Air Mechanic 2nd Class SIDNEY MICHAEL HAWKINS

Piper’s Farm, Weeke, Winchester (no longer stands)
Service number 63786. Royal Flying Corps
Died in England, 6 April 1917

Life Summary

S

idney Michael Hawkins was born in Sparsholt, near Winchester, in 1898. His parents, Jesse and Caroline, were from long-established farm worker families in villages near Winchester. Before the Great War, Sidney worked as a taxi driver and it was probably an interest in engines that lay behind his decision to enlist as a mechanic with the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) in March 1917. He died in the north of England just a few weeks later.

Family Background

Sidney’s father Jesse was born in Sparsholt in 1868, the son of farm worker Charles Hawkins (born 1839) and his wife Jane. The Hawkins family were all baptised at St Stephen’s Church, Sparsholt, and at the time of Sidney’s birth could trace their roots in the village back to 1798. Jesse’s mother was born Jane Wareham in 1839. She came from a farming family in the nearby village of Crawley.

Jesse Hawkins was one of five siblings. In 1871 the family were living at Lower Dean, a hamlet between Sparsholt and Winchester, and were still there ten years later by which time Jesse, his elder brother and father were all working as agricultural labourers. Charles Hawkins died sometime before the 1891 Census, leaving his widow Jane and their children living at 40, Home Lane, Sparsholt.

Sidney’s mother was born Caroline Carter in Meonstoke in 1864. Her father, also called Jesse and born in 1841, worked as a carter. Caroline’s mother, Sarah, had been born in Somerset in 1835. In 1871 Caroline was living at Lower Farm, Droxford, with her parents and two brothers. She enrolled at Exton village school the following year. By 1881 the family had moved to a cottage next to the vicarage in nearby Corhampton and Caroline was working as a dressmaker. The family were at the same address in 1891. Jesse Hawkins and Caroline Carter married in Droxford in 1892 and went to live in Sparsholt where Sidney was born in the early winter of 1898. The 1901 Census recorded the family living at Upper Dean with Jesse working as a domestic gardener. Shortly after the census Caroline gave birth to a daughter, May, who was baptised at St Stephen’s on 4 August.

By 1911 the Hawkins family were living in the Crabwood area of Sparsholt in a three-roomed dwelling. Sidney, then aged 12, and nine-year-old May were at school – probably in the village. Sidney’s grandmother Jane and aunt Ellen were still living in Home Lane, Sparsholt, with Jane working as a laundress. After leaving school in around 1913 it is likely that Sidney worked on local farms. However, he also worked as a taxi driver because that is the occupation that he gave on his enlistment papers in March 1917. All drivers at the time needed a basic knowledge of how cars worked and how to repair them. Sidney may have learned this from working on farm tractors which were starting to make an appearance in the English countryside.

Cars were also an increasingly common sight on roads despite being expensive. Drivers did not need to take a test and the roads in large towns and cities could be busy. There were no traffic lights or pedestrian crossings although the speed limit was 20mph. However, despite the growth in the number of private cars most people’s first car journey was in a taxi.

Great War Record

In March 1917 Sidney, aged 18, enlisted with the RFC as an Air Mechanic, 2nd Class. It is not known whether he volunteered or was conscripted. By this stage in the war the Allies had more than 20,000 aircraft and each required a team of up to 40 mechanics.

The government launched a major drive to recruit air mechanics and in 1917 alone 14,000 men and women were trained at the RFC base in Halton, Buckinghamshire. Recruits were paid two shillings a day.

The skills needed by an Air Mechanic, 2nd Class were varied but the RFC was particularly keen to recruit those who had worked as armourers, welders, blacksmiths, coppersmiths, tinsmiths, engine fitters, mechanics, electricians, machinists or fitters. It is believed that Sidney was sent to Leeds for training - the Blackburn Aeroplane and Motor Company had opened its Olympia Works in the Roundhay area of the city in 1914 and a new factory was also established at Brough, in the East Riding of Yorkshire, in 1916.

However, Sidney’s time in the RFC proved short-lived. He died in Leeds on 9 April 1917, aged 18, just a few weeks after enlisting. How he died is a mystery. It may have been the result of illness or he may have been involved in an accident while training – it was common in the early days of flying for mechanics to walk into a propeller. Sidney’s parents – and probably his sister May - moved to live on Piper’s Farm, Weeke, in 1917. The farm was one of three in the village that had been owned by the Burnett Hitchcock family of Weeke Manor before 1911. The name of the farm has been perpetuated in the recent developments of Pipers Field and Pipers Gardens in Chilbolton Avenue.

Family after the Great War

Sidney’s father, Jesse, died in Winchester in 1919, aged 50, and his sister, May. in 1921 at the age of 20. His mother, Caroline, continued to live on Piper’s Farm and she would have been responsible for ensuring Sidney’s name appeared on the parish war memorial. In the space of four years she had lost her husband and both her children. She remained at the farm until 1936 when she is believed to have died, aged 72.

Medals and Memorials for Sidney Michael Hawkins

Air Mechanic 2nd Class Sidney Michael Hawkins never entered a theatre of war so was not entitled to any military medals. After his death, his body was brought back to Sparsholt and laid to rest in St Stephen’s churchyard (left)). His name appears on the Sparsholt War Memorial (right) and on the memorials at St Matthew’s and St Paul’s churches, Winchester.

Researcher – JENNY WATSON