Thomas Henry Wilson was the youngest in a family of seven children. Although he claimed to have born in Kent, England, he was in fact born in Sydney, New South Wales. He later moved to Western Australia where he lived for the last 31 years of his life.
Some of Wilson's early poetry was published in the Bulletin and later in the Kalgoorlie Sun. His verse was often inspired by current affairs. He was possibly influenced in becoming a poet by the example of his uncle Frederick Sydney Wilson (q.v.) who was a journalist and poet.
Wilson joined the AIF in 1915 at age 47, although he stated his age as 39. He served at Gallipoli before returning to Australia in 1916. Several of his later poems were inspired by this period of military service.
Wilson gave conflicting accounts of the details of his life. This is represented by his official war record and is reflected in his obituaries and the author information in his works.
