Orders, Decorations and Medals

The important group of orders and medals awarded to Colonel Sir Charles Wakefield (Viscount Wakefield), G.C.V.O., C.B.E., Hon. Colonel 9th (2nd City of London) Bn. Royal Fusiliers, Lord Mayor of London 1915-16, and founder of the Castrol Oil Company

The Royal Victorian Order, G.C.V.O., sash badge and breast star, silver, gilt and enamels, both pieces officially numbered ‘305’; The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, C.B.E. (Military) 1st type neck badge, silver-gilt and enamels; The Order of St John of Jerusalem, Knight of Grace, neck badge and breast star, silver and enamel; British War Medal (Col. Sir C. C. Wakefield); Territorial Force War Medal (Col. Sir C. C. Wakefield); Jubilee 1935; Coronation 1937; Territorial Decoration, G.V.R.; League of Mercy, breast badge in silver-gilt and enamels, with Long Service bar in silver-gilt and enamels, the last six mounted as worn, generally extremely fine (11) £1800-2200

See colour illustration (Plate I).

Charles Cheers Wakefield, man of business and philanthropist, was born in Liverpool on 12 December 1859. After schooling at the Liverpool Institute he became the employee of an oil-broker, and made several journeys round the world. Moving to London in 1891, he founded in 1899 his own firm, C. C. Wakefield & Co., dealing in lubricating oils and appliances. In those days the petrol driven motor was in the experimental stage, and the firm of Wakefield made its early reputation in locomotive lubricants. This reputation was to endure, but Wakefield had the foresight to plan for a rapid expansion of the motor industry. He stuck to his speciality, making no excursions into the wider field of propulsive oils, and rapidly amassed great wealth. The trade name ‘Castrol’, which he adopted for his products, arose from the fact that the early motor lubricants contained a considerable proportion of castor oil.

Established at Cannon Street, in the City of London, Wakefield became a zealous worker for the City and a warm enthusiast for its dignities and traditions. He was elected to the Court of Common Council in 1904, and served as Sheriff in 1907 and 1908, being knighted in the latter year. He became Alderman in 1908, and during the session 1915-16 was Lord Mayor. Holding office during a most critical period of the war, he took an energetic part in the recruiting movement, and paid visits in 1916 both to the Western Front and to the Grand Fleet at Scapa Flow. Amidst the German aerial threat over London, he offered a bounty of £500 to any gun crew that shot down a Zeppelin on domestic soil and, on the occasion of the bringing down of the Zeppelin L15 in March 1916, presented a special gold medal to the crews of the guns involved. (See lot 249 for an example of one of these medals). He received a baronetcy in 1917 and was appointed C.B.E. in 1919.

Wakefield’s interest in the City always remained deep and warm, and he was a ready benefactor to its causes. He gave generous aid to the Guildhall Library and Art Gallery, was president of the City of London branch of the League of Mercy and of the Tower Hill improvement fund to which he also gave generously. He was deputy-lieutenant of the City, served at various times as master of the Haberdashers’, Cordwainers’, Gardeners’, and Spectacle Makers’ companies, and was proud to be the first member of the corporation to be made an honorary freeman of the City, in 1935. Wakefield actively supported the Imperial Cadet movement, served as honorary colonel of the Imperial Cadet Yeomanry, and in 1932 gave £25,000 to the Imperial Institute. As early as 1910 he had foreseen the future importance of air communications as an imperial link, and financed Sir Alan Cobham’s return flight to Australia and his flight round Africa, and gave monetary aid to Amy Johnson for her Australian flight. He provided Wakefield scholarships for Royal Air Force cadets at Cranwell, and as vice-president of the Institution of Aeronautical Engineers, he presented an annual medal for the designer of the best safety device in aviation. He was chairman of the Royal Air Force Benevolent Fund, on behalf of which in 1940, at the age of eighty, he went to see Lord Nuffield and returned with a cheque for £250,000.

Motoring, too, was a pursuit close to his heart. He financed Sir Henry Segrave’s speed trials at Daytona and Miami, and presented the Wakefield gold trophy for maximum speed on land. He presented the record breaking Golden Arrow car to the nation, and owned three Miss England speed-boats which set up world water-speed records.

Amongst national treasures that he purchased for the nation are the Howard Grace (otherwise Thomas `a Becket) Cup, the Armada Jewel, the papers of Sir Isaac Newton, the Mint collection now held by the Royal Mint, and Nelson’s personal Log-Book with entries carried to the eve of Trafalgar. He had previously presented to the Guildhall Nelson’s Sword of Honour given him with the freedom of the City. He purchased and endowed Talbot House in Poperinghe, near Ypres, birthplace of the Toc H movement which provided a small window of sanity to so many soldiers during the Great War, and made a great many other donations and endowments, too numerous to detail.

Wakefield was elected a fellow of King’s College, London, was an honorary LL.D. of Colgate University, Hamilton, New York, and was made an honorary F.B.A. in 1938. He was raised to the peerage as Baron Wakefield, of Hythe, in the county of Kent, in 1930, and advanced to a Viscountcy, also of Hythe, in 1934. He was appointed G.C.V.O. in 1936 by King Edward VIII, in recognition of his donation of property at Windsor for transfer to the Dean and Chapter of St George’s. In 1887 Wakefield married Sarah Frances, daughter of a Liverpool book-keeper, but they had no children. He remained active in business until a month before his death which took place at Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire, on 15 January 1941.