Arquata Scrivia Communal Extension Cemetery in Itay
where Phillip G. Hickmott (1892-1918) is buried.
(last updated 27 September 2007)
Samuel Hickmott and his first wife, Harriet Hartridge, had three sons Edward, James and Henry who were all born at Pembury in Kent. The boys lived at Pembury until late in 1830 first with their father and mother and then, following Harriet's death in 1827, with their father and stepmother, Eliza Tester. Eliza died while giving birth to their first child, William Hickmott, and was buried in Pembury on 14 August 1830. Samuel and his three older boys went to live at the nearby town of Lamberhurst (Samuel's place of birth). He left the infant William at Pembury in the care of Eliza's family. The 1841 census shows William, then aged 10 years, at the dwelling of Samuel and Mercy Anscomb (probably Eliza's sister) at 'Rensfort' at Pembury. I have not yet been able to locate him in any subsequent censuses.
Just prior to Christmas 1833 Samuel's boys were placed by their father into Lamberhurst's Poor House. They remained there for 18 months when they were released and went to live with Samuel at Windmill Field on the outskirts of Tunbridge Wells. Sometime in 1837 Samuel and his older brother, Thomas, were indicted for stealing three lambs from the property of a Sussex farmer, Samuel Pix. On hearing the news Samuel and Thomas took off. They remained at large until Christmas 1839 when they were arrested at the 'Brighton Railway'. The two brothers were tried at the Maidstone Assizes in January 1840, found guilty and transported to Australia in April the same year.
By 1837 Samuel's sons were working as apprentice brick makers and brick layers, probably in or near the Thames in northwest Kent. Though we know most about Henry's subsequent life and times, the English censuses have also enabled us to trace what happened to Edward and James and some in their families up until the early 1900s. Although their stories are not as complete or as detailed as that of Henry, they are interesting nonetheless and are outlined below. The research findings supporting these stories is contained on the Rootsweb site for the Hickmott and Owen families.
The 1841 census shows an Edward Hickmott, a 21 year-old brick maker who was born in Kent, residing in the Kent County Prison at Maidstone. Edward married Mary Ann Goldsmith by banns in the Trinity Church at Maidstone on 30 May 1842. Their wedding certificate shows Edward was a bachelor and Mary Ann a spinster. Both were of of full age and both lived in Maidstone at the time of the wedding. Edward's father was said to be Samuel Hickmott, a labourer. Mary Ann's father was John Goldsmith who worked as a carpenter. The wedding was conducted by a Thomas Harrison and was witnessed by John Smith and Mary Ann Dickson. Both Mary Anns signed the register with a 'mark' or cross.
Born at Maidstone in 1824, Mary Ann Goldsmith was the eldest daughter of John and Rebecca Goldsmith who had six children in Maidstone: Charles, Richard, James, Mary Ann, John and Sophia Goldsmith. Sophia married Edward Hickmott's brother, Henry Hickmott, at Hackney in Middlesex in 1848. According to William Reitwiesner Kate Middleton, the much-publicised friend of the present Prince of Wales, Prince William, is a descendant of Mary Ann and Sophia's brother, John Goldsmith and his wife Esther.
After working for a time around Maidstone, Edward Hickmott left to work in India sometime between 1851 and 1861. His wife Mary Ann remained for much of her time in England and had six children there: Mary Ann, Harriet Sarah, Edward Richard, James, Emma and Henry. We know that some of these either visited their father in India or lived or worked there. The Families in British India Society (FIBIS) website shows that Harriet Sarah Hickmott married George Weaving Goddard in the Bengal district in 1870, and James Ernest Hickmott married Emilie Mortimer there in 1885.
It seems that James and Emilie had at least one son. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission website includes a Captain Reginald Ernest Joseph Hickmott who served in the Indian Armoured Corps during the Second World War. He died on 28 January 1943 and was buried at the Kirkee War Cemetery near Poona in India. The record notes that Reginald was 51 years old, the son of James Ernest and 'Emela' Lilian Hickmott, and the husband of Gertrude Evelyn Hickmott of Frome in Somerset.
George Goddard probably came from Wiltshire and he and Harriet had eight children between 1871 and 1883: Edward, George, Harold, Evelyn, Kathleen, Frank, Henry and Harriet where all but Harold and Frank were born in Calcutta in India. In 1891 Harriet and all her children were living in Wandsworth in London. By the time of the 1901 census, Evelyn, then 24, was the designated head of the household (it is not clear whether Harriet had died or was simply not present). At the same address were her sisters Kathleen and May, brother Frank, who was working as a coach builder, their grandmother Harriet Goddard, aunt Mary Goddard and an elderly visitor, Ann Sime, from Kennard in Scotland. The presence of servants and the fact that all of the females were said to be living on their own means, suggests that the family was by then well off.
Edward and Mary Ann's eldest son, Edward Richard Hickmott married Elizabeth Margaret Dean in Woolwich in Kent in 1877. In 1881 Edward and Elizabeth and their two children, Effie and Aubrey, were living in Plumstead in London. Edward was employed as an inspector of works at the Royal Albert Docks. The 1891 census shows Edward working as a traveller for a brick merchant and living at Battersea in London. The couple now had four children: Effie, Aubrey Edward, James Harry and Jessie. In 1901 the family was living at 1 Eddiscombe Road in Fulham in London. Edward was still a traveller for a brick merchant. Others present were: Edward's wife Elizabeth, their children Effie, Jessie and Philip, a nephew Frederick H. Dean and a niece Connie M. M. Kay.
Both Edward and his wife Elizabeth died sometime before 1915. The Catherine House records show that Philip G. Hickmott married Nora J. Setter in the Camberwell district of Greater London in Surrey in 1912, and Jessie I. Hickmott married Ernest J. Freemantle in Fulham in 1913. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission records that a Private Edward Aubrey Hickmott of the 2nd Battalion The Buffs (East Kent Regiment) died in Belgium on 14 April 1915. He was 35 years old when he died and his name is inscribed on the Menin Gate at Ypres (Panel 12 and 14). They also show that Edward Aubrey's younger brother, Phillip, who was then a 27 year-old Corporal in the Royal Army Ordnance Corps, died on active service in Italy on 29 October 1918. He is buried in Italy in the Arquata Scrivia Communal Cemetery (pictured below). The record notes that Phillip was the 'son of Edward Richard and Elizabeth Margaret Hickmott; husband of N. J. Hickmott, of 3 Eswyn Rd Tooting in London. Born at West Kensington, London'.
Arquata Scrivia Communal Extension Cemetery in Itay
where Phillip G. Hickmott (1892-1918) is buried.
Edward and Mary Ann's eldest daughter, Mary Ann Hickmott married John William Willder (the Willders were neighbours of the Hickmotts when they were living at 'The Craylands' in Swanscombe in West Kent). She and John had two children we know of: Edward Percy Willder, who was born at Swanscombe in 1866, and Ethel Marion Willder who was born at Calcutta in India in 1874. The FIBIS website shows that Ethel married Bertram R. E. Lindsay in the Bengal district of India in 1891. According to one of their descendants, Eric Heyes, Edward married Marjorie Elsie Bushby in 1915. Marjorie came from Reigate in Surrey and died in Liverpool in 1978. She and Edward had one daughter, Joyce Marion Willder, who lives in England. Eric tells us that his great grandfather, John William Willder, worked on the trains at Calcutta and that he died there after being run over by a tram.
Edward Hickmott snr returned to Great Britain sometime between 1871 and 1881. The census for the latter year shows him as a 60 year-old brick manufacturer employing seven men and three boys and living at Grey Cottage on Camphilly Road in Llanishen in the county of Glamorgan in Wales. Also present were his wife Mary Ann, daughter Emma S. Hickmott, son Henry C. W. Hickmott and two grandchildren: Harold P. and Evelyn Goddard. Mary Ann died sometime before the 1891 census which showed Edward and his daughter Emma (pictured) still living on Camphilly Road in Llanishen. Edward died in 1898, aged 78 years. The 1901 census shows his daughter, Emma, as the head of the household at Grey Cottage. She was 42 years old, unmarried and living on her own means. Also present were two of Emma's nephews - George H. Hickmott, who was born at Calcutta in India in 1891 and Henry A. Goddard who were born in India in 1891 and 1874 respectively - and two single visitors: Olive Hurley, 26 born in Glamorgan and living on her own means, and Rhoda Evelyn Dickens, a 23 year-old hospital nurse who was born in Guildford in Surrey.
Born in Pembury in 1823 James was probably living at Tunbridge Wells when his father was arrested for sheep stealing and transported to Australia in 1840. The 1851 census shows a James Hickmott (a 28 year-old journeyman brickmaker who was born at Pembury) living in Milton near Gravesend in Kent. With him were his wife Mary A. (25 and born in Marden) and children William (6, Marden), Daniel C. (4, 'Perry St Kent'), Richard (2, 'Perry St Kent') and Mary A. (2m, Gravesend).
The 1861 census shows him living at 21 Brick Fields, Buckhurst Hill in Chigwell in Essex. With him are his wife, Mary Ann, and children William James, Daniel, Richard, Mary Ann, Caroline, Emma and Edward. In 1871 the family was at 261 Alfred Road in Buckhurst Hill. Children born after the previous census were Helen, Henry, Harriet and Frederick all of whom were born at Buckhurst Hill.
The 1881 census has James and Mary Ann 'Hickmoth' still living on Alfred Road, Buckhurst Hill in Chigwell. With them were their children: Edward, Henry, Frederick and Ada. Edward was born at Ilford while the other three were born at Buckhurst Hill. Living a few houses away was a Charles Hickmott (a 34 year-old widower who was born at Gravesend in Kent) and his three children: Mary Ann (5), William (4) and Emma (1) where all were born at Buckhurst Hill. I've yet to determine whether and how Charles may be related to James.
James and Mary Ann and family were still at Alfred Road in Buckhurst Hill in 1891. Also present were their unmarried sons Richard (44) and Henry (29 year-old labourer), their daughter Ellen (a 21 year-old boot shopwoman) and two grand daughters Emma Hickmott (11 years old and born at Buckhurst Hill) and Gerty F. Hallett (3, Buckhurst Hill). My guess is that Emma was the eldest daughter of James' son Daniel and his wife Ellen (who were living at West Ham in London at the time). The 1901 census showed James (aged 78 and described as a 'labourer out of work') residing at Cambridge Villas in Buckhurst Hill. Also there were Mary Ann (76, needlewoman), their son 'Dick' Hickmott (52 and 'too ill to work') and granddaughter Gerty Hickmott (13 and born in London).
As the censuses show, James and Mary Ann had altogether eleven children most of whose lives and families we have also been able to trace as follows:
William James Hickmott. Born in Marden in Kent in 1846, William (then 26 and unmarried) was working as an attendant at the Kent County Lunatic Asylum at Maidstone in 1871. Also on the staff there were Charles William Hickmott, 23, from Maidstone (Charles was the eldest son of Charles Thomas and Hannah Lawrence Hickmott nee Jupe) and William Hickmott, a 31 year-old baker from Detling in Kent, and his wife Mary (23, Islington), daughters Clara Emily (2, Maidstone) and Alice (2m, Maidstone), and a vistor Clara Batchelor (16, Dover).
The 1881 census had William as the superintendent of the House of Industry at Douglas in the Isle of Man. With him was his wife Alice Hickmott (aged 34 and born at Marylebone in London) who was the matron of the same establishment. The Catherine House records indicate that Alice was Alice Higginson and they were married in the Maidstone district of Kent in 1872 (vol. 2a, page 661).
I have not been able to find them in the later census returns although the Catherine House Records show that a William James Hickmott, who was born in 1845, died in the Epping registration district of Essex in the October quarter of 1885 (vol. 4a, page 142). If this is our William, it raises the possibility that Alice re-married sometime after 1885.
Daniel Charles Hickmott. Born in Northfleet (pictured below) in 1847, Daniel married Ellen Eliza F. Pittman in London in 1884. Ellen, who was born at Woodford in Essex in 1857, worked as a dressmaker. In 1881 she was living in St Olive Cottages on Albert Road North in Chigwell in Essex. Also present were her widowed father, William Pittman, and married sister Matilda Gresham.
The 1891 census shows Daniel (44 year-old bricklayer) living at 35 Godense Road, West Ham in London. With him were Ellen (34) and three children. The 1901 census shows the family residing at Ley Street in Ilford in Essex. The censuses and Catherine House records indicate that Daniel and Ellen had six children: Charles Frederick (born at Buckhurst Hill in Essex in 1886, a bricklayer by trade), James William (1887, Buckhurst Hill), Ellen C. (1891, Buckhurst Hill), Ada (1893, Buckhurst Hill), Henry (1897, Ilford) and Arthur (1899, Ilford).
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission shows that a Private Charles Frederick Hickmott of the 6th Battalion The Buffs (East Kent Regiment) died aged 36 years on 20 March 1916 at Bethune in France. It states that he was the husband of Ethel Smith (formerly Hickmott) of 2 Bell Yard, Ley Street in Ilford in Essex. The Catherine House records indicate the Ethel was Ethel Faulkner who married Charles in the West Ham registration district of Greater London in Essex in 1912.
Richard Hickmott. Born in Gravesend in 1849, Richard lived with his parents until his death in 1902. It seems he never married.
Mary Ann Hickmott. Born in Gravesend in 1851, Mary Ann was living with her parents at Buckhurst Hill in Essex at the time of the 1861 census. In 1871 she was working as a housemaid at the house of rug merchant, Edward Horner, at 150 May Place in Crayford in Kent. By 1881 she and her younger sister Alice were working as servants in a house at 17 Frant Road in Tunbridge Wells. In 1891 Mary (38 and still single) was the cook at the farm of James Norris at Castle Hill in Bletchingley in Surrey. I could not find her in the 1901 census.
Caroline Elizabeth Hickmott. Born in Gravesend in 1854, Caroline, then aged 17 years, was working as a servant at Wallwood House in Leyton in Essex in 1871. The Catherine House records show that a Caroline E. Hickmott married a George Setter in the St Olave Southwark district of London in the January quarter of 1875 (vol. 1d, page 245). The 1881 census shows George and Caroline and their two children (Maude and Herbert) living at 35 Saraca Street in Bermondsey in Southwark. I could not find the family in the 1891 and 1901 censuses.
Edward G. Hickmott was born in Ilford in Essex in around 1859. He married Alice Chapman in around 1886 probably in Chigwell in Essex. Alice had been born in Margaret Ruthing in Essex. The 1901 census shows Edward (a 43 year-old bricklayer) living at 34 Pembroke Rd in Ilford with Alice and four children: Mary A. (14), Emma L. (5), Edward G. (3) and Caroline E. (1) where the first three had been born at Buckhurst Hill and the last at Ilford.
Born at Buckhurst Hill in Essex in 1865, Harriet Alice Hickmott was living with her parents there in 1871. At the time of the 1881 census Alice (as she was then called) was working as a house servant at 17 Frant Road in Tunbridge Wells (Alice's older sister Mary Ann was the cook at the same house). The Catherine House Records show that Alice Harriett Hickmott married Fred Basden in the St Olave registration district of London in the October quarter of 1889 (vol. 1d, page 547). Fred was a bricklater and was born at Woodford in Essex. In 1901 he and Alice were living at 3 St Stephen's Cottages in Buckhurst Hill in Essex. Also present were their two daughters Lily (9) and 'Beatie' (4), both born at Buckhurst Hill.
Frederick Herbert Hickmott. Born at Buckhurst Hill in 1867, Frederick was living with his parents in Chigwell in Essex in 1871 and 1881. The Catherine House records show that he married Amy Clark in the Edmonton registration district of Essex in the April quarter of 1890 (vol. 3a, page 529). Amy was born at King's Cross in London in 1872.
The 1891 census shows Frederick and Amy as visitors at the house of Fred and Agnes M. Mills at 4 Adelaide Place in Hanwell in Middlesex. Frederick was than a painter and was said to be born at Maidstone in Kent. The 1901 census has Federick, a 35 year-old cabman and groom, living at 79 Upton Park Road in West Ham in London with his wife Amy and daughter Mabel who was eight years old and had been born at Buckhurst Hill.
Ellen Ada Hickmott. The 1881 and 1891 censuses have Ellen living with her parents at Chigwell in Essex. The Catherine House records show she married Harry Edmund Blott in the Epping registration district of Essex in the October quarter of 1900 (vol. 4a, page 612). Harry, a butcher, was the son of Jonathon and Eliza Blott who, along with Harry and his older sister Maud, were living in Bethnel Green in 1891. The 1901 census shows Harry and Ada at 69 Bridge Road Battersea in London. With them was a 24 year-old 'servant' and 'butcher's assistant', James Hughes from Bethnel Green. The Catherine House records show an Ada Elizabeth Blott was born in the Islington registration district of Greater London, Middlesex in the January quarter of 1903 (vol. 1b, page 199). I'm assuming, although it has still to be proven that Mabel was Ada and Harry's first child.
Last updated: 27 September 2007
Image sources:
Aquata cemetery from Commonwealth War Graves Commission website.
Emma Hickmott, courtesy of Eric Heyes.
'Northfleet 1834', engraving by Wallis from original drawing by William Tombleson as part of his 'Views of the Thames and Medway' series; from Richard Nicholson of Chester Antique Maps and Prints.
