<Harry Slater Wilson was the son of Harry Wilson and his wife Amelia, born 26 November 1788 and baptised at the church of St. Luke, Old Street, Finsbury, London, 16 January 1789. His father, Harry Wilson, was described in the baptism register as a gentleman. He and Amelia Bennett had been married at St. Anne's Soho, 30 May 1786. Although erroneously described in some chess sources as a Captain, Harry Slater Wilson was, in fact, a Lieutenant in the Royal Navy. His home for many years was at Carisbrooke, Isle of Wight. A veteran chess player of considerable strength, he was a staunch ally of Staunton and had known him since at least as early as 1838, when the Westminster Club met at Spring Gardens. A sailor who had lived through the Napoleonic era, he often displays a jovial sense of humour and a fiercely patriotic attitude toward the French. Aside from chess, another of his leisure pursuits was archery. In 1835 the Parish of Carisbrooke issued the extraordinary challenge to all England, the metropolis excepted, to play 21 games of chess and shoot 500 arrows, at 80 yards, for a stake not to exceed 50 guineas. When he died intestate in 1850, his estate was administered, but a note in the death duty register indicated that it was found to be insolvent - in the best tradition of prominent chess players of the nineteenth century.>

This game is from Harding's EVCP, p326, who sources it from <Bell's Life 1843-06-25>

<

[Event "casual"]
[Site "London ENG"]
[Date "1843.??.??"]
[EventDate "1843.??.??"]
[Round "-"]
[White "Wilson, Harry"]
[Black "Evans, William Davies"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C53"]
[Source "Harding EVCP p343 // Bell's Life 1843-06-25"]

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.c3 Bb6 5.d4 d6 6.Be3 Bg4 7.O-O Nf6 8.d5 Ne7 9.Nbd2 O-O 10.Be2 h6 11.Nh4 Bd7 12.Bxb6 axb6 13.f4 Nh7 14.fxe5 dxe5 15.Ndf3 f6 16.d6 cxd6 17.Qxd6 g5 18.Bc4+ Kg7 19.Nxe5 fxe5 20. Rxf8 Qxf8 21.Qxd7 gxh4 22.Rf1 Nf6 23.Qxb7 Rb8 24.Qa7 Qd8 25.Bb3 Qd6 26.Kh1 Rd8 27.h3 Rd7 28.Qa8 Rd8 29.Qa7 Qc5 0-1

>

I do have a question; Harding has a few "?" annotations in the game notation. Are they his, or did he copy them from <Bell's Life>?

* * * * *

Aside - they was a trivial typo I fixed, which wasn't even worth noting with a <SourceNote>.

Harding did add this comment at the end of the game:

<Mr. Wilson attacks too wildly in this game, reasonable to expect success against a steady opponent>