Robert Willie Hickling

Robert Willie, known as William, was the son of Arthur and Eliza Hickling (née Topley). His father William was born in Barton in Fabis, Nottinghamshire, in about 1872. His mother Eliza was born in Gotham in 1872, the daughter of William and Emma Topley (née Hogg) who were married in 1871. Her father had died by 1881 and Emma and her three children were recorded on the census living in Gotham in the household of Joseph Smith. Emma later had two sons by Joseph, Arthur and Daniel (surnames Smith). Daniel served with the Sherwood Foresters and was killed in 1918. (See 'Extra information'). Eliza Topley married Arthur Hickling at Basford Register Office in 1894. According to the 1911 Census, they had had six children of whom only three survived infancy or childhood. Their surviving children, who were born in Gotham, were: Robert Willie b. 1896 bap. Gotham St Lawrence 17 May 1896; Lily Emma b. 30 December 1897 (reg. J/F/M 1898) bap. St Lawrence 20 February 1898 and Arthur b. abt. 1907/1908 - a possible registration of birth is George Arthur b. 1907 (J/A/S Basford, Topley). There may have been another child, Laura, born in 1911 (O/N/D Basford). Two of the three children who died in infancy may have been Eliza b. 1894 d. 1894 and John b. 1901 d. 1903. In 1901 Arthur (26) a plaster miner, and Eliza (28) were living at The Rushes, Gotham, with their two children William (5) and Lily (3). They had moved to Malt Street, Gotham, by 1911 where they were living with their two youngest children, Lily and Arthur (3). William was a farm servant in Thrumpton, Nottinghamshire, living in the household of the farmer, William Towers. His mother Eliza probably died in 1926 and his father Arthur in 1934.