Person    | Male  Born 12/12/1859  Died 15/1/1941

Charles Cheers, Baron Wakefield of Hythe CGE, LLD

Charles Cheers Wakefield was born and raised in Liverpool. (Cheers was his mother's maiden name). Became an oil-broker, founding his own firm in 1899, C.C. Wakefield & Co. later Wakefield Oil Company, later Castrol. In 1919 on the first trans-Atlantic flight Alcock and Brown used a Castrol product. He became wealthy and a philanthropist especially in the fields of aviation and motor sport, presenting the Wakefield Gold Trophy for the world land speed record.

After he opened Castrol’s head office in the City of London his philanthropy benefited the people of London. He was elected to the Court of Common Council, serving as a sheriff, alderman of the ward of Bread Street and Lord Mayor from 1915 to 1916. Raised to the peerage in 1930. In 1937 he and Tubby Clayton founded the Wakefield Trust to help All Hallows by the Tower, Toc H, and good causes in the East End.

We see that the NRA have a good post about Wakefield, the connection presumably being that he was on the governing council of the Society of Miniature Rifle Club (small rifles or small club?). In 1933 Wakefield gifted a shooting challenge trophy to the club. The design of the trophy was based on The Monument, but we don't know why. In 1947 the club resolved the ambiguity of its name by changing it to National Smallbore Rifle Association.

The Wakefield Trust has a very good post which finishes: At his funeral, snow was falling, and Tubby Clayton described the scene as “each flake a ‘Thank You’ from a London child”.

This section lists the memorials created by the subject on this page:
Charles Cheers, Baron Wakefield of Hythe CGE, LLD

Creations i

Admiral Arthur Phillip

{On the west side, beneath the relief depicting a scene with 5 people on a sh...

Read More

Other Subjects

Rupert D‘Oyly Carte

Rupert D‘Oyly Carte

Son of Helen and Richard D‘Oyly Carte. Chairman of the company 1901 - 1948 - through both World Wars. Father of Bridget. Wodehouse supposedly based Psmith, one of his characters, on Rupert, or p...

Person, Commerce, Music / songs, Theatre

1 memorial
The Ivy restaurant

The Ivy restaurant

The Ivy, opened by Abele Giandolini, as an unlicensed Italian cafe in 1917 in a building on the same site. Famous as a theatrical-celebrities haunt, possibly due to its late closing time of near-mi...

Place, Commerce, Food & Drink

1 memorial
Sinclair Beecham

Sinclair Beecham

Co-founder of Pret a Manger with Julian Metcalfe, who he met at the Polytechnic of Central London.

Person, Commerce

1 memorial
Hiram Shorey

Hiram Shorey

Merchant tailor and co-founder of Rotary International. Born Hiram Elroy Shorey in Litchfield, Kennebec, Maine.

Person, Commerce, Community / Clubs, USA

1 memorial