Ashtead War Memorials - WWI - Lieut Frank Alan Hicks MC, Royal Fusiliers

Frank’s birth was registered at Epsom for the December Quarter 1896. He was the first-born son of Alan Hicks [b. Islington C1867], a wholesale/manufacturing chemist, and his wife Alice Kaye née Beauchamp (Proctor) [whose father was Major-General George EH Beauchamp].

Following marriage on 16 November 1895, his parents had come to Ashtead to live [as recorded in the 1901 Census] at Parkside Cottage (located at the bottom of Park Lane in Epsom Road).

An article by the late Geoffrey Gollin in Bygone Ashtead explains, on p111, how the Hicks and Maples families became neighbours [Kenneth Maples and William Maples are two other Wykehamists listed on the Ashtead War memorials]: -

“In 1875, when living in The Hut, Col. Gleig connected it to Ottways Lane by a road about 150 yards long. This took the form of a beautiful poplar lined avenue which existed until about 1960.

Frank Hicks
via Andy Pay
and by kind permission of Winchester College

After Col. Gleig left The Hut, it was leased to Mr William Maples from [the later Gleig residence] 6 Sunnyside, Wimbledon. On May 7th 1901, Col. Gleig wrote to Messrs. White [Collectors of the tithes] to inform them that he had sold the 6½ acre field known as 'Great Murreys' to Mr. Alan Hicks. In the same letter he says ‘Mr. Maples has purchased the house and land which he has occupied from me for the last 21 years’. This indicates that Maples rented The Hut in 1880 when the Tithe Schedule notes it as ‘New road and land late hotel’.”

Educated at Twyford School and, according to Wykehamists who died in the Great War 1914-1918, Winchester College 1910-1914, where he was in K House, also known as Kingsgate or Beloes. According to the College Archivist he was confirmed in Nov 1912 and was as reserve for one of the football teams.

Frank Hicks left in 1914 for Sandhurst, from where he commissioned into 4th Bn Royal Fusiliers in December 1914. It has yet to be established when and why the officer was awarded a Military Cross but probably it related to an act of heroism in 1915 because his name appears on page 588 of a Supplement to the London Gazette of 11 January 1916. He was also Mentioned in Despatches.

The Gazette for 5 May 1916 records that he was to be made up to full Lieutenant antedated to 1 September 1915. During 1918 he was acting as Captain, employed with an Officer Cadet battalion at Gailes*, being returned to substantive rank on 10 June in that year.

On 21 August 1918, having gone back to the Front, he was killed in action serving with 4th Battalion Royal Fusiliers. Fighting over the Somme battlefields of 1916 had resumed in what would become known as the 'Battle of Albert' and, on 21 August 1918, the front line was in front of the village of Bucquoy where an attack was launched down a steep slope to the bottom of the valley and up a rise on the other side to the hamlets of Achiet-le-Petit and Achiet-le-Grand with the aim ultimately of capturing a railway line beyond the hamlets. The Germans were well entrenched, protected by barbed wire entanglements and equipped with numerous machine guns covering the entire valley. At dawn a very heavy artillery barrage preceded an advance from the British trenches and in a first phase units reached Achiet before The Cheshires went on to secure the railway.

In the archives of Winchester College it is stated that he fell near Courcelles on 21 August 1918. His company were carrying out a difficult attack in thick mist when they suddenly came under heavy machine gun fire. He was struck by a fragment of a shell as he rushed to help a fellow officer who had fallen wounded.

In Images of England - Ashtead, page 122, noted by Ann Williams it states "A particularly sad story is that of Frank Hicks, son of Alan Hicks, captain of Ashtead fire brigade. Frank was a young man who was born and lived all his life in Ashtead. Shorly after his eighteenth birthday in 1914, he was serving as a lieutenant in the 4th Battalion Royal Fusiliers and in May 1915 sustained shrapnel wounds at Ypres. Suffering from all the distressing symptoms of severe shell shock, it took Frank nearly two years of hospital treatment and rest at his home in Great Murrays, Agates Lane, to recover. This incredibly brave young man returned to France in 1917 and went on to be awarded the Military Cross for gallantry [as stated the MC may have been earlier than suggested here] above before being tragically killed in action on 21 August 1918, at just twenty-one years old."

His records show that his case seems to have been subject to quarterly medical reviews during which it was noted that he was "very young" - 19½.

A Death Notice in The Times, 29 August 1918, gives Mr and Mrs Alan Hicks’ address as Great Murrays, Ashtead - on Agates Lane.

The family had moved from the District before 1927, to take up residence in Bolney, Sussex, and Frank Hicks' father and mother lived on until 22 November 1950 & 26 February 1948 respectively.

Officer Cadet Battalions (OCB) were those units training officers for the Infantry. Initially 12 Officer Cadet Battalions were formed. By June 1916 about a dozen OCBs had been established, rising to 23 by July 1917. Officer cadets had to have served in the ranks and been recommended by their CO, unless they had previous officer experience or a specialist qualification. Service in an Officers Training Corps (OTC) continued to count as prior service. The new courses, although containing a certain amount of military training, laid more stress on developing leadership, initiative and self-confidence. After three months training candidates had to pass an examination before being granted a temporary commission.

It is indicative of how little training these potential officers had before being sent into action.

The 10th Officer Cadet Battalion in July 1917 was at Gailes, Ayrshire, Scotland.
Brian Bouchard

text: Brian Bouchard: Ann Williams assisted, particularly with the 1901 Census.
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page added 9 Feb 2009: last updated 15 May 2009