It was an emotional and almost surreal moment for 68-year-old British dentist Robin Dickson as he gently placed a white rosebud and a black-and-white photograph of his great-grandfather Lt. Charles Wilson on his grave at Commonwealth War Graves (CWG) No. 12 in Trimulgherry, Secunderabad Cantonment. The officer died 119 years ago, and for more than a century his descendants have unsuccessfully searched for his final resting place.
Dr. Dickson and his wife, Lynn, traveled to India specifically to pay their respects at the grave of Lt. Wilson, who died on 4 August 1906 and was buried with full military honors at CWG No. 12, maintained by the CSI Wesley Cemetery Board. For generations, Wilson’s grandchildren and great-grandchildren have tried in vain to find the grave.
That all changed 14 months ago when Dr. Dickson came across a newspaper article in The Hindu about the discovery of another long-lost grave – that of an Irish woman’s great-great-uncle – in CWG No. 5 Cemetery, located diagonally across from the cemetery where Lt. Wilson lay. The article prompted him to reach out to the newspaper. After he emailed detailed family records, a search by undertakers and a caretaker led to Lt Wilson’s grave being found in April last year.
Eight months after the discovery of Dr. Dickson planned a three-week tour of India with a deeply personal intention – to follow the same paths his great-grandfather and family once took. After visiting Ooty and Bengaluru — places associated with Wilson’s family history — the couple reached Hyderabad on Thursday, completing a journey of nearly 119 years.
On Friday, Dr. Dickson The Hindu: “Today finally came full circle of 119 years of family history. We were able to honor the life and service of my great-grandfather, Lt. Charles Wilson, in India. It was very important to reunite him with his service medals at his final resting place and to engage the team that worked tirelessly for months.”
Born James Henry Dickson on May 4, 1858, at Waverton, near Chester, England, Lieutenant Wilson served last post with the 15th Mule Company of the Supply and Transport Corps under the Madras Command at Secunderabad. He died at the age of 48 in the station hospital after a short illness.
Lieutenant Charles Wilson
Dr. Dickson carefully compiled the records of his great-grandfather’s life. Wilson was apprenticed to a grocer in Chester from 1873 to 1874, later enlisting in the British Army in 1880 as a private in the 50th Brigade. In 1881 he was transferred to the 2nd Middlesex Regiment. He married Harriet and the couple had four children. After Wilson’s death, the family left India for Birmingham in March 1907.
Before traveling to India, Dr. Dickson thoroughly prepared. “I collected all the documents – photographs, maps, a copy of the death certificate issued by the station hospital in 1906, even the 1907 marriage certificate of Wilson’s daughter Maud, who married Thomas Pardey of Ooty. Every bit helped to complete the picture,” he said.
The British couple visited the grave accompanied by Indian friends Prem Kamath, a former senior official of a multinational company, and his wife Rina Kamath. They also saw All Saints’ Church, where Lt Wilson’s daughter Maud Wilson was married, and Trimulgherry Entrenchment Fort, Secunderabad Military Station and Military Hospital – places closely associated with Lt Wilson’s time in Secunderabad.
“The colonial-era architecture offers a strong sense of what life would have been like for Lt. Wilson and his family,” said Dr. Dickson, adding: “This trip is my tribute not just to him, but to all those who have left the UK to serve in the armed forces around the world.”
Equally moved by the occasion, Mr Kamath said: “Our journey reached a landmark climax today when we were escorted to the grave so that Robin could perform his own modest ceremony in honor of his late great-grandfather, who lies beneath a simple but elegant marble slab erected by his regimental colleagues. It was a truly moving moment for us all.”
“It was a moment of triumph, emotion and connection with the patriarch of his family,” Ms. Kamath said, noting that Robin and Lynn laid a single white rose, a small wooden cross with a red poppy in the center and the original medals worn by Charles Wilson.
Published – 13 Feb 2026 23:31 IST