Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

An Order of St. John group of five awarded to Chief Surgeon J. B. Wilkinson, Oldham Corps, St. John Ambulance Brigade, who served for 38 years as Medical Officer for Health in Oldham and took an active part in recruiting ambulance men during both the Boer War and the Great War

The Order of St. John of Jerusalem, Knight of Grace’s set of insignia, comprising neck badge, silver and enamel, with heraldic beasts in angles; Star, silver and enamel, with heraldic beasts in angles, with maker’s mark ‘JBC’ to reverse of Star; The Order of St. John of Jerusalem, Honorary Associate’s breast badge, silver, with heraldic beasts in angles; St. John Medal for South Africa 1899-1902 (Chief Surg. J. B. Wilkinson. Oldham Corps.); Jubilee 1935, unnamed as issued; Service Medal of the Order of St. John, with 5 Years Service bar (Chief Surgeon J. B. Wilkinson, 10. July. 1908.), mounted court-style for display; together with an Oldham Corporation Jubilee Celebration Medal 1899, white metal, unnamed as issued, light contact marks, very fine and better (7) £400-£500

James Bates Wilkinson was born at Godmanchester, Huntingdonshire, on 4 July 1857, and was educated at Huntingdon Grammar School, the University of Edinburgh, and the Royal College of Surgeons, graduating Bachelor of Medicine and Master in Surgery in 1883 and Doctor of Medicine in 1885. Initially working for the University of Edinburgh as Demonstrator in Pathology, Wilkinson subsequently went into private practice in London, and later in Peterborough and Manchester. In 1887 he moved to Oldham, and took an active part in sending out ambulance men to the Boer War, for which service he was one of the small number of ‘notables’ awarded an ‘honorary’ St. John Medal for South Africa; during the Boer War, Oldham had the distinction of contributing the largest number of men to the St. John Ambulance Brigade of any provincial town.

Wilkinson served as School Medical Officer for Oldham from 1906 until his retirement in 1936. He was made an Honorary Associate of the Order of St. John on 25 April 1899 and was advanced to Knight of Grace on 21 October 1921. During the Great War he repeated his previous training endeavours for ambulance men and by 1930 had signed over 10,000 certificates and approved 13,000 awards in his capacity as Secretary for the Oldham branch of the St. John Ambulance Association. He died on 22 February 1941, his obituary in the Oldham Chronicle, dated 1 March 1941, noting: ‘He will long be remembered as a courteous and gentlemanly public servant of the old school.’

Sold with copied research.

For the medals awarded to the recipient’s wife and daughter, see Lots 105 and 106.