Richard James Wilkinson | |
---|---|
Governor of Sierra Leone | |
In office 9 March 1916 – 4 May 1922 | |
Monarch | George V |
Preceded by | Sir Edward Marsh Merewether |
Succeeded by | Sir Alexander Ransford Slater |
12th Colonial Secretary of Straits Settlements | |
In office 1911–1916 | |
Monarch | George V |
Governor | Sir Arthur Young |
Preceded by | Edward Lewis Brockman |
Succeeded by | Sir Frederick Seton James |
British Resident at Negeri Sembilan | |
In office 1910–1911 | |
Monarch | George V |
Preceded by | Douglas Graham Campbell |
Succeeded by | Arthur Henry Lemon |
Personal details | |
Born | 29 May 1867[1] Salonika, Ottoman Empire (now Greece) |
Died | 5 December 1941[1] İzmir, Turkey | (aged 74)
Profession | Colonial Administrator |
Richard James Wilkinson CMG (29 May 1867 – 5 December 1941)[1][2] was a British colonial administrator, scholar of Malay, and historian.[3] The son of a British consul, Richard James Wilkinson was born in 1867 in Salonika (Thessaloniki) in the Ottoman Empire.[1][4] He studied at Felsted School and was an undergraduate of Trinity College, Cambridge.[4] He was multilingual and had a command of French, German, Greek, Italian and Spanish, and later, Malay and Hokkien which he qualified in, in 1889, while a cadet after joining the Straits Settlements Civil Service.[4] He was an important contributor to the Journal of the Malayan Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society (JMBRAS).[5] On 7 November 1900 Wilkinson presented a collection of Malay manuscripts and printed books to the University of Cambridge Library.[6] He was appointed CMG in 1912.[7]