:Charles Wilkins (writer)

Charles Wilkins was born on 16 August 1830{{Refn|Some sources incorrectly give 1831.|group=lower-alpha}} in Stonehouse, Gloucestershire, the second of nine children of William Wilkins, a Chartist bookseller then postmaster, and Anna Maria Wilkins (née Jeens). From 1840 the family lived in Merthyr Tydfil, Glamorganshire.{{Cite news|title=Well-Known Litterateur. Tragic Death of Late Merthyr Postmaster|date=4 August 1913|work=Western Mail|page=6}}{{Cite book|title=Parish Baptism Register|year=1830|location=Stonehouse, Gloucestershire|page=Baptism 12 September 1830|no-pp=y}}{{Cite journal|last=Wilkins|first=John|year=2003|title=Attraction and Dispersal. One Family's Story as an Example of the Merthyr Diaspora|url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_095442011x|url-access=registration|journal=Merthyr Historian|volume=15|pages=[https://archive.org/details/isbn_095442011x/page/8 8]–11|isbn=0-9544201-1-X}} Leaving school at the age of fourteen, Wilkins worked first as postmaster's clerk to his father, then as postmaster from 1871 until his retirement in 1898. From 1846 to 1866 he was also librarian of the Merthyr Tydfil Subscription Library of which Thomas Stephens was secretary.{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/oxfordcompaniont00meic/page/640/mode/1up/|title=Oxford Companion to the Literature of Wales|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=1986|isbn=0-19-211586-3|editor-last=Stephens|editor-first=Meic|location=Oxford|page=640|url-access=registration}} [Republished as (1998) The New Companion to the Literature of Wales. Oxford: Oxford University Press. {{ISBN|9780192115867}}]{{Cite news|url=https://newspapers.library.wales/view/3075527/3075529/4/|title=The Merthyr Post Office|date=27 October 1871|work=The Merthyr Telegraph|page=2}}

Wilkins married Lydia Jeens in Stonehouse in 1859. She died giving birth to their third child in 1867.{{Cite news|url=https://newspapers.library.wales/view/3072418/3072421/10/|title=Marriage|date=27 August 1859|work=The Merthyr Telegraph|page=3}}{{Cite news|url=https://newspapers.library.wales/view/3091842/3091847/22/|title=Marriages|date=20 August 1859|work=The Cardiff and Merthyr Guardian|page=5}}{{Cite news|url=https://newspapers.library.wales/view/3384515/3384522/23/|title=Merthyr. Sudden Death|date=8 June 1867|work=The Cardiff Times|page=7}} The following year, Wilkins married Mary Skipp in Topsley, Hereford; they had two children.{{Cite news|url=https://newspapers.library.wales/view/3095773/3095781/53/|title=Marriages|date=25 January 1868|work=The Cardiff and Merthyr Guardian|page=8}}1911 Census of England and Wales. Public Record Office. Census Reference RG14PN32427 RG78PN1855 RD590 SD2 ED3 SN9 (Springfield, Merthyr Tydfil, Glamorganshire, Wales)

Wilkins was Glamorganshire secretary of the Cambrian Archaeological Association, a fellow of the Geological Society of London,{{Refn|Some accounts incorrectly state Royal Geographical Society.|group=lower-alpha}} and a member of the Aberystwyth College committee. He was also a member of the Loyal Cambrian Lodge, No. 110, of Freemasons, Merthyr Tydfil, from 1872 to 1885.{{cite book|last=Fraser|first=James|url=https://archive.org/details/cu31924032494779|title=Illustrated History of the Loyal Cambrian Lodge, No. 110, of Freemasons, Merthyr Tydfil. 1810 to 1914.|publisher=H. W. Southey and Sons|year=1914|location=Merthyr Tydfil|pages=[https://archive.org/details/cu31924032494779/page/n197 148]–149}}

File:The_Red_Dragon_periodical_cover_page_July_1883.jpg cover page, July 1883

Motto: {{Lang|cy|Y Ddraig Goch a ddyry gychwyn}} – "The Red Dragon will lead the way"]]

Wilkins' major works included the first histories of Merthyr Tydfil and Newport, a history of Wales, a history of Welsh literature, and histories of the coal, iron, and steel trades of South Wales.

From age fourteen, Wilkins wrote extensively over many years for the Merthyr Tydfil, Cardiff, and Swansea newspapers, including serialized versions of his books.{{Cite news|url=https://newspapers.library.wales/view/4474757/4474759/8/|title=Weekly Mail|date=1 January 1879|work=Western Mail|page=2. Advertisement of second weekly series of Tales and Sketches of Wales}}

In 1877, Wilkins was "initiated into the mysteries of the Druidic lore",{{Cite news|url=https://newspapers.library.wales/view/3076997/3077000/8/|title=Druidic Ceremony at Pontypridd|date=29 June 1877|work=The Merthyr Telegraph|page=3}} and at the 1881 National Eisteddfod, held in Merthyr Tydfil, he won a £21 prize (approximately {{Inflation|index=UK|value=21|start_year=1881|r=-2|fmt=eq|cursign=£}}) and gold medal for the best "History of the Literature of Monmouthshire and Glamorganshire from the earliest period to the present time."{{Cite news|url=https://newspapers.library.wales/view/3513096/3513099/45/|title=The National Eisteddfod. The Competitions|date=2 September 1881|work=South Wales Daily News|page=3}} His bardic name was Catwg.

In 1882, it was reported that, "after careful examination of the various works written by Mr. Wilkins", he was "unanimously elected to the super graduate Degree of Literature (Lit. D.)" by the Druidic University of America and its affiliate in Maine.{{Cite news|url=https://newspapers.library.wales/view/4481026/4481029/39/|title=American Honours to the Editor of the 'Red Dragon'|date=7 December 1882|work=The Western Mail|page=3}} However, at the time of his retirement in 1898 the degree was described as PhD, though he "never permitted the title to be made any use of".{{Refn|Some use of the title (including the incorrect degree) was made, for example: "Charles Wilkins PhD"{{Cite news|url=https://newspapers.library.wales/view/3373259/3373262/76/|title=Literary Notices. The 'Red Dragon' |date=30 August 1884|work=Weekly Mail|page=3}}{{Cite journal|year=1885|editor-last=Wilkins|editor-first=Charles|title=Red Dragon Advertiser|url=https://journals.library.wales/view/2062893/2067220/|journal=The Red Dragon: The National Magazine of Wales|volume=VII|page=vi}} and "Dr Charles Wilkins".{{Cite news|url=https://newspapers.library.wales/view/4403872/4403874/16/|title=The National Eisteddfod|date=24 August 1885|work=South Wales Echo|page=2}}{{Cite news|url=https://newspapers.library.wales/view/4319562/4319566/114/|title=Eisteddfod Dowlais|date=23 December 1891|work={{lang|cy|Baner ac Amserau Cymru}}|page=4}}

The Maine institution associated with the degree was closed in 1887 due to fraudulent transactions.{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/transactionsnew02socigoog|title=Transactions of the New Hampshire Medical Society at the Ninety-Seventh Annual Session|publisher=John B. Clarke|year=1887|location=Manchester, New Hampshire|page=[https://archive.org/details/transactionsnew02socigoog/page/n16 10]}}{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/actsandresolves04maingoog|title=Acts and Resolves of the Sixty-Third Legislature of the State of Maine|publisher=Sprague & Son|year=1887|location=Augusta|page=[https://archive.org/details/actsandresolves04maingoog/page/n551 384]}}|group=lower-alpha}}

From 1882 to 1885, Wilkins was editor and writer for the monthly periodical The Red Dragon: The National Magazine of Wales. This English language magazine published articles on Welsh history, biography, and poetry, and was a "calculated attempt to reach out to a new public literate in English but unschooled in a knowledge of Wales".{{Cite book|last=Mathias|first=Roland|title=The Lonely Editor: A Glance at Anglo-Welsh Magazines|publisher=University College Cardiff Press|year=1984|location=Cardiff|page=9, cited in Ballin (2013). p. 12}} Though traditional and conservative, it included women writers and displayed a "sense of admiration and affection for working people in Wales".{{cite book|last=Ballin|first=Malcolm|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2VeuBwAAQBAJ&pg=PA10|title=Welsh Periodicals in English: 1882–2012|publisher=University of Wales Press|year=2013|isbn=978-0-7083-2615-2|location=Cardiff|pages=10–22}}{{Rp|22}}

Wilkins died on 2 August 1913 at his home in Merthyr Tydfil and was buried at Cefn Cemetery, Merthyr Tydfil.{{Cite web|url=https://biography.wales/article/s-WILK-CHA-1831|title=Wilkins, Charles (Catwg; 1830–1913), writer|last=Williams|first=Edward Ivor|year=1959|website=The National Library of Wales: Dictionary of Welsh Biography|access-date=4 July 2017}}{{Cite news|title=Funeral of Late Mr. C. Wilkins, Merthyr|date=7 August 1913|work=Western Mail|page=6}}

Except for his 1867 history of Merthyr Tydfil,{{Cite news|url=https://newspapers.library.wales/view/3074383/3074386/8/|title=Original Correspondence. Addressed to the Editor. Literary Flunkeyism|date=13 April 1867|work=The Merthyr Telegraph|page=3}}{{Cite news|url=https://newspapers.library.wales/view/3095410/3095418/39/|title=Church and Chapel|date=19 April 1867|work=The Cardiff and Merthyr Guardian|page=8}}{{Cite news|url=https://newspapers.library.wales/view/3074403/3074406/6/|title=Review. The History of Merthyr Tydfil, By Charles Wilkins: Merthyr, 1867|date=11 May 1867|work=The Merthyr Telegraph|page=3}}{{Cite news|url=https://newspapers.library.wales/view/3385576/3385583/60/|title=Literature. Wales: Past and Present. By Chas. Wilkins|date=12 March 1870|work=Cardiff Times|page=7}} reviews of Wilkins' major works were generally glowing, though not necessarily disinterested as they were published in newspapers for which Wilkins also wrote.{{Cite news|url=https://newspapers.library.wales/view/3096783/3096789/40/|title=Literature. Wales, Past and Present. By Charles Wilkins.|date=5 March 1870|work=The Cardiff and Merthyr Guardian|page=6}}{{Cite news|url=https://newspapers.library.wales/view/3075457/3075459/11/|title=Storm and Calm; or the History of a Life|date=21 July 1871|work=The Merthyr Telegraph}}{{Cite news|url=https://newspapers.library.wales/view/3505081/3505085/93/|title=Reviews. Buried Alive. A Narrative of Suffering and Heroism, Being the Tale of the Rhondda Colliers, with Further Details By Charles Wilkins|date=30 May 1877|work=South Wales Daily News|page=4}}{{Cite news|url=https://newspapers.library.wales/view/3077437/3077440/24/|title=Review. 'Tales and Sketches of Wales.' By Charles Wilkins.|date=7 March 1879|work=The Merthyr Telegraph|page=3}}{{Cite news|url=https://newspapers.library.wales/view/4315232/4315235/34/|title=The Rector of Merthyr on Charles Wilkins's 'History of the Literature of Wales'|date=18 September 1884|work=Western Mail|page=3}}{{Cite news|url=https://newspapers.library.wales/view/3098632/3098640/192/kilsanos|title=Mr. C. Wilkins' 'Kilsanos.'|date=31 January 1895|work=Merthyr Times|page=8}}{{Cite news|title=South Wales Industries. Important Historical Work by Mr. C. Wilkins, F.G.S.|date=11 May 1903|work=Western Mail|page=6}}

On his retirement in 1898, Wilkins was described as "a literary postmaster: successful editor, prolific writer, and sound historian – an Englishman with a Welshman's enthusiasm" and "a genuine Cymro by adoption". It was asserted "with great confidence that there are very few men indeed who have 'put in' more work for Wales than Charles Wilkins".{{Cite news|author=Ap Ffarmwr|url=https://newspapers.library.wales/view/3273381/3273383/14/|title=Career of a Literary Postmaster|date=27 January 1898|work=Evening Express|page=2}} He was described as "the first to write the history of Merthyr and Newport, the first to gather together the facts about the coal, iron, and steel trades of South Wales, and the first to set forth in due order the story of [Welsh] literature from 1300 to 1650."

In a wide-ranging survey of the literary associations of Merthyr Tydfil, given before the Merthyr Naturalists' Society in 1909, local scholar A. J. Perman highlighted "the veteran historian of Merthyr" Wilkins' work as particularly noteworthy among contemporary writers. "It is safe to say he has laid all future writers under immense obligation to his laborious efforts. They show doubtless less power of selection than of accumulation, but the facts are there in abundance, ... and it is this patient gathering of local annals which makes the wide generalisations of national history possible."{{Cite news|last=Perman|first=A. J.|url=https://newspapers.library.wales/view/3814846/3814854/77/|title=Literary Associations of Merthyr Tydfil|date=17 April 1909|work=The Merthyr Express|access-date=14 March 2020|page=8}}

Malcolm Ballin's modern study of Welsh periodicals notes that during Wilkins' editorship of The Red Dragon the magazine displayed a "sustained awareness of the pressures on the poor and a clear-sighted appreciation of the realities of working life"{{Rp|19}} and treated the lives of working people in Wales "respectfully and with real interest".{{Rp|22}} Wilkins' magazine continues to be valuable as a historical resource, created in the context of the "urgent need to rescue and record such traditional lore which was then rapidly fading from memory".{{Cite journal|last=James|first=Brian Ll|year=2003|title=John Howells of St Athan|url=https://journals.library.wales/view/1169834/1175421/126|journal=Morgannwg|volume=XLVII|pages=119–121}}{{Rp|119}}

Wilkins was a prolific pioneer in his field and later research has demonstrated some errors and imbalances in his writings. For example, Wilkins was the chief architect of Lucy Thomas' fame as "the mother of the Welsh steam coal trade". His 1888 account gives the impression of Thomas as an enterprising woman who actively went after new markets, whereas evidence now suggests that this work was mainly conducted by her agents, particularly George Insole.{{Cite journal|last=Morgan|first=W. T.|year=1958|title=A Note on Lucy Thomas of Waunwyllt|url=https://journals.library.wales/view/1277425/1281037/89|journal=The National Library of Wales Journal|volume=10|issue=4|page=416}} Later authors have also commented on the "notorious unreliability"{{Cite journal|last=Riden|first=Philip|year=1992|title=Early Ironworks in the Lower Taff Valley|url=https://journals.library.wales/view/1169834/1173878/78|journal=Morgannwg|volume=36|page=77}} of some of his work. Nevertheless, Wilkins' labours have "smooth[ed] the paths of all future writers on these subjects" and his works have continued to be referenced in later academic studies.{{Cite book|last=Addis|first=John P.|title=The Crawshay Dynasty: A Study in Industrial Organisation and Development, 1765–1867|publisher=University of Wales Press|year=1957|location=Cardiff}}{{Cite book|last=Wilks|first=Ivor|url=https://archive.org/details/southwalesrising0000wilk|url-access=registration|title=South Wales and the Rising of 1839: Class Struggle as Armed Struggle|publisher=Croom Helm|year=1984|isbn=070992772X|location=London|page=[https://archive.org/details/southwalesrising0000wilk/page/270 270]}}{{Cite journal|last=Ollerton|first=Richard L.|year=2012|title=Hereford Cider, Worcester Leather, Birmingham Iron, Rhondda Coal: Foundations of a Welsh Coal Mining Dynasty|journal=Morgannwg|volume=LVI|pages=62–83}}{{Cite book|url=https://cadw.gov.wales/sites/default/files/2019-05/Merthyr%20Tydfil-%20Understanding%20Urban%20Character_1.pdf|title=Merthyr Tydfil: Understanding Urban Character|publisher=Cadw|year=2015|isbn=9781857603231|location=Cardiff}}

Literary editor Meic Stephens concluded that Wilkins "endeavoured, not least in the pages of The Red Dragon, ... to create in the English language a readership with sympathies like his own, and for that attempt, some fifty years before it became feasible, he deserves to be remembered".

Wilkins' major historical works are:

• The History of Merthyr Tydfil (1867,1908){{cite book|author=Wilkins|first=Charles|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FWk1AQAAIAAJ|title=The History of Merthyr Tydfil|publisher=H.W. Southey|year=1867}}{{cite book|author=Wilkins|first=Charles|url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015005897577|title=The History of Merthyr Tydfil|publisher=Joseph Williams & Sons|year=1908}}
• Wales, Past and Present{{Cite news|url=https://newspapers.library.wales/view/4466883/4466886/30/|title=Wales, Past and Present|date=21 January 1870|work=Western Mail|page=3}} (1870) (The History of Wales for Englishmen)
• Tales and Sketches of Wales (1879,1880){{cite book|last=Wilkins|first=Charles|url=https://archive.org/details/cu31924028051682|title=Tales and Sketches of Wales|publisher=D. Owen and Company|year=1879}}
• The History of the Literature of Wales from 1300 to 1650 (1884){{cite book|last=Wilkins|first=Charles|url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015028798067|title=The History of the Literature of Wales, from the Year 1300 to the Year 1650|publisher=D. Owen|year=1884}}
• The History of Newport (1886)
• The South Wales Coal Trade and Its Allied Industries (1888){{Cite book|last=Wilkins|first=Charles|url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015036673278|title=The South Wales Coal Trade and Its Allied Industries, from the Earliest Days to the Present Time|date=1888|publisher=D. Owen and Company}}
• The History of the Iron, Steel, Tinplate and Other Trades of Wales (1903).{{cite book|last=Wilkins|first=Charles|url=https://archive.org/details/historyofironste00wilkrich/page/n5/mode/2up|title=The History of the Iron, Steel, Tinplate and ... Other Trades of Wales: With Descriptive Sketches of the Land and the People During the Great Industrial Era Under Review|publisher=Joseph Williams|year=1903}}

Wilkins' other writings include:

• Storm and Calm (1870, fiction)
• Old John: John Bull's Father and the Green Island Far Out at Sea: Being the Welshman's Reply to "The Times" (1877, pamphlet){{Cite news|url=https://newspapers.library.wales/view/4471770/4471772/14/|title=Old John, John Bull's Father, and the Green Island Far Out at Sea. Being the Welshman's Reply to 'The Times'|date=14 December 1877|work=The Western Mail|page=2. Advertisement}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.library.wales/|title=Catalogue|website=National Library of Wales|access-date=25 February 2020}}
• Buried Alive: A Narrative of Suffering and Heroism, Being the Tale of the Rhondda Colliers, with Further Details (1877) (The Inundation of Tynewydd, booklet)
• A Relic of Roman Catholic Days in Wales (1877){{Cite journal|last=Wilkins|first=Charles|date=n.d.|title=Correspondence: A Relic of Roman Catholic Days in Wales|url=https://archive.org/details/archaeologiacamb08camb|journal=Archaeologia Cambrensis|series=4|volume=VIII|page=[https://archive.org/details/archaeologiacamb08camb/page/318 318]}}
• Robert Fitzhamon: An Historical Romance of Glamorgan (1880, fiction){{Cite news|url=https://newspapers.library.wales/view/3364366/3364370/48/|title=Weekly Mail. Preliminary Notice|date=14 August 1880|work=Weekly Mail|page=4}}{{Cite news|url=https://newspapers.library.wales/view/3364402/3364405/39/|title=Robert Fitzhamon: An Historical Romance of Glamorgan|date=11 September 1880|work=Weekly Mail|page=3}}
• To be Sold by Auction (1881, fiction){{Cite news|url=https://newspapers.library.wales/view/4479492/4479494/4/|title=The Christmas Number of the 'Weekly Mail'|date=19 December 1881|work=Western Mail|page=2}}
• A Memorial Sketch of the Visit of the Marquess of Salisbury to Newport, Mon. (1886){{Cite news|url=https://newspapers.library.wales/view/3365347/3365352/75/|title=Lord Salisbury's Recent Visit to Newport|date=9 October 1886|work=Weekly Mail|page=5}} (The Salisbury Memorial: Gwent in the Old Days, The Morgan Family)
• Ivor Bach: A Tale of the Twelfth Century ({{circa}} 1890)
• Kilsanos: A Tale of the Welsh Mountains (1895, fiction){{Cite news|url=https://newspapers.library.wales/view/3098614/3098619/42/|title=By the Way|date=17 January 1895|work=Merthyr Times|page=5}}
• Merthyr Tydfil Illustrated: (including Aberdare, Dowlais and the Beacons) (1903, Edward J. Burrow ed.){{Cite journal|year=1904|title=Books|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Vts9AQAAMAAJ|journal=The Public Library Journal: Quarterly Magazine of the Cardiff and Penarth Free Public Libraries, and the Welsh Museum|volume=4|pages=53|last1=Free Libraries|first1=Cardiff (Wales)}}
• Historical sketches of the Bute family,{{Cite news|last=Wilkins|first=C.|url=https://newspapers.library.wales/view/3368243/3368250/27/|title=Noteworthy Men and Women of Wales. The Marquess of Bute and Cardiff.|date=11 March 1893|work=Weekly Mail|page=7}} Noteworthy Men and Women of Wales (newspaper series),{{Cite news|url=https://newspapers.library.wales/view/3368226/3368235/50/|title=Noteworthy Men and Women of Wales|date=4 March 1893|work=Weekly Mail|page=9. Advertisement of weekly series}} Welsh Industries (newspaper series),{{Cite news|last=Wilkins|first=Charles|url=https://newspapers.library.wales/view/3370817/3370826/232/|title=Welsh Industries. The Steel Age.|date=27 March 1897|work=Weekly Mail|page=9}}{{Cite news|last=Wilkins|first=Charles|url=https://newspapers.library.wales/view/3365428/3365433/85/|title=The Industries of Wales and their Notable Men. No. 1 Cyfarthfa, and William Crawshay, the Iron King|date=11 December 1886|work=Weekly Mail|page=5}} and Health and Holiday Resorts (newspaper series){{Cite news|last=Wilkins|first=Charles|url=https://newspapers.library.wales/view/3373725/3373730/89/charles|title=The Industries of Wales and Their Notable Men. Health and Holiday Resorts. The Road to the Well and Seaside.|date=27 August 1887|work=Weekly Mail|page=5}}
• numerous Red Dragon articles (1882–1885) such as: biographies of notable Welsh people, Summer Holidays in Wales,{{Cite journal|last=Wilkins|first=Charles|year=1882|editor-last=Wilkins|editor-first=Charles|title=Summer Holidays in Wales|url=https://archive.org/details/reddragon00unkngoog|journal=The Red Dragon: The National Magazine of Wales|volume=I|pages=[https://archive.org/details/reddragon00unkngoog/page/n551 540]–541}}{{Cite news|last=Wilkins|first=Charles|url=https://newspapers.library.wales/view/3311054/3311057/17/|title=Summer Holidays in Wales. Aberystwyth.|date=18 August 1882|work=The Cambrian News|page=3}} Shakespeare in Wales,{{Cite journal|last=Wilkins|first=Charles|year=1883|editor-last=Wilkins|editor-first=Charles|title=Shakespeare in Wales|journal=The Red Dragon: The National Magazine of Wales|volume=III|pages=170–173}} The Shipping of Wales,{{Cite journal|last=Wilkins|first=Charles|year=1883|editor-last=Wilkins|editor-first=Charles|title=The Shipping of Wales|url=https://archive.org/details/reddragonnation00wilkgoog|journal=The Red Dragon: The National Magazine of Wales|volume=III|pages=[https://archive.org/details/reddragonnation00wilkgoog/page/n268 242]–245}} Pioneers of the Welsh Iron Ore Industry.{{Cite journal|last=Wilkins|first=Charles|year=1883|editor-last=Wilkins|editor-first=Charles|title=Pioneers of the Iron Ore Industry|url=https://archive.org/details/reddragonnation01unkngoog|journal=The Red Dragon: The National Magazine of Wales|volume=IV|pages=[https://archive.org/details/reddragonnation01unkngoog/page/n160 138]–140}}

{{Reflist|group=lower-alpha}}

{{Reflist}}

• {{cite news|title=The Miners' Provident Fund for South Wales|url=https://newspapers.library.wales/view/4475855/4475857/13/ |work=Western Mail |date=15 September 1879 |page= 2 |via=Welsh Library Online}} (Wilkins researched and suggested an insurance scheme for miners)
• [https://newspapers.library.wales/view/4321602/4321605/16/ "The Historian of the Welsh Coal Trade"]. Western Mail. 31 July 1890. p. 3. (Honoured by Geological Society)
• [https://newspapers.library.wales/view/3098722/3098727/40/ "The '97 Esteddfod. Should be Held at Merthyr. Interview with Mr. Charles Wilkins"]. Merthyr Times. 11 April 1895. p. 5. (Wilkins regarded as a literary authority)
• [https://newspapers.library.wales/view/3589621/3589625/8/wilkins "Mr Charles Wilkins, F.G.S., Merthyr"]. {{Lang|cy|Papur Pawb}}. 3 April 1897. p. 4. (Biography with portrait, in Welsh)
• [https://newspapers.library.wales/view/3273676/3273678/22/ "The Retirement of Mr. Charles Wilkins"]. Evening Express. 8 February 1898. p. 2. (Details of Wilkins' retirement function and presentation)
• "Presentation to Merthyr's Literary Ex-Postmaster, Mr. Charles Wilkins". The Merthyr Times. 11 February 1898. p. 6. (Further details, includes a photograph)
• [https://newspapers.library.wales/view/3741597/3741600/10/ "The Testimonial to Mr Charles Wilkins, F.G.S."]. South Wales Daily News. 1 December 1898. p. 3. (Praise for Wilkins' work)
• "List of Subscriptions to the Testimonial Presented to Mr Charles Wilkins". The Merthyr Times. 21 April 1899. p. 4. (Subscribers include Marquess of Bute. Lord Tredegar, Sir W. T. Lewis, etc.)
• {{cite news|title= Literary Associations of Merthyr Tydfil |work=Merthyr Express| date=17 April 1909 |page=8|url= https://newspapers.library.wales/view/3814846/3814854/77/ |via=Welsh Library Online}}(Lists Wilkins' main achievements)
• {{cite news|title=Merthyrian Bibliography. 49. The History of Merthyr. By Charles Wilkins |work=Merthyr Express| date=13 August 1910 |page=12|url= https://newspapers.library.wales/view/3815743/3815755/173 |via=Welsh Library Online}} (Includes a brief literary biography)
• "Former Postmaster at Merthyr". Western Mail. 5 August 1913. p. 10. (Includes a photograph)
• Wilkins, Charles (1994). "Recollections of three Merthyr artists". Merthyr Historian. 7:126–135.
• Roberts, Brynley F. (2001). "Charles Wilkins the Historian of Merthyr Tydfil". Merthyr Historian. 12:1–19.
• Wilkins, John (2001). "Charles Wilkins, writer, 1830–1913: A Biographical Note by his Great Grandson". Merthyr Historian. 13:5–18.
• Wilkins, John V. (2011). "A Scrap of Autobiography by Charles Wilkins, Annotated by his Great Grandson John V. Wilkins". Merthyr Historian. 22:141–150.

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilkins, Charles}}

Category:1830 births

Category:1913 deaths

Category:People from Stonehouse, Gloucestershire

Category:People from Merthyr Tydfil

Category:Historians of Wales

Category:English writers