People on board

WILKINSON, Harold

Harold Wilkinson was born in Patricroft, Eccles, Manchester in 1897 to John Alfred Wilkinson and Elizabeth Kirby, the fifth of their six children. The family originally lived in Salford where John was a ‘Brewer’s Clerk’, before moving to Eccles. By the 1911 census he was ‘Cashier Brewers’, while his eldest son was an ‘Assurance Clerk’, the eldest daughter was a Dressmaker’s Assistant and a fourteen year old son was a ’Greengrocer’s Errand Boy’. Harold and the youngest girl were still at school.

Harold enlisted in Eccles in the Royal Welsh Fusiliers, but his military record does not show when, but also states that he had previously been with the Liverpool Regiment which has not been confirmed. In October 1918 he was with the 3rd Garrison Battalion, stationed at Limerick. He was returning to England on leave when he travelled on RMS LEINSTER on the 10th of October with twenty other members of the R.W.F.

Harold did not survive the sinking but his body was recovered the following month at Port Erin bay on the Isle of Man. He was returned to Manchester where he was buried at Peel Green Cemetery on the 9th of November. His name is recorded on the headstone, along with that of his parents. His name is also on the Roll of Honour in the National Museum of Wales in Cardiff.