Wilson attended Kilwinning Higher Grade School and Irvine Royal Academy and later worked as an accountant in Charing Cross. In September 1915, just over a year after Britain's entry into the First World War, Wilson enlisted in the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders. He transferred to the Black Watch in September 1915 and saw action with the battalion on the Somme. In 1917, Wilson was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Royal Scots Fusiliers and was killed by a sniper in Flanders on 15 December 1917. He is commemorated on the Menin Gate.