John Brian Wilkinson, who died earlier this year at the age of 93, was a solicitor and legal draftsman who worked in this capacity around the world, including in the Cayman Islands, until his retirement in 2010.
He was born in Hull, East Yorkshire, UK, in 1929. He and his younger sister Pat grew up in a strong working-class family. Their father was a union activist employed in the shipyard. He experienced evacuation, air raids and rationing until World War II ended when he was 16.
He attended Eastfield Road School, then Hull Grammar School, and later University College of Hull achieving L.L.B. (London) (Honours).
He became a solicitor of England and Wales in 1951 and was in private practice in Hull until going abroad in 1955. This introduced him to a lifelong love of Southeast Asia.
He conducted private practice in Sarawak, Penang and Singapore as advocate and solicitor (he appeared in a case where Lee Kuan Yew (former Singapore prime minister) was opposing counsel) and married Margaret (Lian Eng Tan) in Singapore in 1957.
In 1965, he moved to Uganda where he was Registrar of Titles and Conveyance, later to Fiji, where he was parliamentary legal draftsman. Next to St Kitts, where he was legal draftsman and also the Cayman Islands where he had the same title, acted on occasions as attorney general, and was also an official member of the Executive Council and Legislative Assembly.
His final role was in Brunei where he worked for over 20 years and where he was head of the Legislative Drafting Division in the Attorney General’s Chambers. There, he was awarded several medals from the Sultan for his service, including the Most Distinguished Order of the Paduka Seri Laila Jasa.
He was a member of the Commonwealth Association of Legislative Counsel.
He held numerous other senior legal roles – as supervisor of elections in Fiji and as acting attorney general in the Cayman Islands.
He made an early contribution to the emerging environmental legislation, drafting the Cayman Islands Marine Conservation Law in 1985, allowing for the creation of marine parks.
Sir Anthony Smellie, chief justice of the Cayman Islands, said, “Mr. Brian Wilkinson was simply the finest legal draftsman and one of the best legal minds I ever had the good fortune of working with. He was the draftsman of many of our enactments still in effect today, including, among others, the modern consolidation of the Misuse of Drugs Act, the Penal Code, the Criminal Procedure Code and the original drafting of the Mutual Legal Assistance (United States of America) Act which gives legal force to the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty with the United States.”
His family described him as a proud Yorkshireman who never lost his accent but was always keen to integrate himself into the local communities in which he lived, seeing himself as a backroom player.
“He was passionate about anything that was designed for left-handed people and was interested in new experiences, including trying airlines with a poor track record – just for the novelty. From those holding the highest official offices to those who poured the whisky, they will remember a ‘gentle man’ with an interest in life, local culture, the laws of the land and left-handed corkscrews,” his family said.
He is survived by his wife Margaret Lian Eng, his five children Timothy, Adrian, Martin, Edwin and Kim, and eight grandchildren.
Related Videos
