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Administrative / biographical background
Wilds was born at Deal in Kent in 1823 and was aged fourteen on joining the Navy. He was a powder monkey on HMS EDINBURGH (1811) at the bombardment of Acre in 1840. In the period 1845-1846 he served on the west coast of Africa, first on the paddle sloop HMS HECATE (1839) in suppression of the slave trade, then on the survey ship HMS AVON (1837). He was responsible for navigating the prize brig BELMIRA from Ambriz to Sierra Leone in 1845. He joined HMS EURYDICE (1843) as second master and served on the Cape of Good Hope station in 1848-1849. He served under Captain Henry M. Denham during the lengthy survey expedition of HMS HERALD (1822) and HMS TORCH (1845) around the coasts of Australia and Melanesia in 1852-1861. Wilds was appointed staff commander in 1861 and in the following year took command of the screw sloop HMS SWALLOW (1854). Over the next five years he was engaged in a survey of the coasts of China and Japan. He retired from the Navy in 1870 and died at Anerley in Surrey in 1896. A record of his service can be found under the references ADM 196/76/1268 and ADM 196/79/980 at The National Archives.