20 Facts About William Hickie

William Hickie commanded a brigade of the British Expeditionary Force in 1914 and was commander of the 16th Division from 1915 on the Western Front.

William Hickie was born on 21 May 1865, at Slevoir, Terryglass, near Borrisokane, County Tipperary, the eldest of the eight children of Colonel James Francis Hickie and his wife Lucila Larios y Tashara, originally of Castile.

William Hickie was educated at St Mary's College, Oscott, Birmingham, a renowned seminary for training youths of prosperous Roman Catholic families.

William Hickie attended the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, from 1882 to 1885.

William Hickie was commissioned as a lieutenant into his father's regiment, the Royal Fusiliers, at Gibraltar, in February 1885, in the same class as Douglas Haig, a future field marshal.

William Hickie served with his regiment for thirteen years in the Mediterranean, in Egypt, and in India, during which time he was promoted to captain on 18 November 1892.

William Hickie left Southampton for South Africa on board the SS Canada in early February 1900, and was promoted from captain of mounted infantry to battalion command as major on 17 March 1900.

William Hickie was in command of a corps until eventually at the end of 1900 he was given command of an independent column of all arms.

William Hickie served with distinction at the Battle of Bothaville in November 1900, and received the brevet promotion to lieutenant colonel on 29 November 1900.

William Hickie served in South Africa throughout the war, which ended with the Peace of Vereeniging in June 1902.

William Hickie was promoted to brevet colonel in November 1906.

William Hickie was much more diplomatic and tactful than his predecessors and spoke of the pride which his new command gave him, but did not hesitate to make sweeping changes amongst the senior officers of the 16th Division.

The growing shortage of Irish replacement recruits was successfully met by William Hickie by integrating non-Irish soldiers into the division.

In February 1918, William Hickie was invalided home on temporary sick leave, but when in the hospital the German spring offensive began on 21 March, with the result that after his division moved under the command of Lieutenant General Hubert Gough, commander of the British Fifth Army, it was practically wiped out and ceased to exist as a division.

William Hickie was advanced to Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath in January 1918, and awarded the Croix de Guerre in December 1919.

William Hickie retired from the army in 1922, when the six Irish line infantry regiments that had their traditional recruiting grounds in the counties of the new Irish Free State were all disbanded.

William Hickie had identified himself strongly with the Home Rule Act and said that its scrapping was a disaster, and was equally outspoken in condemning the activities of the Black and Tans.

William Hickie held his seat until the Seanad was dissolved in 1936, to be replaced by Seanad Eireann in 1937.

William Hickie was President of the Area Council of the British Legion from 1925 to 1948.

William Hickie died on 3 November 1950 in Dublin and was buried in Terryglass, County Tipperary.