SummaryLionel Wilkinson (Wilkie) was born in Pontefract, England and on his arrival in New Zealand at 17, started farming near Te Awamutu.
He enlisted in the New Zealand Expeditionary Force in 1915 and served in Egypt and France. He was seriously wounded and arrived back in New Zealand in 1917.
He arrived in Tauranga in 1923 and worked in the Tauranga Borough Council's house-wiring department for 11 years.
He sold electrical appliances for the council.
He was Mayor of Tauranga for 21 years, from 1935-1939, re-elected in 1952-1956
He supported the following municipal projects:
Widening of Cameron Road
Building of the Ōtūmoetai Causeway
Development of Memorial Park
Started on the Memorial Hall
A tunnel at Lake McLaren Falls
He died in Taupō aged 90.SourcesFought tooth, nail for town » Bay of Plenty Times, 7 December 1976.Mr Wilkinson returns - with Mayoral chain. Mentions origin of the silver bugle. » Bay of Plenty Times, 21 September 1953
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