Birth & early life
Born at Ballitore, Co. Kildare, c.1828-1832.
[PB: The uncertainty in his year of birth reflects the rather inconsistent ages shown in subsequent records, including enlistment, various censuses and the registration of his death.
The small town of Ballitore, or Ballytore, was relatively cosmopolitan and socially diverse. Quakers came from many parts of Ireland and abroad (including Bordeaux, Jamaica and Norway) to be educated here, staying in a row of houses in the village whose attics had been knocked into one long room. Pupils also included both Protestant and Catholic local children. At the time of John Hickey's birth, the population was about 900 but the population today is around a third of that figure.]
"[Balitore] is conspicuous for the neatness and regularity of its appearance, and is principally inhabited by members of the Society of Friends; it has obtained considerable celebrity from its school, originally established in 1726, by Abraham Shackleton, a member of that society, and in which the celebrated Edmund Burke received the rudiments of his education."
[Source: Lewis's Topographical Dictionary 1837.]
[PB: A "John Hickey", born in Ireland and of roughly the right age, can be found in the 1841 Census living close to the centre of Bristol with what may be his mother, sister (or aunt) and older brother, a Blacksmith. This may well be 1379 John Hickey, since he would later find work elsewhere in Gloucestershire, in Yate and Cheltenham. Notice there are six or more families living together. All residents (except some very young children, born locally) were born in Ireland.]
[PB: According to the 1841 Census, a John Hickey was living with nineteen others in a house on the corner of Musket [Busket?] Wall Court and Sims's Alley, St James, Broadmead. A drawing of Sims's Alley by Samuel Loxton, published in Bristol as it was and as it is (1909), possibly evokes something of the character of the district. [Source: http://maps.bristol.gov.uk/kyp]]
(Click on image to enlarge)
1841 Census
Musket [Busket?] Wall Court — Broadmead, St James, Bristol, Gloucs.
Patk Lee, 45, Labourer, born Ireland.
Mary Lee, 40, born Ireland.
Cathne Lee, 4, born Gloucs.
Rs [?] Lee, 40, Labourer, born Ireland.
Patk Murphy, 40, Labourer, born Ireland.
John Rourk, 45, Labourer, born Ireland.
Michl Riely, 25, Labourer, born Ireland.
John McDonald, 25, Labourer, born Ireland.
Cathne McDonald, 25, born Ireland.
Anna Rourk, 5, born Gloucs.
John Tobin, 30, Navigator, born Ireland.
Johannah Tobin, 30, born Ireland.
Mary Hickey, 35, born Ireland.
Jane Hickey, 20, Dress maker [?], born Ireland
Michl Hickey, 15, Blacksmith, born Ireland.
John Hickey 8, born Ireland.
Thos Collins, 35, Provision merchant, born Ireland,
Maryanne Collins, 25, born Ireland.
Michl Collins, 2, born Gloucs.
Maryanne Collins, 5 mo, born Gloucs.
Life after service
Intended to live at 6, Charlemont Terrace, Kingstown, Dublin, after discharge in 1863, but clearly moved to Cheltenham soon after.
[1976] The following came from Mr. L. Jennings, of Little Berkhampstead, Hertfordshire, who was John Hickey's grandson:
"My grandfather and grandmother were married soon after his return from the Crimea. They lived at first at No. 8 Little Bay's Hill Terrace, Cheltenham. The house is still standing — and occupied. They had five sons and one daughter (my mother). One of the sons joined one of the Hussar regiments. On the death of his wife the family broke up and my mother went to live with relations, being about seven years old, and never saw or heard from him again. She never saw any of her brothers until about 1907.
"In the 1890s he was living in the St Pancras Workhouse, London, being blind and partly paralysed..."
[PB: John Hickey seems to have married Eliza, maiden name unknown, born Barrow, Somerset, while he was still in the army. However, no official record of their marriage has yet been found. She is possibly the Eliza Hillier who can be found on the 1841 Census.]
1841 Census
Barrow Gurney, Somerset.
William Hillier, 55, Agricultural labourer.
Harriet, 40.
William, 15.
Francis, 15.
Lucy, 7.
Eliza, 5.
Harriet, 2.
John Hickey's grandson told EJB that his grandparents lived at first at "No. 8 Little Bay's Hill Terrace, Cheltenham." In 2016, there were a number of images online of Little Bayshill Terrace, Cheltenham, of which these are typical.
(Click on image to enlarge)
John and Eliza Hickey appear to have had seven children: six boys and one girl.
Births registered
John Hickey, 1862/3, Dublin.
Robert Hickey, March Quarter 1864, Cheltenham.
Charlotte E Hickey, March Quarter 1866, Cheltenham.
Leonard Hickey, June Quarter 1868, Cheltenham.
Seymour Hickey, 1870, Yate [registration has not been found].
William Hickey, September Quarter 1872, Chipping Sodbury.
Frank Hickey, December Quarter 1875, Barnet.
[CP: EJB file states 5 sons and 1 daughter, but there is a 6th son on censuses.]
1871 Census
Yate, Gloucestershire
[Yate is 4 miles west of Chipping Sodbury, and 35 miles south of Cheltenham.]
John Hickey, 41, Butler, Domestic Service, born Ireland.
Eliza, 33, born Barrow, Somerset.
John Hickey, 8, Scholar, born Ireland.
Robert Hickey, 7, Scholar, born Cheltenham.
Charlotte Hickey, 5, Scholar, born Cheltenham.
Leonard Hickey, 3, born Cheltenham.
Seymour G Hickey, 9 months, born Yate, Gloucester.
[CP]
[PB: There is no indication in the Census in whose home John Hickey was a Butler.]
1881 Census
The Croft, Lytton Grove Putney, London.
Charles E Pollock, Head, 57, Baron of and Judge High Court of [Exchequer?], born Bloomsbury, St George, London.
Amy M Pollock, Wife, 28, born Putney.
Also present:
Six daughters, aged 18, 14, 14, 9, 3 and 1, and two sons, 6, 5, all born Putney.
John Hickey, Servant, Married, 49, Butler, Domestic Service, born Ireland.
A nurse, Children's maid, Nursery maid, Footman, two Housemaids.
A Coachman, a Cook and an Apprentice were living in the Coach House.
John Hickey was still living at "The Croft", Putney, London, on the 19th of March 1888 when he began to receive his deferred pension.
[PB: Lytton Grove runs between West Hill and Putney Hill. I wonder if "The Croft" now forms part of Putney High School?].
[PB: The English judge Sir Charles Edward Pollock (31 October 1823 — 21 November 1897) died at The Croft, Putney, on 21 November 1897. Pollock was married three times (compare the ages of his daughters and his then-wife): "He married thrice: first, on 1 September 1848, Nicola Sophia, second daughter of the Rev. Henry Herbert, rector of Rathdowney, Queen's County, Ireland; secondly, on 25 May 1858, Georgiana, second daughter of George William Archibald, LL.D., M.R., of Nova Scotia ; thirdly, on 23 December 1865, Amy Menella, daughter of Hassard Hume Dodgson, master of the court of common pleas and cousin of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson. He had issue by all three wives."]
St John's Terrace, Finchley.
Eliza Hickey [wife], 43, born Barrow, Somerset.
John Hickey, 18, Fishmonger, born Kingston, Dublin.
Robert Hickey, 17, Labourer, born Cheltenham.
Leonard Hickey, 13, Scholar, born Cheltenham.
Seymour Hickey, 10, Scholar, born Yate.
William Hickey, 8, Scholar, born Yate.
Frank Hickey, 5, Scholar, born Whetstone, Middlesex.
Griffin Hotel, St Mary Street, Cardiff.
Lottie Hickey [daughter], 15, cousin, assistant to Victualler, born Cheltenham.
[CP: Note that Lotte [Charlotte] was living with the Stacey family, Licensed Victuallers, and that they were relatives, which agrees with the EJB file.]
Death registered
Eliza Hickey, aged 52 years, September Quarter, 1890, Barnet.
[PB: On September 15th 1890, Eliza Hickey died at the age of 52. She had been living in Doncaster Terrace, Barnet (London, England, Deaths and Burials, 1813-1980). For some years prior to this, she had not been living with John Hickey, who had been in a workhouse at least since 1886 and, in previous Censuses, is usually found in his place of work as a Butler.]
John Hickey in the workhouse
Greater London Council records show that John Hickey was admitted to the St Pancras Workhouse from the 23rd of February 1886 to the 20th of March 1886, and was again in Putney Workhouse from the 2nd of December 1888 to the 8th of November 1894. [PB: I assume this was the Wandsworth workhouse in Swaffield Road since there was no separate Putney workhouse by this time]
He lived at 4, St Pancras Row, St Pancras, from the 15th of January 1895 to the 30th of May 1896, when he died. He was blind and paralysed down one side at the time of his death. He may possibly have been taken from the Workhouse with the help of the Roberts Fund.
See copies in the 4th LD files of the police court-reports from an unknown or dated newspaper regarding his neglect to maintain himself and becoming chargeable to the Guardians of Marylebone Workhouse.
[PB: I haven't checked the EJBA, but the following, from the Illustrated Police News, may well be the article EJB is referring to.]
"I am here on special duty — a prisoner of war. My instructions are to wait — a standing order — and to obey them in quietness and confidence."
(Click on image to enlarge)
Mr R. Moore [prosecuting on behalf of the workhouse guardians]: He is a pensioner and has means. On August 30 he asked leave from the workhouse for the purpose of drawing his pension. he was allowed out, and he promised to bring his money back to the workhouse. Hickey, it was thought, might contribute something from his pension money towards his support. He drew £7, but instead of bringing any of that sum back to the workhouse, he put the whole of into the Post Office Savings Bank. On his return to the workhouse, he declined to allow any of the money to be taken out for his support, and the guardians had no power to touch it...
Mr Horace Smith [magistrate]: This is an interesting case for old age pensions. he says in his letter he is a "prisoner of war". You cannot be hard upon a man like this.
The letter, addressed from No. 1 Ward, St Pancras Infirmary, is as follows:
"Sir, — With regard to my pension, I have not acted in a spirit of opposition or selfwill, but through instructions received in all that I have done. I am leaving the infirmary very shortly, and shall require some money for my wants after doing so. I am here on special duty — a prisoner of war. My instructions are to wait — a standing order — and to obey them in quietness and confidence.
Your obedient servant, JOHN HICKEY, 4th Light Dragoons, one of the Six Hundred who charged at Balaclava."
Mr. Randall Moore: I admit it is an exceptional case.
Mr Horace Smith: Yes, and I intend to take an exceptional course. I shall adjourn it for a month.
[Source: Illustrated Police News, 28 September 1895.]
[PB: Similar articles appeared elsewhere.]
Wells Journal — Thursday 26 September 1895 ("A Light Brigade Hero: A Pauper with a Bank Account").
London Evening Standard — Friday 20 September 1895 ("Police Intelligence: Clerkenwell").
Sheffield Daily Telegraph — Saturday 21 September 1895 ("A Light Brigade Hero: A Pauper with a Bank Account").
However, only the Lloyd's Weekly Newspaper, Sunday 22 September 1895 ("A Light Brigade Veteran"), added this significant information:
"On Friday morning the doctor at St Pancras workhouse examined Hickey and certified that the old man had become insane. He was at once removed to the lunatic asylum."
[PB: There is a considerable amount of information about St Pancras Workhouse, and very good images, at workhouses.org.uk/StPancras, which includes this plan of the workhouse in 1871 (accessed 20.1.2016). Notice the "Imbecile and Lunatic Wards" located in the south-east of the Workhouse, to which John Hickey was probably taken after his troubled court appearance.]
(Click on image to enlarge)
[PB: The magistrate adjourned the case for a month, but I don't know whether he ever made a judgment — I have not found later newspaper reports. So what happened to John Hickey? Did this court case bring about his mental collapse? Presumably he was taken to what are marked as the "lunatic wards" on contemporary plans of the St Pancras workhouse. Was he ever released to the wider community, or only back to the workhouse wards he had previously lived in? Is there any extra information in his death certificate? I have not been able to locate the address "4 St Pancras Terrace", but it seems likely it was still part of the St Pancras Workhouse (many of whose buildings still exist and are now part of St Pancras Hospital). ]
[PB: In the 1891 Census, John Hickey was an inmate of the Wandsworth & Clapham Union Workhouse, recently built on Swaffield Road, near Garratt Lane.]
Architect's proposed design for the new Wandsworth Workhouse, on Swaffield Road (Garratt Lane), 1886. A contemporary report gives details of how the building's layout enforced social segregation by sex and "character" (see below). It would be good to know how John Hickey was classified at this time, and what work he was put to.
(Click on image to enlarge)
Peter Higginbotham, who has built the admirable workhouses.org.uk website, writes:
In 1886, a large new workhouse was built at Swaffield Road, off Garratt Lane, in what was then open countryside...
The buildings consisted of a central administration block which also contained separate dining rooms for males and females, together with kitchens and a chapel. Flanking this were three-storey dormitory pavilions, with males placed at the east and females at the west. Separate areas were allocated to inmates of good and bad character. On the women's side, a separate nursery block was provided at the west of the main building and a separate children's block to the north-west.
The men's side included a stone-yard where the able-bodied broke up blocks of stone.
Receiving wards were located either side of the entrance driveway from Swaffield Road. The full design provided accommodation for 1200 inmates, but only a cut-down version for 650 was actually built.
Higginbotham quotes a contemporary report:
The separation of the sexes has been carefully considered. A very complete classification of the inmates of each sex has been arranged. There are virtually four classes: aged, able-bodied of good character, and two classes of able-bodied of bad character. Each of these classes has its own day room, dormitories, staircases, lavatories, yards, and workshops, and have no communication whatever with each other from the time they enter until the time they leave the workhouse.
This arrangement admits of suitable provision being made for the aged and deserving poor, while, at the same time, it allows the opportunity for the rigid application of the labour test, and the strictest discipline for those of the able-bodied class who might be, if they would, earning their living outside the workhouse.
In connection with this latter class, there are provided, for the men, hand-mills for grinding corn, in which the men stand in isolated boxes, and, the women, a series of isolated washrooms, in each of which one woman has to wash a regulated quantity of clothing each day, without the opportunity of communication with the others.
A system of classification has also been carried out in the receiving wards, which are also divided into good and bad character, with separate yards, lavatories...
[Source: http://www.workhouses.org.uk/Wandsworth/ (accessed 20.1.2016).]
1891 Census
Wandsworth & Clapham Union, Workhouse, Garrett Lane, Wandsworth.
John Hickey, 63, widower, Butler, born Ireland.
35, Barrett Street, Keighley, Yorks.
Leonard Hickey [son], 23, wool comb minder, born Cheltenham.
8, Back King Street, Heywood, Lancashire.
Robert Hickey [son], 27, Boarder, Groom, born Cheltenham.
Hounslow Barracks, Brentford.
John Hickey [son], 27, Sergeant, born Ireland.
Mary Hickey, 21, born Folkstone.
[CP: The Barracks contained the 14th Hussars, which ties in with the letter on file stating one son joined the Hussars.]
Marriage registered
Robert Hickey to Annie Herbert, December Quarter 1891, Bury.
Birth registered
Robert Herbert Hickey, March Quarter 1895, Burnley.
1901 Census
HMS St Vincent, Portsmouth.
William Hickey [son], 28, Private, Crew, born Cheltenham.
23, Oak Road, Burnley.
Robert Hickey, 37, Brewers Foreman, born Cheltenham.
Annie H, 35, born Oxford.
Robert Hickey, 6, born Burnley.
Marriage registered
William Hickey [son] to Elizabeth Harriett Bailey, December Quarter 1903, Wandsworth.
1911 Census
3a, Froude Street, Battersea.
William Hickey [son], 39, Engineers Storeman, born Yate.
Elizabeth Hickey, 44, born Pimlico.
Death registered
Robert Herbert Hickey [grandson], aged 87 years, March Quarter 1982, Coventry.
[PB: Frank Hillier seems to have emigrated to Ontario, Canada in the 1890s. He appears in a number of records on the ancestry.co.uk website.]
