Immediate Family
Dad’s father Henry was the great-grandson of Lenah Valley pioneer Richard Hickman who arrived in Van Diemens Land in 1842 with his wife Phyllis and 8 children. His eldest son Henry, known as Leonard, named the first of his sons William Henry. William’s son – Dad’s father – was Henry Lloyd – and Dad was of course Maxwell Lloyd.
At the time of his marriage to May Jackson on April 25th, 1907 (not a significant date at that time) Henry was described as an orchardist. When he volunteered for service in ‘the European War’ in March 1915, he was described as a labourer aged 33. This photo of Dad and his two sisters was taken at that time – Dad was just 4, his older sister May was 6 and Ivy – often referred to in his letters as ‘Youngster’ – was 2.
Henry was given the regimental number 1106 and attached to D Company 26th Battalion as a driver ‘to join MEF Gallipoli Peninsula’. His time in the army was brief : his record shows he embarked Alexandria for Gallipoli on September 4 1915, but was transferred from a Casualty Clearing Station to Mudros (Greece) on October 3 suffering ‘cystitis and neuralgia’. From there he was admitted to hospitals on Malta and in Egypt, where he apparently continued to suffer these complaints as well as contracting rheumatism. He was returned to Australia, departing Suez on May 23, 2016, and was discharged on medical grounds on August 10th. Dad told us he (Henry) had helped to build the Zinc Works.
The photo below was taken by Max in about 1925. The location is 51 Giblin St, which was their home at the time. By the time he enlisted in 1940 they were living in Pottery Road. (That house was destroyed in the 1967 bushfires, by which time they had moved to Courtney St.) Older sister May is in the striped coat with Ivy being held by her father. The family dogs were referred to in Dad’s letters as ‘the troops’ or ‘the boys’.
The photo below was probably taken around the time Dad enlisted (1940).
The Blog that might have been - 70 years on 
Also, Felicity we are doing research into the family’s agricultural origins in Tasmania. If you have any detailed information on the apple or berry growing and exporting please let me know. Not sure whether you can see my email.
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Hello – how exciting to have connected with other Hickman descendants. The book about Richard and Phyllis’ descendants was sent published by Robert Kellett in 2002 and as far as I can tell is not available in libraries or on line. I could photocopy relevant pages from this family history if you would feel comfortable giving me a postal address. They will be snippets from the stories of different branches of the family – so I’m not sure if they would qualify as ‘detailed information’ for your purposes. If you are in Hobart, I would be happy for you to borrow my copy of the book.
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Hi Felicity, we have no proof of Richard’s birth name, all we have is the information surrounding his emigration from England, his marriage record and the 1841 census. If you look on FamilySearch.org and RootsChat under Richard Hickman you will see there’s a long discussion regarding his origins with others related to him along with genealogists. There is a theory that his birth name was John Hickmer and he changed his name as he had a 1st cousin near his age with the same name. John Hickmer’s grandfather and great-grandfather were Richard Hickmer, (Hellingly, Sussex). Of course if you have any sources regarding his birth there will be plenty of delighted people! I’m descended from Richard Hickman (2) and Sarah Rolland, the youngest in the big family.
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Hi Denise. I’ve sent an email with scans from a family history published in 2002.
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Also descended from Richard Hickman. Trying to find out what his birth name might have been. Interesting to read about a distant cousin.
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Hi Denise. I don’t understand the question – Richard was his birth name. Which of his children are you descended from? Our forebear was Richard’s eldest son Henry (also known as Leonard) – and HIS eldest son, whose name was William Henry, was my great grandfather. Felicity
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