A small but very slowly growing group of people are aware of Joseph Wilkes, 1733-1805. He was born in Overseal in Derbyshire but is best remembered as being based at Measham a village at present, but historically not always, within North West Leicestershire.
The only hard and public evidence of a claim that Wilkes may have to a place in local history exists in that the Local Authority named a street of modern houses in Measham after him – Wilkes Avenue. More recently, a piece of sculpture was commissioned by the Trustees of the Measham Millennium Green and has been displayed from May 2003. It takes the form of a circular mosaic, (approximately 7 metres diameter) each segment of which represents one of the many facets of Wilkes’ activities. The mosaic is surmounted by a large sundial. Appropriately, its site is adjacent to Wilkes Avenue.
Wilkes’ reputation appears to have been much greater during his lifetime. The Morning Post of London published (31.5.1805) an obituary to him as follows:
Died: On Friday May 24 inst. Aged 73, Joseph Wilkes Esq. of Measham in the County of Derby. Few persons possessed greater natural parts than this gentleman, and none ever displayed greater zeal, in directing the endowments of nature, and the acquirements of experience, to purposes of public utility. – Mr Wilkes may be considered almost as the father of Inland Navigation in this country, his knowledge of commerce, agriculture and manufacture was extensive, his improvements in the most useful way of actuating internal communications, by the construction of good roads, on a new and excellent plan of his own invention, will long be remembered with gratitude by the neighbourhood in which he lived. He was the best friend of the poor, not by inconsiderate contribution, supporting them in idleness, but by exploring and opening up new sources of employment, exciting them to industry. – The death of such a man, while it forms a subject of serious regret to his immediate relations and friends, must be considered a public loss.
Today, despite some interest at Leicester University and Leicestershire County Council Record Office, Joseph Wilkes remains relatively unknown in comparison to other Midlands industrialists, innovators and entrepreneurs of the period.
The Dictionary of National Biography contains a reference to Wilkes and there is a short Wikipedia site devoted to him. This site makes available other research and writing on the history of a remarkable man.
©G Box
Joseph Wilkes of Measham 