Hicks, Clarence

BORN NEW HOLLAND, LINCS, 1892. SON OF GEORGE ALFRED & LOUISA HICK, AT 44, LORNE STREET, HULL (1911 CENSUS ADDRESS). A FORMER STEAMSHIP BOILER CLEANER. HE ENLISTED IN THE HULL PALS. KILLED ON 06/04/1916, AGED 23. HIS ARMY EFFECTS WERE LEFT TO HIS WIDOW, EMILY MELBOURNE, AT 21 BRUNSWICK GROVE, NEWINGTON, HULL AND THEIR YOUNG SON, CLARENCE, BORN 19/02/1915. (PENSION LEDGER ADDRESS)
Hull Pals Memorial Post. PRIVATE CLARENCE HICKS 12/22. Born in New Holland, Lincolnshire in 1893, Clarence was the third of five children to George and Louisa Hicks of 44 Lorne Street, Hull. A Boiler Cleaner on a Steamship at the time of the 1911 Census, Clarence later became a Fireman. He queued outside City Hall to enlist on the morning of 11th September 1914 joining the 12th Battalion East Yorkshire Regiment, ‘The Sportsmen’, 3rd Hull Pals. Like many men, Clarence married during training. He wed Emily Mason on 24th November 1914 at Hull Registry Office and managed to father a daughter, Clara, before leaving Blighty in December 1915 bound for Alexandria, Egypt. His stint as part of the garrison protecting Suez from potential attack by the Turks is noted for one thing, he was arrested by MPs in Port Said and charged with Drunkenness early in January 1916. For this he was sentenced to 10 days Field Punishment No.1, which in the desert heat, must have been horrific. The Pals left Egypt on February 29th bound for Marseilles and the train north to Armentieres and the trenches of the Western Front. Clarence Hicks was killed in action on the Somme on 13th November 1916 and his body never recovered; He is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial; he was 23 years old.