David Alan Wilson was born on 11 September 1954 of mixed Irish, British and Scots origins and was educated at Greenshaw High School, in Surrey, England, specialising in the History of Art, ancient English literature, printing, technical drawing, sculpture, and painting. He worked in the wine trade, and in April 1974 he signed up for voluntary military service in C Squadron (The Sharpshooters), The Royal Yeomanry. After visiting France several times, he returned there definitely in 1977to learnFrench in situ. This is where his passion for history and historical modelling really took off after he was introduced to Teddy Suren of Willie figures who not only taught him about sculpting, but also how to organise research. He became more and more interested in both civil and military history, with special interests in the Ancien Régime- including several years in an association of historical re-enactors, specialising in 18th century animations for historical sites- and Scandinavian history. He retired from full time work in June 2019 to devote more time to historical research and writing.