The Wilks Family



The Common where the Swain family lived

Family tree - please contact me with any corrections


Name Albert WILKS
Possibly Albert Edward the son of John & Martha, born 1885 in High Wycombe, and brother of Harry Wilks. He had two cousins also called Albert, and one of these is listed on the war memorial and is recorded as the son of his uncle Frederick.
In 1911 an Albert Edward Wilks was a private in the army, serving in India. He was 25 at this time meaning that he was born in 1885/6 which would match the census records for Albert Wilks the son of John and Martha.

Name Harry WILKS
Age 39
Date of death 19 Jul 1916 Mesopotamia
Ruth Bowler's research records that Harry Wilks was born Henry Wilks, in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire in 1877. His parents were John & Martha Wilks. He, too, served in India.
Confusingly he had a brother called John Henry who married Minnie Maltby in 1907 in High Wycombe and John and Minnie went on to produce John Henry junior and Stanley, both of whom were also killed in WW1 and appear on the High Wycombe War Memorial alongside their uncle Harry.
Information on Harry also taken from the Buckinghamshire Remembers website.

There seems to be some confusion as to whether these two boys were brothers or cousins. The Wilks family (Robert and Sarah Wilks) came from Oxfordshire and they must have settled in this area whilst their children were still young. Their sons subsequently went on to marry local girls. The Wilk(e)s men went on to make a name for themselves in the village, owning land, shops and farms. Arthur Wilks, descended from Robert, the boys' uncle, is remembered today for Wilks Park, the local football ground which was originally part of his farmland. This he placed in village hands so that the local men had somewhere decent to play.
With so many local Wilk(e)s boys killed in WW1 it is not surprising that Arthur wanted the Wilks name to be remembered in the village. (Arthur married Mabel Savill, sister of Leonard Savill. Leonard is also on the war memorial).
It is not clear where in the village these two Wilks boys lived because the earlier census records have them living in High Wycombe, but after Martha's death in 1899 John married again, to Anne Maria Kingdon in 1907, and they appear in the 1911 census as residents of Wycombe Marsh. By this time Harry was lodging with the Swain famiy in Flackwell Heath and Albert Edward is in India.
Wilks descendants still live in the village today.
button
Back to map