British field marshal, commander in chief in the Middle East (February–December 1943), and supreme Allied commander in the Mediterranean (December 1943–November 1944), popularly known as “Jumbo” because of his great height and bulk.

In 1939 Wilson was placed in command of British troops in Egypt. With General Archibald Percival (afterward 1st Earl) Wavell and General Richard Nugent O'Connor, he routed the Italian army in Cyrenaica (Barqah, Libya) in the winter of 1940–41. He led an unsuccessful expedition to Greece in March 1941 and also led the force of British Commonwealth and Free French troops that took Syria from the Vichy French that summer. After the Italian armistice of Sept. 8, 1943, Wilson seized the Italian-controlled Dodecanese (Dhodhekánisos) Islands, but without adequate reinforcements he soon lost them to the Germans. As supreme commander in the Mediterranean, succeeding General Dwight D. Eisenhower, he maintained excellent relations between British and U.S. forces. From 1945 to 1947 he headed the British joint staff mission in Washington, D.C.