BORN HULL 1897. SON OF ERNEST ASHTON SPIKINS (1870-1948) & MARY ELIZABETH CHAMBERS (1870-1951), OF 7, GLADSTONE STREET, HULL (WAR PENSION ADDRESS). HE HAD ONE YOUNGER BROTHER, TERENCE (1905-1948). HE WORKED AS A CLERK.
HE ENLISTED IN HULL. SERVED WITH THE 10TH & 12TH EAST YORKSHIRE REGIMENT (HULL PALS), IN EGYPT AND FRANCE. KILLED AT SERRE, ON 13/11/1916, AGED 19. COMMEMORATED ON THE THIEPVAL MEMORIAL. HIS NAME WAS LISTED AT ST MATTHEWS CHURCH, WW1 MEMORIAL, BOULEVARD, HULL. UNMARRIED. HIS ARMY EFFECTS WERE LEFT TO HIS FATHER, ERNEST.
Hull Pals Memorial Post. L/CPL MAURICE KNOWLES SPIKINS 10/359. Born in January 1897, Maurice was the eldest of two sons to Ernest and Mary Spikins of 7 Gladstone Street, Hull. A Clerk before the war, he queued to enlist outside City Hall on 2nd September 1914, joining the fledgling 10th Battalion East Yorkshire Regiment, ‘The Commercials’, 1st Hull Pals. He have his age as 18 years and 3 months- a lie to ensure he didn’t get to miss out on the Big Adventure that they feared would be over by Christmas. In spite of his years Maurice must have proved himself a capable soldier and was promoted to Lance Corporal and trained as a Bomber. He served in Egypt, but then returned to the UK before arriving in France in June 1916 and at this point transferring to the 12th Battalion. It was a switch that may well have decided his fate. Maurice Spikins was killed in action, on 13th November 1916, on the Somme, in an attack his new battalion led and suffered horrendous casualties as a result. He simply disappeared into the rain and mud and was never seen again. Maurice is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial; still only a lad of 19.
