of a gun in the naval brigade at the Battle of Canton in December 1857 and then at the Battle of Taku Forts in May 1858 during the Second Opium War. He was appointed to the steam frigate HMS "Topaze" on the Pacific Station in September 1859 and was promoted to lieutenant on 11 December 1861. After a tour in the steam frigate HMS "Gladiator", he joined the gunnery school HMS "Excellent" at Portsmouth in April 1865. He became an instructor at the new Imperial Japanese Naval Academy at Yokohama in Japan in May 1867 and then at the new training ship HMS "Britannia" in January 1869.