My father, Brian Wilkinson, who has died aged 93, was a lawyer and parliamentary legal draftsman who worked in this capacity around the world until 2010.
He was born in Hull, east Yorkshire, the son of Lily (nee Kennedy), and John Wilkinson (known as Jack). Brian and his younger sister, Pat, grew up in a strong working-class family. Their father was a union activist employed in the shipyard.
As a teenager during the second world war, when Hull was hit hard by bombing, Brian experienced evacuation, air raids and rationing. He went to Hull grammar school and then studied law at University College Hull (now Hull University), achieving LLB (London) (Honours). Looking for new opportunities in the postwar period, he travelled abroad in 1955 and gained a lifelong love of south-east Asia. He spent time in Sarawak and Penang, and in Singapore, in 1957, he married Lian Eng (nee Tan), known as Margaret. They went on to have five children.
In 1965 they moved to Uganda, then, later, Fiji, St Kitts, the Cayman Islands and Brunei, where Brian worked for over 20 years, and continued to live after his retirement. He held numerous senior legal roles – including supervisor of elections in Fiji and acting attorney general in the Cayman Islands. In Brunei he was awarded several medals from the Sultan for his service including the Most Distinguished Order of Paduka Seri Laila Jasa. He met the Queen twice and said he thought she remembered him on the second occasion.
He made an early contribution to the emerging environmental legislation, drafting the Caribbean marine conservation law in 1985 allowing for the creation of marine parks where human activity is controlled.
Sir Anthony Smellie QC, currently chief justice of the Cayman Islands, described Brian as “simply the finest legal draftsman and one of the best legal minds I ever had the good fortune of working with”.
He was a proud Yorkshireman who never lost his accent but was always keen to integrate himself into the local community.
He was passionate about anything that was designed for left-handed people like himself and was interested in new experiences, including trying airlines with a poor track record – just for the novelty. People ranging from those holding the highest offices to those who poured the whisky will remember him as a gentle man with an interest in life, local culture, the laws of the land and left-handed corkscrews.
He is survived by Margaret, their children, Timothy, Martin, Edwin, Kim and me, and eight grandchildren.
