Leonard Hickman

War Service

Even though damaged, a copy of some of Leonard’s service record survived the bombing of London during WWII. Extracts from the remaining Army Service Records state the following:
Information contained on Leonard’s Short Service Attestation Form
(Signed to be true when asked by Army recruiting personnel)
“Full Address 2, Foxholes Lane, Altofts, Normanton
What is your Age 22 years 148 days
What is your Trade Blacksmiths Striker
Date 16 February 1916
Appointed Royal Engineers
To Army Reserve 17.02.1916
After a short time in the Army Reserves, Leonard received information instructing him to join his regiment on 23 May 1916. Following his training Leonard embarked for France, arriving on 26 January 1917. The 409th Field Company was one of the companies of Royal Engineers integrated into the 1st Division. Early in 1917 the Division was involved in the preparations for an assault on the German held coast of Belgium. The code name of the operation was “Operation Hush” and it was planned to take place along the Belgian coast during the summer of 1917. The Royal Engineers would put Leonard’s blacksmith skills to good use.
In the coastal area around Dunkirk the construction of three massive pontoons began in preparation for an amphibious landing. The pontoons were 700 feet long with the combined capacity to carry 13,750 men of the 1st Division including supporting artillery, tanks and equipment. Each pontoon would be moved by the power of two monitor ships (a monitor was a small warship which carried a large gun). All the work and training was to no avail. The advances gained during the Third Battle of Ypres – July to November 1917 (Passchendaele) took longer than anticipated, resulting in the cancellation of “Operation Hush”.
Leonard’s battalion was then involved in a number of battles during the German army retreat in 1918 until the armistice in November of that year and then entering Germany to become part of the occupation force. Leonard gained promotion to Sergeant on 7 May 1919. Six weeks later, he was admitted to the 47 General Hospital in Bonn. After only two days in hospital Leonard died of septicaemia on the 26 June 1919. Leonard now lies in the Cologne Southern Cemetery in Germany.
The transfer of graves from over 180 different burial grounds in Germany to Cologne Southern Cemetery took place at the end of hostilities over the course of the following years. There are now almost 2,500 First World War servicemen buried or commemorated in the Commonwealth plots in Cologne.
After Leonard’s parents received notification of their son’s death at their home at 2, Foxholes Lane, Altofts there would be only one more dreaded telegram delivered in the Altofts area.

Family Life

Leonard was born in Whitwood, the fifth child of Mark and Sarah Jane Hickman and baptised in Saint Philip Church, Whitwood, Yorkshire on 11 April 1894.
Leonard’s parents were born in Staffordshire, but by 1884 they had moved to live in Wigan, Lancashire where their first three children Mary, Mark and Lucy were born. Sometime after 1888 the family moved over the Pennines to live in Whitwood where, in 1890 Eliza was born, followed by Leonard on 21 September 1893.
Leonard’s father Mark was a coalminer and sometime around the turn of the century the family moved a short distance from Whitwood to live at 9, Park Row, Normanton.
By 1911 Leonard’s older siblings, Mary, Mark and Lucy, were married and had all left the family home. The remaining members of the family then lived at 2, Foxholes Lane, Altofts. Leonard was now 17 years old and working at a local colliery.