Hiram Parkes Wilkinson, BCL, KC (1866–1935) served as Crown Advocate of the British Supreme Court for China and Japan from 1897 to 1925. He was also Acting Assistant Judge of the British Court for Siam from 1903 to 1905 and Judge of the British High Court for Weihaiwei from 1916 to 1925. He was the son of Sir Hiram Shaw Wilkinson who also served as Crown Advocate, Judge of the British Court for Japan and Chief Justice of the British Supreme Court for China and Japan.
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Wilkinson was born at the British Naval Hospital on the Bluff in Yokahama, Japan while his father was a student interpreter in the British consular service.[1] He was brought up in Japan before attending school at the Methodist College, Belfast and Exeter College, Oxford.[2]
After qualifying as a barrister in 1890, he practiced briefly on the Western Circuit before he went to Shanghai to join his father who was then in practice as the British Crown Advocate in Shanghai.
During his time in Asia he served as:
From 1900 to 1905 while his father served as Chief Justice of the British Supreme Court for China and Corea, Wilkinson was required to take leave from his post as Crown Advocate of that court.
In 1925 he retired from his position as Crown Advocate and Judge and returned to Ireland and moved to Moneyshanere, Tobermore. On his retirement, the North China Herald, published a long article of Wilkinson's reminiscences that recounted his career in the Far East.[3]
He was admitted to the bar of Northern Ireland in 1926 and he was appointed a King's Counsel in 1928. In 1930 he was appointed High Sheriff of Londonderry.[4] Hiram Parkes Wilkinson also founded the Tobermore Unionist Club, which later became a branch of the Ulster Volunteers, which itself became part of the 36th Ulster Division in WWI. Hiram Parkes Wilkinson died in Shanghai in 1935.