Like many Wisharts who were the sons of mariners, Charles Wilkie Wishart’s life seemed destined to be spent a sea from an early age, and it is probably of no surprise that as soon as he was old enough, he joined the Merchant Service.

Charles was born on 30 May 1891 at 106 Crossloan Road, Govan and the fifth of six children of David Lyall Wishart, a seaman from Montrose, and his wife, Elizabeth Taylor. Of the six, only Charles and his older brother David lived until adulthood, and their father died in 1895 at the tragically young age of 37.

Little is known about Charles’ early life, and his family disappear from census returns after 1891. He served on Merchant vessels during the First World War and rose from the rank of able seaman to boatswain by the early 1930s. In 1939 he lived in Stepney, London and died at the Northern Hospital in April 1940. Charles is buried in the City of London & Tower Hamlets Cemetery.

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