Biography:
1. Charles Wilks "superintendent at Ballincolling, [was] appointed storekeeper at Waltham Abbey - Middleton deceased. June 1825" (Winters, p.93).
2. Return dated 1st October 1825 (WO54/550) recorded that Charles Wilkes' basic salary was £400 per annum. At that date he received an increase of £200 per annum with an allowance in lieu of coals and candles of £25, and another of £27.7.6d in lieu of attendance for 'Labour', making a total of £652.7.6d per annum in all. He was appointed to the post of Storekeeper on the 15th January 1825. His period of service was given as 45 years, he was 65 years of age, he had a house, was married and had 1 child.
3. Supply 5/205 dated the 21st December 1825 confirmed that he was the Storekeeper, and that his total salary in 1825 was £625 per annum. Supply 5/205 was in the form of a memo, and the adjustments in salary do not appear to have been put into effect
4. WO54/554 dated the 1st April 1826 recorded that Charles Wilks was appointed as the Overseer of Works at Chatham on the 1st October 1780, as the Clerk of the Works there on the 25th August 1783, as the Clerk of the Works at Faversham on the 1st December 1794 and transferred to Waltham Abbey as the Clerk of the Works on the 26th February 1800. In September 1804, he was the Clerk of the Works for "the Powder Mills in general" before being appointed on the 9th March 1805 as the Superintendant at Ballincollig, Ireland. His successor was J. W. Bordwin. Wilkes was appointed as the Storekeeper at Waltham Abbey on the 15th June 1825. His annual salary, including the usual allowances , was £652.7.6d per annum He was provided with a house and was a 65-year-old married man with 1 child.
5. WO54/554 dated the 1st October 1826 confirmed the Return dated the 1st April 1826.
6. WO54/558 dated the 1st April 1827 recorded, "no alteration since the last report dated the 1st October 1826."
7. WO54/558 dated the 1st October 1827 confirmed the same information as that given previously. At that date Mr. Wilkes had 47 years' service and he was then 67 years of age..
8. "22nd October 1827. Chase hire from Waltham to London and back for Charles Wilks for imprest, £2. One day's extra expenses £2." (Winters, p.98).
9. Return dated the 1st April 1828 (WO54/562) recorded the same information as previously given, with the exception that he had served over 47 years, and that he was 67.
10 Return dated the1st October 1828 (WO54/562) recorded that Wilks was paid £600 per annum, plus an allowance of £25 for coals and candles and £27.7.6d in lieu of "attendance in labour". All other details remained the same.
11 Return dated the 1st April 1829 (WO54/566) updated his age and length of service, with family details and pay remaing unchanged.
12 WO54/566 dated 1st October 1829 confirmed that at that date Charles still earned the same as recorded in Note 10. His length of service was given as 49 years, and he was now aged 69.
13 Return WO 54/570 dated the 1st April 1830 updated his age and length of service, with family and pay details remaining the same.
14 According to the Return dated the 1st October 1830 (WO54/570), Charles was still earning £652.7.6d per annum made up as in Note 10. By then he had served 50 years and was just over 70 years of age.
15 Return WO54/575 dated the 1st April 1831 confirmed that Mr. Wilks was still earning a total of £652.7.6d, that he had then served just over 50 years and that he was nearly 71.
16 WO54/545 dated the 1st October 1831 updated his age and period of service in the April 1831 Return, with all other details remaining unchanged.
17 The Board's Order No. 609 dated the 28th October 1831 recorded that Charles Wilks was made redundant on the 28th October 1831. It also stated that the post of Storekeeper was abolished, thereby saving £652.7.6d per annum (WO54/581 dated the 1st April 1832).
18 Nevertheless, according to Winters, (op.cit. p.102), by 1832, Wilks was made the Storekeeper at Purfleet following the death of the incumbent there, Mr. Godfrey, one of the four most important government-appointed posts in the Board of Ordnance.
19 It is thought that Wilkes married his wife, Elizabeth, in Ireland. She dies on the 11th May 1831 at the age of 73 and is buried in the Church of the Holy Cross, Waltham Abbey. Charles Wilkes died on 17th November 1847, and was buried in Swanscombe Churchyard.
20 More information on Charles Wilks can be found in WASC 2221.
