| Notes |
- PRIVATE
- 1901 Census: Age 16, apprentice electrical fitter? Living at
Notes from Viviene Staniforth [dated 1970] say, "Worked in the ship fitting dept.,[HM Dockyard, Chatham]. His brother worked in the mould loft which now houses the Wooden Walls Exhibition; his other brothers all worked in Govenment jobs."
«b»1903«/b»: Went to Canada
«b»1906:«/b» in MooseJaw, Saschatewan, Canada, aged 22 a "hired man". Source 1906 Census of Canada.
«b»1911«/b»
«b»1919«/b»: Went to USA Source:1930 US Census
«b»1914:«/b» 5th Royal Highlanders know as the Black Watch, at Valcartier, Que on 23 Sept, 1914
«b»1920«/b»: Brother Ronald Wilkins declares that he wishes to reside in Canada and join his Brother CL Wilkins in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
In 1969 Chas wrote to Mark Ladbury, "As a boy I often spent most of my weekends with Grandma and generally could be found fishing on the old pier down by the old house, or at the entrance where an old aunt sold brandy snaps to the children who came down from the castle grounds. This would be from 1896 -1900 when the old house would be on about its last legs..."
"... stamp collector specializing in British and British colonial stamps..." Chas. Wilkins. Air letter card in Medway Archives.
"Charles was full of energy, rarely still and always bustling about. Being
apprenticed to the ship fitting section of the dockyard, I imagine he would
have learned about pipe work (plumbing), carpentry, flooring, panelling,
etc. (perhaps not electricity as this was in its infancy) and these were the
kinds of work that he did in later life. I do not know exactly when he left
England for Canada but it was after his brother, Earnest, so I would guess
that it was 1904 when he would be about 19 years of age. He went to Canada
first but after a short time there he made his way down to San Francisco
where, as he described it to me, he arrived there a couple of days after the
great earthquake.
I presume he found work there in the aftermath of the
'quake and I think he was still there when WWI broke out. He immediately
returned to Canada and joined the Canadian Army ( which branch I know not
but the cavalry comes to mind, but this seems unlikely*) but what happened to
him over the next four years is a blank page. My father told me, (he and
Charles were very close) that, at the end of the war, he was given the
responsibility of demobilising the regiment so the first person he demobbed
was himself!
*[The "Attestation Paper" on the Canadian Archives site shows he was assigned to the 5th Royal Highlanders know as the Black Watch, at Valcartier, Que on 23 Sept, 1914 having passed his medical examination on 1 Sept, 1914.]
Still in Canada and now married to Mary Milne, he found employment where he
could until the Great Wall Street crash when all building work ceased. In
desperation, he took his family (which now included Joan aged 12) to
Australia to look for work.
My father begged him not to go but Leslie had given him some hope. However, there was even less work available Down Under and after two or three years he returned to California. Never strong, Mary gave up the struggle.
Back in California, building work was starting up again and Charles eventually became a sub-contractor and had a few workmen working for him. Joan never forgave her father for uprooting the family and taking them to Australia. Charles married Lucy (a divorcee, I think) and they settled down in Pasadena. There were no offspring.
...I corresponded with him over the years but did not see him and Lucy again
until 1964. Lucy died a year or two later after which he started visiting
England annually intent on researching his family heritage. He would always come and visit my parents and after my father died, he persuaded my mother to go and live with him in San Luis Obispo, which she did until his death in, I believe, 1974."
Source: Alan Wilkins e-mail of 11 Nov 2006
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1884 - Abt 1977 (92 years)
