Everything about William Bernard Hickie totally explained
Sir William Bernard Hickie (
21 May 1865 –
3 November 1950) was an
Irish born
Major General of the
British Army and an Irish
nationalist politician.
His titles included
C.B., awarded
1912 and
K.C.B. awarded
1918. As a member of the British Army he served in the
Second Boer War from
1899 to
1902 ;
A.Q.M.G., in the Irish Command from
1912 to
1914 and in
World War I from
1914 to
1918. He commanded a Brigade of the
British Expeditionary Force in 1914 and was Commander of the
16th (Irish) Division from
1915 on the
Western Front.
Family origins
William Hickie was born on the 21 May 1865 as eldest of eight children of Colonel James Francis Hickie (1833-1913) in
Slevyre, Terryglass,
Borrisokane,
County Tipperary, and his wife, Lucila Larios y Tashara (d.1880) of
Castile.. He came from a long soldierly line and famous Gaelic stock, William Hickie’s name is best remembered as one of the notable Irishman who served during the Great War. Two of his other four brothers also served, one was a Major in the
Royal Artillery before becoming a priest. Hickie was educated at Oscort College,
Birmingham a renowned seminary for training Catholic youths of good family.
Military career
Being destined for a military career he attended the
Royal Military Academy Sandhurst (1882-85). He was commissioned into his father’s regiment, the
Royal Fusiliers at
Gibraltar, in 1885 and served with them for thirteen years in the
Mediterranean, in
Egypt. and
India. In 1899 he graduated as captain at the Staff College,
Camberley and was selected when the
Second Boer War broke out as a Special Service Officer in which capacity he acted in various positions of authority and command. He was promoted from captain of mounted infantry to battalion command, subsequently of a corps until eventually at the end of 1900 he was given command of an independent column of all arms. This he held for eighteen months.
Irish command
At the end of the war there followed various staff appointments, in 1907 regimental service in
Dublin and
Mullingar with the 1st Royal Fusiliers, where he was in command of the regiment for the last two years and from 1909 -1912 was appointed to the Staff of the
8th Infantry Division in
Cork where for four years he was well known in the hunting field and on the polo ground. In May 1912 promoted Colonel, he became
Quartermaster General of the Irish Command at
Royal Hospital Kilmainham. The next two years which elapsed were devoted to preparation for war, which the
War Office authorities had made known was now inevitable.
Great War
When war was declared the Staff of the Irish Command became automatically the Staff of the 2nd Army Corps and accordingly with the outbreak of
World War I in August 1914, he was promoted
Brigadier-General, and as part of the
British Expeditionary Force in France took charge of the Adjutant and Quartermaster-General's Department during the retreat of the 2nd Corps after the
Battle of Mons, to
Paris, and during the
Battle of the Marne. In the middle of September 1914, he relieved one of the brigadiers in the fighting line as commander of the 13th brigade (
5th Infantry Division) and then commanded the 53rd brigade (
18th Infantry Division) till December 1915, when he was ordered home to assume command of the
16th (Irish) Division at
Blackburn.
Promoted
Major General he took over from Lt. General Sir Lawrence Parsons. Hickie - one of a rare breed, a senior, Irish, Catholic officer - was a popular replacement. It was a politically highly sensitive appointment which required the professionalism and political awareness Hickie fortunately possessed as the division was formed around a core of Irish
National Volunteers in response to
Carson’s
Ulster Volunteers. He was much more diplomatic and tactful than his predecessors and spoke of the pride which his new command gave him, but didn't hesitate to make sweeping changes amongst the senior officers of the Irish Division. After putting the division through intensive training, it left under Irish command of which each man took personal pride. The 47th and 48th Brigade were in the trenches behind
Abbeyville by Christmas 1915, the 49th Brigade reaching the
Western Front in February 1916.
Distinguished service
In the next two years and four months during which General Hickie commanded the 16th (Irish) Division it earned a reputation for aggression and élan and won many memorials and mentions for bravery.
Hickie held his seat until the Seanad was dissolved in
1936 (replaced by
Seanad Éireann in 1937), devoting himself tirelessly with heart and soul, sparing neither labour nor expense, to the cause and interest of the Irish ex-servicemen and their Old Comrade Associations, acting as President of the Area Council (Southern Ireland) of the
British Legion (ex-servicemen’s charity organisation) during 1925 to 1948 . Although charming, good-looking and popular with the women, he never married
. He died on 3 November 1950 in Dublin and was buried in Terryglass, co. Tipperary.
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