Australian Historical Medals

Lot 800    SESSION 3 - 2.30PM Tuesday 29 July    Australian Historical Medals

Estimate $200
Bid at live.noble.com.au
SOLD $170

SPORTS PRIZE MEDALS TO COLONEL WILLIAM ALEXANDER CAMAC WILKINSON DSO, MC and Bar, GM, from school days through to post WWI, includes medals from Athletic Association of the Great Public Schools of N.S.W. in bronze (51mm) inscribed '1905/100 Yds (under 13)/W.C.Wilkinson./S.C.E.G.S'; Oxford University Athletic Club in bronze (60mm) inscribed '1913/Hurdles/2nd/A.C.Wilkinson'; another identical inscribed '1914/Hurdles/2nd/A.C.Wilkinson'; O(xford). U(niversity). R(ugby). U(nion). F(ootball). C(lub). Inter-College Cup in silver (38mm) inscribed 'University/1913-14/A.C.Wilkinson'; Oxford & Cambridge Athletic Sports Prize Medal in bronze (60.5mm) unnamed; Oxford & Cambridge Athletic Sports Jubilee Medal, 1913, in bronze (37.5mm) unnamed; silver cup (84mm high) inscribed 'Boulogne Town/Challenge Cup/Won By/A.C.W./8 Sept.1927'. All except the last in maker's cases of issue, the cup with a few rim bumps very fine, the rest toned uncirculated. (7)

Born in Australia on 6 December 1892 Colonel William Alexander Camac Wilkinson DSO, MC and Bar, GM was a British Army officer and a first class cricket player in England. In 1922 he toured with the MCC to Australia and New Zealand. He played for various military teams and in 1933 he played twice for Egypt captaining the team against HM Martineau's XI. He also represented against Ireland in 1935 and 1937, against Canada in 1936 and against Scotland in 1939. Cricket was not his only sport. He represented The Household Brigade at Golf and played for the Harlequin's Golf Club.

Educated at Eton College in England, SCEGS in Sydney, Australia and then he attended Oxford University from 1910-1914. He was outstanding at school and university sporting competitions as evidenced by the medals on offer in this lot. He was commissioned a second lieutenant in the British Army on 18 August 1913. During WWI he was awarded the Military Cross and Bar. He was recalled for WWII and was awarded a DSO for the Battle of Monte Cassino and also a George Medal after several of his men had been killed or wounded after straying into a minefield and he single-handedly retrieved a soldier from deep within the minefield.

From July 1945 he was appointed as Senior Military Government Officer in the occupation forces in the British Zone in Austria, based in Graz, where he was noted for his regular local radio broadcasts in German. Colonel Wilkinson died on 19 September 1983 in Sussex, England.

With research.