| Description | Work completed by volunteer includes the following information
Oscar was born in the Myton district of Hull on 4 Feb 1892. He was baptised at St Mary’s Church in Beverley on 27 Mar 1912. He was one of four children born to William Hicks and his wife Kate Hoodlass Harper who married locally in 1892. William was a shipowner’s clerk; Kate had been a schoolteacher in Woodmansey, her father an officer of customs in Hull. The family moved to Beverley around 1907-08 and lived at 49 Wood Lane. Oscar attended Beverley Grammar School and between 1911 and 1912 was a member of the Beverley Church Lads’ Brigade. He was described as “a nice quiet lad” but someone who was “very unsettled at the (annual) camp”. He moved to Woodmansey in 1912 and possibly lived at Holliday Villas in the village.
On 10 Nov 1915 Oscar enlisted at Hull Central Recruiting Office and became a Private in the 5th Battalion of the East Yorkshire (Cyclist) Territorial Force. They were based at Withernsea and later Newbiggin and undertook patrols along the Holderness coastline. Oscar was passed as “fit for service in the field at home or abroad” but in fact never the left the UK due to sickness. On 4 Aug 1916 he was given a discharge: sickness had left him unfit for further service and he was given a Silver Badge in recognition of that fact. His medical documents note that he was of “good” physical development but that he wore glasses.
Oscar married Grace Annie Blyth, born 1899 in dunswell, at St Peters woodmansey in 1921, the marriage entry states Oscar was an analytical chemist. They had two children and lived at Wawne Ferry Lane, Thearne. The 939 Register states Oscar worked at a coal tar derivative works. Oscar died in Woodmansey on 10 Oct 1974. Grace died in 1979.
Includes information taken from census, military records, Commonwealth War Graves, newspapers |