Edward "Tug" Wilson

Colonel Edward Bearby "Tug" Wilson (18 January 1921 – 2 January 2009 ) was the founder and first commander of the Abu Dhabi Defence Force, the forerunner of the current UAE Armed Forces. He was a personal friend of Sheikh Zayed, with whom he shared interests in falconry and horseback riding, establishing the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Royal Stables in 1974. Wilson was a good friend of Sheikh Zayed; indeed he was instrumental in placing Sheikh Zayed as Ruler of Abu Dhabi after the overthrow of his elder brother Sheikh Shakhbut bin Sultan on 6 August 1966.

Retirement and death After being recalled from Abu Dhabi in 1969, he was an instructor at the Royal Naval College, Greenwich, and then at the Staff College, Camberley, before retiring from the Army in 1971. He moved to Devon and established a successful trout farm business.

In 1974, he accepted an invitation from Sheikh Zayed to return to Abu Dhabi as director of the royal stables. Over the next 30 years, and until Sheikh Zayed's death, Wilson developed the stables into one of the world's top centres for Arabian horses.

In 1990, he took part in the London-Beijing Motor Challenge, driving almost 10,000 miles.

In 2005, Wilson was awarded the annual Abu Dhabi Award for his services to the country.

After a brief illness, he died on 2 January 2009, two weeks short of his 88th birthday.

He married Patricia Valentine (née McLeary) in 1971. She predeceased him. They had one son.

Legacy Wilson's photographs of Abu Dhabi, the Colonel Edward "Tug" Bearby Wilson Collection, are now held in the collection of the Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture & Heritage.