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National Maritime Museum

Hickley, Lieutenant John Dennis (1862-1895)


IDENTITY STATEMENT

Reference code(s): GB 0064 HIK/101-104

Held at: National Maritime Museum

Title: Hickley, Lieutenant John Dennis (1862-1895)

Date(s): [1876-1895]

Level of description: sub-fonds

Extent: 1 box, 4 items

Name of creator(s): Hickley | John Dennis | 1862-1895 | Lieutenant

CONTEXT

Administrative/Biographical history:

Lieutenant John Dennis Hickley was born on 13th January 1862, the son of Admiral Henry Dennis Hickley. He began a promising career in the Navy in 1874, coming top of his naval cadet class at the Royal Naval College, Greenwich. He became a Midshipman in October 1876 and served on HMS BELLEROPHON, MINOTAUR, and HIMALAYA. He was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant in Her Majesty's fleet on the 31st December 1884 and gained further qualifications whilst stationed at Portsmouth, obtaining two First Class certificates for Instruction in Gunnery and Torpedoes in 1892. Hickley was subsequently involved in operations against Chief Nana of Brohemie on the Benin River, West Africa and was awarded the DSO for his services. Whilst in Africa with HMS PHOEBE in February 1895, J.D. Hickley drowned in a lagoon close to Lorenzo Marques during an unsuccessful duck-hunting trip.

CONTENT

Scope and content/abstract:

Papers of Lieutenant John Dennis Hickley containing several papers relating to J.D. Hickley's education and training; a few short letters written just before his death; his naval records from 1876 to 1886; as well as a short pamphlet entitled 'An Account of the Operations on the Benin River in August and September, 1894', written by Hickley and printed by Royal United Service Institution. However, the majority of material on Lt. Hickley deals with the circumstances of his death and burial, apparently a reflection of a Victorian obsession with tragic heroes.

ACCESS AND USE

Language/scripts of material: English

System of arrangement:

Conditions governing access:

Please contact the Archive for further information.

Conditions governing reproduction:

Please contact the Archive for further information.

Finding aids:

Detailed catalogue online at the: National Maritime Museum website .

ARCHIVAL INFORMATION

Archival history:

Immediate source of acquisition:

Rev. Dennis Hickley of Plater College, Oxford donated the papers, along with those of Lt. Hickley's father Admiral Henry Dennis Hickley, on 6th July 1982.

ALLIED MATERIALS

DESCRIPTION NOTES

Archivist's note: Edited by Sarah Drewery, Jul 2011.

Rules or conventions: Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997.

Date(s) of descriptions: 2010-08-26


INDEX ENTRIES
Subjects
Naval operations | Military operations | Military engineering
Naval education

Personal names
Hickley | John Dennis | 1862-1895 | Lieutenant

Corporate names
Royal Navy

Places
Africa