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”.

Comments are provided by Facebook, please ensure you are signed in here to see them

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

Sandra Esquilant

Sandra Esquilant

Landlady of the Golden Heart pub since 1978 and, in 2002, voted into 80th place in a list of the 100 most powerful figures in contemporary art. See the Telegraph for more.

Person, Commerce, Food & Drink

1 memorial
Old Slaughters Coffee House

Old Slaughters Coffee House

At 74 - 75 St Martin's Lane.  Mentioned in Thackeray's "Vanity Fair". 

Place, Commerce

1 memorial
Great Exhibition

Great Exhibition

From the V&A website: "The Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of all Nations was held in the Crystal Palace in Hyde Park, London. It was the first international exhibition of manufacture...

Event, Commerce, Museums / Libraries

13 memorials
Royal Opera Arcade

Royal Opera Arcade

Designed by John Nash, completed in 1816-18, considered to be London's oldest existing arcade having survived a fire, dereliction and the blitz. See Her Majesty's Theatre for the history of the bui...

Building, Commerce

1 memorial
Abney Park Cemetery Company

Abney Park Cemetery Company

Set up to run the Abney Park cemetery in Stoke Newington (see Abney House and Park), this company also ran the Chingford Mount cemetery. It went into administration in the 1970s. 

Group, Commerce, Gardens / Agriculture

1 memorial