Percival Spearman Wilkinson

Percival Spearman Wilkinson was born in County Durham in July 1865. He received his formal education at Uppingham School, Rutland, a prestigious public school.^[1]

Unlike many of his future contemporaries, Wilkinson did not attend the Royal Military College, Sandhurst. Instead, his military career began when he commissioned as a lieutenant into the 3rd (Militia) Battalion, Northumberland Fusiliers (later the Royal Northumberland Fusiliers), on 10 November 1883.^[2] He transferred to the Regular Army on 28 April 1886.^[3][1]

He was promoted to captain in January 1895.^[4] He was seconded for service with the Colonial Office in October 1897^[5] and "served in West Africa on operations on the Niger"^[1] and received promotion to brevet major in July 1899.^[6]

In 1900 he served "on operations in Ashanti, where he was wounded".^[1] He was promoted to major, on augmentation, in July 1900,^[7] was made a brevet lieutenant colonel in January 1901,^[8] a brevet colonel in February 1904,^[9] and, upon being made a substantive colonel and temporary brigadier general in September 1909, became inspector general of the Royal West African Frontier Force at the same time.^[10][11]

Promoted to major general on 8 August 1912,^[12] he served as general officer commanding (GOC) of the 1st Secunderabad Infantry Brigade, part of the 9th (Secunderabad) Division, on internal security duties in India, taking over command from Major General Francis George Bond in November 1913.^[13][14] He was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB)^[15] and Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG) in January 1914 in the 1914 New Year Honours.^[16]

The outbreak of the First World War, which began in the summer of 1914, saw him still in India and as GOC of the brigade. In January 1915, while still abroad, he was appointed colonel of the Northumberland Fusiliers, a prestigious regimental role he would hold for the next two decades.^[17] He then served as GOC of the 50th (Northumbrian) Division in place of Major General The Earl of Cavan on the Western Front from August 1915 until February 1918 during the First World War.^[18] He was appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George in June 1917, making him Sir Percival.^[19] After relinquishing command of the 50th, he was returned to Britain and made inspector of musketry in March 1918.^[20]

Upon relinquishing this assignment in June 1919,^[21] he returned to command 50th (Northumbrian) Division as a peacetime formation in the UK in July 1919 before he retired from the army on 4 July 1923.^[22][23] In retirement he was chief commissioner of the St. John Ambulance.^[24] He ceased to belong to the reserve of officers in July 1932.^[25]

Having been made colonel of the Northumberland Fusiliers (soon to be the Royal Northumberland Fusiliers) twenty years earlier, he relinquished this position in July 1935,^[24] when Major General William Norman Herbert succeeded him.^[26]

He died on 4 November 1953 at the age of 88.^[1]

• Perry, F.W. (1993). Order of Battle of Divisions Part 5B. Indian Army Divisions. Newport: Ray Westlake Military Books. ISBN 1-871167-23-X.
• Davies, Frank; Maddocks, Graham (2014) [1995]. Bloody Red Tabs: General Officer Casualties of the Great War 1914–1918. Leo Cooper. ISBN 978-1-78346-237-7.