Private Alfred George WILKINSON 13836 was an Englishman who enlisted with the NZEF in Rarotonga during WWI. On enlistment his occupation was recorded as 'Island Trader, Penrhyn Island'. Enlisted in Rarotonga 17 February 1916 and embarked from Wellington 26 June 1916 and disembarked at Devonport, United Kingdom, 22 August 1916. Joined 1st Battalion 3rd NZ (Rifles) Brigade in France 4 November 1916. Admitted sick to 3rd NZ Field Ambulance and then 2nd Casualty Clearing Station on 30 June 1917. In an attack by enemy aircraft on the 2nd Casualty Clearing Station on 7 Juny 1917, he was severely wounded in the head and the left leg. Admitted to 83rd General Hospital 8 July 1917 and transferred to United Kingdom on Hospital Ship Jan Breydel 15 July1917 and on the same day admitted to the 1st New Zealand General Hospital, Walton-on-Thames. Classified as unfit 5 October 1917 and transferred to the New Zealand Discharge Depot, Torquay, 30 October 1917. Embarked on SS Ruahine at Liverpool 16 November 1918. Discharged in New Zealand 5 April 1918.

His name is recorded on the Cook Islands Roll of Honour board at RSA Nikao Rarotonga under 'Europeans who enlisted from the Cook Islands'.

Our research has uncovered Private Wilkinson’s movements after World War One when he returned to the Cook Islands. He subsequently lived on the islands of Penryhn, Rarotonga and Mangaia and married Teu Ra Mapuhi from Papeete, Tahiti, on 23rd of July 1923 at the Commissioner’s Office in Rarotonga. She was the daughter of an island trader. The marriage register is signed by Hugh F. Ayson. the Resident Commissioner at the time. The couple had no children from their marriage and therefore had no relatives in the Cook Islands.