Sir Hiram Shaw Wilkinson, JP, DL (1840–1926) was a leading British judge and diplomat, serving in China and Japan. His last position before retirement was as Chief Justice of the British Supreme Court for China and Corea.
Hiram Shaw Wilkinson was born in 1840, the son of John Wilkinson Esq., of Belfast and Annabella Shaw, daughter of William Shaw, Esq., of Holden's Valley, County Down. In 1864 he married Prudie Gaffikin, the daughter of Thomas Gaffikin, Esq., of Belfast. He had two sons, Hiram Parkes Wilkinson, and the Reverend Thomas Gaffikin Wilkinson., both of whom were born in Yokohama, Japan. His wife died in 1870 in Yokohama. Wilkinson never remarried.
Wilkinson was educated at Queen's College, Belfast, earning a B.A. in 1864 and LL.D. in 1881.
Wilkinson entered Her Majesty's Consular Service in Japan in 1864, as a student interpreter. Wilkinson spoke fluent Japanese as a result of this time in consular service.
In 1872, Hiram Shaw Wilkinson was admitted to the bar of the Middle Temple. He would go on to serve in several legal and judicial offices in the Far East.
By 1876 Wilkinson was serving as 1st Assistant and interpreter at the British Consulate in Yedo (now Tokyo) as well as a Visiting Judge of the British Consular Court in Kanagawa. In 1877 he was appointed Acting Law Secretary of the British Supreme Court for China and Japan to be based in Yokohama. From 1879 to 1880 he acted as an Assistant Judge of the same court in Shanghai.