The photo shows George Hicken after enlisting with the Royal Warwickshire Regiment early in 1915. His WWI Army service records were destroyed in WWII, so no information about his battalion or service activities in 1915-16 is available. However, there is no Medal Index Card for him in these years, so he likely did not go overseas. In 1917 he was transferred to  the Royal Berkshire Regiment (Regimental No. 8310) and went to France in the spring of that year. After suffering a number of ailments, he was transferred to the Labour Corps in September 1917. In January 1918 he transferred again to the Royal Flying Corps (Service No. 126868), serving in the Recruit's Depot unit. According to his death certificate he died in the Cambridge hospital due to a perforated gastric ulcer operation and a pulmonary embolus on February 3rd, 1918. He was in his 42nd year. He was survived by his wife, Lily and five children.

Leonard Hicken