Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Family Group:

An Order of St. John group of five awarded to Chief Surgeon J. B. Wilkinson, St. John Ambulance Brigade
The Order of St. John of Jerusalem, Knight of Grace’s set of insignia, comprising neck badge and breast star, silver and enamel, maker’s mark to reverse of star; The Order of St. John of Jerusalem, Honorary Associate’s breast badge, silver, with embellishments in angles; St. John Medal for South Africa 1899-1902 (Chief Surg. J. B. Wilkinson. Oldham Corps.); Jubilee 1935; St. John Service Medal, with ‘5 Years Service’ additional award bar (Chief Surgeon J. B. Wilkinson, 10. July. 1908.); together with the related miniature awards for the last four awards; and an Oldham Corporation Jubilee Celebration Medal 1899, white metal, unnamed, contact marks, very fine

An Order of St. John pair awarded to Mrs. Katherine F. Wilkinson
The Order of St. John of Jerusalem, Dame of Grace’s badge, silver and enamel, on lady’s bow riband; The Order of St. John of Jerusalem, Serving Sister’s badge, silver and enamel, on lady’s bow riband; together with the recipient’s Primrose League, Dame’s Badge, 2nd issue, gilt, maker’s name to reverse, with integral top riband bar, good very fine

A Great War M.C. group of five award to Captain L. St. G. Wilkinson, Manchester Regiment, later Borough Engineer and Surveyor of Wallasey
Military Cross, G.V.R., unnamed as issued; 1914-15 Star (Lieut. L. St. G. Wilkinson. Manch. R.); British War and Victory Medals (Capt. L. St. G. Wilkinson.); Jubilee 1935; together with the related miniature awards, and the following prize and Masonic medals: Institution of Municipal and County Engineers, Past President’s neck badge, gold (9ct.), the obverse engraved ‘1943-4’, the reverse engraved ‘Lionel St. George Wilkinson Past President’; Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution Badge 1925, silver-gilt (hallmarks for Birmingham 1924) and enamel, with top ‘Steward’ riband bar and sheaves of corn riband emblem; Royal Masonic Institution for Girls Badge 1934, silver-gilt (hallmarks for London 1933) and enamel, with ‘Steward’ suspension bar; Royal Masonic Institution for Boys Badge 1935, silver-gilt (hallmarks for Birmingham 1934) and enamel, with top ‘Steward’ riband bar and sheaves of corn riband emblem; Royal Masonic Institution for Girls 150th Anniversary Badge 1788-1938, silver-gilt (hallmarks for Birmingham 1937) and enamel, pin-back suspension; Manchester University Engineering Society Essay Competition Prize Medal, silver (1906. Lionel St. G. Wilkinson. Present Student.); Institution of Municipal and County Engineers Prize Medal, bronze, the reverse inscribed ‘Lionel St. George Wilkinson for his paper on Ten Years Municipal Development in Wallasey 1935’; Mayor and Corporation of Wallasey Commemorative Plaque, white metal, swimming baths at top within life-ring, Wallasey coat of arms below flanked by the flags of the Union and St. George, ‘12th July 1933’ below, generally good very fine or better

An Order of St. John group of four awarded to Divisional Surgeon Dr. Gladys E. Wilkinson, St. John Ambulance Brigade
The Order of St. John of Jerusalem, Officer’s badge, small type, silver, with embellishments in angles; Defence Medal; Jubilee 1935; St. John Service Medal, with four additional award bars (17978. D/Sgn. G. E. Wilkinson. Oldham Cen. Nsg. Div. No.4 Dist. S.J.A.B. 1938); together with the recipient’s St. John Ambulance War Service Badge, gilt and enamel, the reverse numbered ‘225’, with ‘East Lancashire’ suspension bar; Royal Life Saving Society Proficiency Medal, bronze, the reverse engraved ‘Gladys E. Wilkinson Oct. 1911’; Childrens League of Pity Medal, white metal, the reverse engraved ‘Gladys Wilkinson’, good very fine (lot) £1200-1600

Provenance: Captain Jack Boddington Collection.

James Bates Wilkinson was born in Godmanchester, Huntingdonshire, on 4 July 1857 and was educated at Huntingdon Grammar School, Edinburgh University, and the Royal College of Surgeons, receiving the degree of Doctor of Medicine in 1885. After a spell in private practice in London, he was appointed deputy Medical Officer of Health in Oldham in 1887, and was promoted to Chief Medical Officer in January 1898. He served during the South African War in preparing and sending out ambulance men, Oldham having the distinction of contributing the largest number of men of any provincial town, and was awarded the St. John Medal for South Africa. He was made an Honorary Associate of the Order of St. John on 25 April 1899, and was promoted to Knight of Grace on 21 October 1921. He retired in 1936, and died on 22 February 1941.


Katherine Florence Wilkinson, the wife of James Wilkinson, was born on 14 July 1858, the daughter of George Thackerary Esq., J.P., of Huntingdon, and was made an Honorary Serving Sister of the Order of St. John on 26 May 1916, being promoted to Dame of Grace on 18 July 1924. She served as Lady Corps Superintendent of the Oldham St. John Ambulance Corps and was one of the original committee of the Poor Childrens’ Holiday Association, which ran the Castleshaw Holiday Home and Holidays for poor children. She was also one of the Oldham stall holders at the Crimean and Indian Mutiny Bazaar, which raised funds to provide military funerals for veterans of those campaigns. She died on 2 May 1929.


M.C. London Gazette 1 January 1918.

Lionel St. George Wilkinson, the son of James and Katherine Wilkinson, was born in Manchester in 1886, and was educated at Oldham Grammar School and Manchester University, receiving a degree in Engineering. Appointed an Assistant in the Borough Engineer’s Office at Luton, he subsequently served as Assistant Engineer in the Oldham Corporation Waterworks Department, and in the Borough Engineer’s Department in Huddersfield. He served with the Manchester Regiment during the Great War, and as a Staff Captain of 126th Infantry Brigade, in Egypt, Gallipoli, Sinai, and on the Western Front, and was awarded the Military Cross. After the end of the War he resumed his Engineering career, being appointed Borough Engineer and Surveyor of Crewe in 1919, and as Borough Engineer and Surveyor of Wallasey in 1923. He carried out a number of important works, the most notable of which was the New Brighton Promenade Extension, a project which cost over one million pounds, and over the course of two decades made an outstanding contribution to the development of Wallasey as a seaside town. He served as President of the Institute of Municiple and County Engineers in 1943-44, and died on 19 February 1945.

Gladys Elizabeth Wilkinson, the daughter of James and Katherine Wilkinson, served as Assistant Schools Medical Officer to the Cheshire County Council. She was made a Serving Sister of the Order of St. John on 18 November 1938, and was promoted to Officer on 30 April 1946.

Sold together with a large quantity of copied research.