Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

A fine Great War Western Front operations V.C. group of four awarded to Lance-Corporal A. Wilkinson, Manchester Regiment, late Royal Scots Greys and Seaforth Highlanders, who, at Marou, in October 1918, having witnessed the demise of four company runners in succession, volunteered to carry the same vital message over 600 yards of exposed ground swept by extremely heavy machine-gun and shell fire - he got through

Victoria Cross (43839 Pte. A. Wilkinson, 1/5th Bn. Manch. R. (T.F.); 20 Oct. 1918), in its Hancocks & Co. case of issue, complete with outer card box; British War and Victory Medals (43839 Pte. A. Wilkinson, Manch. R.); Coronation 1937, in its card box of issue, good very fine or better (4) £80,000-100,000

V.C. London Gazette 6 January 1919:

‘For most conspicuous bravery and devotion to duty on 20 October 1918, during the attack on Marou, when four runners in succession having been killed in an endeavour to deliver a message to the supporting company, Private Wilkinson volunteered for the duty. He succeeded in delivering the message, though the journey involved exposure to extremely heavy machine-gun and shell fire for 600 yards. He showed magnificent courage and complete indifference to danger, thinking only of the needs of his company, and entirely disregarding any consideration for personal safety. Throughout the remainder of the day Private Wilkinson continued to do splendid work.’



Alfred Wilkinson was born in Leigh, Lancashire in December 1896 and was educated at St. Joseph’s Roman Catholic Day School and at the Junior School. A member of the St. Joseph’s Boys’ and Young Men’s Society, he worked locally as a piecer at the Mather Lane Spinning Company, where his father had earlier worked as a spinner, in the period leading up to the outbreak of hostilities.


In December 1914, he enlisted in the Royal Scots Greys, transferring to the Seaforth Highlanders in the following year and finally to the 1/5th Manchester Regiment, in which latter unit he won his V.C. for his magnificent courage at Marou on 20 October 1918. He had originally entered the French theatre of war with the Seaforths at the time of the famous Somme offensive in July 1916 and, according to Creagh and Humphris, had displayed gallantry on another occasion as a company runner - the contemporary newspaper source for this incident attributes it to the date of his V.C. exploits, although his stated unit and the location suggest otherwise (accompanying Canon Lummis notes refer):

‘He was carrying a message just on the battle-line at Daours, near Corbie, on the Somme, due east of Amiens, when the last coach of a hospital train, just as it passed him, was hit by a bomb from a German aeroplane. Private Wilkinson himself was hit on the face by shrapnel from the explosion, with the result that he had afterwards to get 14 teeth extracted. In spite of this wound, he remained on the scene of the explosion, and found that an Australian soldier - a despatch rider, who had been going in the opposite direction - had got his motor cycle completely wrecked, and had himself been seriously wounded. Wilkinson carried the Australian back to the Casualty Clearing Station, and the Medical Officer who made the examination found that the Australian - whose name is Day, and who has already returned to Australia demobilised - was in danger of losing his life, and that a transfusion of blood was immediately necessary. The gallant Seaforth offered to give his blood to save the Australian’s life, and the necessary amount of blood was withdrawn from his veins. The Australian authorities regard Wilkinson’s double act of heroism as one of the most oustanding examples of grit that the War has produced.’

Whatever the exact facts behind this particular incident, Wilkinson clearly excelled himself on the 18 October 1918, eventually returning home to a hero’s welcome at Leigh in February 1919. In the interim, in late December 1918, he had written home with news of his pending award:

‘Dear Mother - I have got some good news for you this time. It is quite true about my decoration. I have been awarded the V.C. I feel too glad to write now, as I have just had it [the riband] pinned on my breast by my officer. He is more proud of me than I am, nearly. I had a telegram from the Colonel yesterday to congratulate me. I will be alright now, for I shall be coming home on a month’s leave as soon as I get back to the Battalion, and I will get £50 a year for life now. This is all now, so I will wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.’

In addition to his V.C., which he received from the hands of King George V at Buckingham Palace in an investiture held in February 1919, he was accorded a civic reception at Leigh, presented with an illuminated address and £50 by the Directors of the Mather Line Spinning Company, and with a gold watch from the St. Joseph’s Boys’ and Young Men’s Society. He was also given 500 war certificates and the sum of £442 10s 6d which had been raised by public subscription.

Having been discharged in the rank of Lance-Corporal, Wilkinson attended the Buckingham Palace Garden Party for V.C. holders in 1920 and remained employed in Leigh. By 1929, the year in which he attended a House of Lords Dinner, part of the festivities for another large V.C. reunion, he was employed by the Leigh Operating Spinner’s Association, which body was subjected to adverse publicity when it was revealed Wilkinson’s pay had been docked for the time he had taken off work to attend the reunion - he was duly reimbursed. In October 1932, he married Grace Davies at the Church of the Twelve Apostles in West Leigh, and in September 1934 attended a pilgrimage to Lourdes with five other Catholic V.C. holders, while four years later he was formally presented to the King and the Queen during their visit to Leigh. He had, meanwhile, opened a sweet shop with his wife, which business he ran until joining the surveyor’s laboratory at Bickershaw Colliery, Planks Lane, Leigh, as a tester, shortly before the 1939-45 War.

The renewal of hostilities witnessed Wilkinson joining the Home Guard and being appointed a Special Constable, but on 18 October 1940 - after having just received confirmation of his appointment to a commission in the Pioneer Corps - he died as a result of gas poisoning at Bickershaw Colliery. At the subsequent inquest, it was revealed that a sparrow had become wedged in a ventilation pipe, thereby causing his death from carbon monoxide poisoning - apparently he had sat down in the morning after explaining to a colleague that he was feeling unwell, and was found dead in the same chair that lunch time.

Wilkinson, who was aged 43 years and left a widow and a young daughter, was buried with full military honours provided by the Home Guard and British Legion in Leigh Borough Cemetery five days later - a large congregation attended his requiem mass at St. Joseph’s Church and the procession route to his burial was lined by large crowds. At the head of the procession was Sergeant-Major Gill, who had been Wilkinson’s C.S.M. when he won the V.C. at Marou in October 1918.

Sold with the recipient’s original Coronation 1937 Medal certificate in the name of ‘Mr. Alfred Wilkinson, V.C.’