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Auction: 19001 - Orders, Decorations and Medals
Lot: 269

(x) British War Medal 1914-20 (Capt. C. L. G. Wilkinson), good very fine

Charles Louis Gaffikin Wilkinson was born on 1 June 1896, the son of Hiram Parkes Wilkinson and Rosetta Mary Little, of 2 Love Lane, Shanghai. His grandfather was Hiram Shaw Wilkinson who at the time of his birth was British Crown Advocate in Shanghai. His father was judge of the British High Court for Weihaiwei from 1916 to 1925 and Crown Advocate of the British Supreme Court for China and Japan. Sadly, his mother died of pneumonia in 1899.

As a young man, Charles lived at Whitehill, Bletchingley, Surrey and was educated at Uppingham School. He joined the Royal Naval Division as an Ordinary Seaman in the early months of the war but sought a commission in a Public School's Battalion; this successfully accomplished, he was discharged at Crystal Palace in March 1915 and commissioned into the 5th Battalion, King's Royal Rifle Corps.

At the termination of hostilities, Charles returned to his studies, graduating with a B.A. from Clare College, Cambridge in 1921. In February 1923 he founded Gaffikin Wilkinson & Co., with offices at Dover Street, Mayfair, specialising in the sale of luxury motorcars; the business was liquidated in January 1952 and Charles then moved from Chertsey, Surrey, to Moneyshanere, County Londonderry, where he died on 4 February 1969.


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Sold for
£55