BORN HULL 1898. SON OF JAMES HIGGINS (1878-1932) & CAROLINE HIGGINS, OF 3 WARE’S BUILDINGS, STANIFORTH PLACE, HESSLE ROAD, HULL (WAR PENSION & CWGC ADDRESS). SON OF A CORPORATION LABOURER. HE HAD ONE YOUNGER BROTHER, JAMES HENRY HIGGINS AND THREE SISTERS, VIOLET, LOUISA AND IDA.
A BAG WEAVER. DESCRIBD AS 5 FOOT, 145 LBS WEIGHT, 6.5 INCHES TALL, 38-40 INCH CHEST. HE ENLISTED IN THE “HULL PALS”, AGED 16, ON 08/02/1915. HE GAVE THE AGE OF 19 YEARS AND 1 MONTH. TRAINED AT RIPPON AND SALSIBURY ARMY CAMPS. SERVED WITH THE 12TH EAST YORKSHIRE REGIMENT, IN EGYPT AND FRANCE. SAW ACTION ON THE SOMME IN 1916. WOUNDED BY GUNSHOT IN THE CHEST AND ABDOMEN, AT OPPY WOOD, ON 03/05/1917. HE DIED OF WOUNDS ON 17/05/1917, AGED 19. HE IS BURIED AT BOULOGNE EASTERN CEMETERY, PAS DE CALAIS, FRANCE. HIS GRAVE INSCRIPTION, READS, “WITH CHRIST WHICH IS FAR BETTER”. HIS DEATH WAS REPORTED IN THE HULL DAILY MAIL, ON 22/05/1917.
HIS NAME WAS RECORDED ON THE WAR MEMORIAL AT ST THOMAS CHURCH, CAMPBELL STREET, WHICH WAS DESTROYED IN AN AIR RAID DURING WW2.
HIS FATHER, JAMES HIGGINS, SERVED AS PRIVATE, 25608, 8TH EYR, AND WAS DISCHARGED FROM THE WAR, ON 06/09/1917, WITH BRIGHT DISEASE (SILVER BADGE NO:268796.
The attack on Oppy Wood, part of the Battle of Arras, was a significant battle for the East Yorkshire Regiment and particularly for the city of Hull. All four Hull Pals battalions were involved on 3 May and all suffered heavy casualties, with 40% of those present killed or injured. 2nd Lieutenant Jack Harrison, a local teacher and rugby player with Hull FC, won a posthumous Victoria Cross for his bravery in rushing a machine gun position to protect his platoon. His body was never found.
The village of Oppy in France had been in German hands since October 1914 and was part of a formidable defensive system including trenches, dug-outs and thick barbed wire defences. During the Battle of Arras, which began in April 1917, the British tried to take Oppy. The first attack was a failure. A second attack was partially successful. The third attack on 3 May, known officially as the Third Battle of the Scarpe, was again unsuccessful with significant loss of life. The troops were ordered to attack at 3.45am, rather than at dawn, and the defending Germans could easily see the line of British soldiers clearly lit by the full moon. The British continued to attack Oppy and were finally successful the following year. The City of Hull Memorial at Oppy was unveiled in 1927 and commemorates the men of the Hull Pals who were killed on 3 and 4 May 1917.
