Person Page - 380

Due to his father's name change, he was known throughout his life under the surname of WESTON.¹ Sidney Wicks was born in Rotorua, Bay of Plenty, circa 1882.²

He married Mary Ann Carlquist at Presbyterian Church in Northcote, Auckland, on 23 June 1909.³

He was widowed on the death of his wife Mary on 17 September 1926.⁴

Sidney's second marriage was to Leonora Mary Rouse in 1929 in New Zealand.⁵

Sidney died on 10 November 1968 at 9 Tweed St in Herne Bay, Auckland, of arteriosclerosis and an aortic aneurism.² He was cremated at the Waikumete Cemetery in Waitakere on 12 November 1968.²

Sidney Buckingham Wicks was born in Landport, Hampshire, on 1 April 1851.^2,3,1 and was baptised on 4 September 1853 at St Marys in Portsea.⁴

After the death of his father in December 1859 his mother appears to have arranged for him to stay with his aunt and uncle, possibly for the whole period until his enlistment in the Royal Navy. This may be one of the reasons he later adopted the Weston surname.
He was listed as the nephew of Purton Weston in the 1861 Census at 20 Queen Sq in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire.²

He enlisted in the Royal Navy, as Boy 2nd class (height 4' 9", hair dark, eyes blue) on 8 November 1865 at Portsmouth, Hampshire. He volunteered for service on that date at HMS Excellent (a stone frigate), but did not commence his ten year continuous service engagement until 1 April 1869.
We next find him signed on to HMS Rosario on 28 Aug 1869 in Sydney. The Rosario was an 11-gun sloop assigned to the Australian Station to address the problem of 'black-birding', the illegal kidnapping of Polynesian islanders for the Queensland labour market. The Rosario log also records him as having deserted in Auckland on 29 June 1870.^5,6

The 'Auckland Star' of July-Aug 1870 records the remand (from Tauranga to Auckland) of one George Weston, pleading guilty to being a deserter from HMS Rosario, and subsequently being remanded further until one of Her Majesty's ships appeared. Due to the continued lack of such a ship he was further remanded on the 29th of July and 5th of August, then on the 19th August, having spent 5 weeks in custody, was discharged, presumably as a free man.
We conclude this to be Sidney Wicks claiming to be George Weston, a name he used from now on.⁷

Sidney Buckingham Wicks was also known as George Weston after he deserted from HMS Rosario although there is some confusion surrounding the use of these two names. We have recorded here the known registration of the birth of the children (as 'WICKS') but all of them attended school as 'WESTON' and all except two also lived and married as 'WESTON'. There is also no record of a Sidney WICK's life in New Zealand, plus all the evidence suggests he lived as a WESTON in the Te Puke area as a general contractor and carrier and was buried as George WESTON, along with his wife Harriet.⁸

He married Harriet Tippett in Waiuku on 16 June 1881.⁹

He described himself as 'pilot boatman' on his son's birth certificate in 1885.¹⁰

Sidney died on 13 November 1915 in Te Puke, Bay of Plenty, at age 64.^11,8 He was buried at the Te Puke Old Cemetery in Te Puke.¹¹

She was baptised at H M Dockyard Church in Sheerness, Kent, on 2 October 1797.¹

Sophia died before 1810 in Sheerness, Kent. This assumption is based on the re-use of the name 'Sophia' for her sister Sophia Augusta.

She was baptised in Queenborough, Kent, on 17 June 1810.¹

Sophia's death was registered between October 1862 and December 1862 in St George Southwark, London, Middlesex.²

She was baptised at H M Dockyard Church in Sheerness, Kent, on 9 July 1794.¹

Sophia died before 1797 in Sheerness, Kent. This assumption is based on the re-use of the name 'Sophia' for her sister.

Sydney Ernest Wicks was born in Portsmouth, Hampshire, on 23 January 1889.^2,3,1,4
The siblings Hilda, Irene and Sydney were listed in the 1891 census at 9 Victoria St in Portsea, Hampshire, with their mother Sarah Ann Murphy.⁵
The siblings Hilda, Irene, Sydney, Archibald and William were listed in the 1901 census at 126 Sheldon Rd in Edmonton, Middlesex, with their parents, Ernest Edward Wicks and Sarah Ann Murphy.³
The siblings Hilda, Sydney and William were listed in the 1911 census at 17 Durham Road in Edmonton, Middlesex, with their mother Sarah Ann Murphy. Sidney was a shipping clerk.⁶ He began military service on 27 February 1915 having enlisted in the Royal Army Medical Corps. His movements are unclear until after his marriage.⁷

He married Rose Emmeline Rust, daughter of Harold George Rust and Emma Elizabeth Ellen Snow, at Tanners End Mission Hall, Stalham Grove in Edmonton, Middlesex, on 22 May 1915. At the time of marriage Sidney described himself as a Private (RAMC), and ex-Insurance Agent, currently residing at the Military Hospital, Belfast; Rose was working as a machinist.⁸
He served with the 34th Field Ambulance, having been promoted to Corporal (#56399) on 12 Aug 1915. The 34th FA was landed ot Suvla Bay, Gallipoli on 6 Nov 1915, before being withdrawn in December to Alexandria.
He sailed from there on 3 Jul 1916 and landed at Marseilles on 8 Jul 1916 as part of the British Expeditionary Force. His records show he had leave from 16 - 25 Mar 1917 and suffered influenza in Nov 1918. The 34th FA supported battles in the Ypres area including Messines (Jun 1917) and Passchendaele (Jul 1917) and was in northern France by 1918. He was eventually ‘despatched for demobilisation’ on 8 Mar 1919 from Denain Nord in northern France.⁹

He signed the register at Albert Frederick Rust and Ethel Mary Larkin's wedding at Cassland Road Wesleyan Chapel in Hackney, London, Middlesex, on 24 July 1920.^10,11
He was listed as a visitor to Albert Henry Lane's household in the 1921 Census at 37 Sheldon Rd in Edmonton, Middlesex, with his wife and young daughter and was working as an assistant to a handkerchief manufacturer.¹²

He signed the register at William Cyril Wicks and Annette Winifred Frances Clements's wedding at St Matthews Church in Ponders End, Enfield, Middlesex, on 25 December 1928.^13,14

He was listed in the 1939 Register at 1 Bulwer Rd in Edmonton, Middlesex, with Rose Emmeline Rust; he was working as the London rep for a Hankerchief Manufacturer. Hazel Wicks was listed as living at the same address.⁴

Sydney, as the father of the bride, attended Sylvia Wicks and Kenneth James Merison's wedding in Edmonton, Middlesex, on 8 August 1952.^2,15

Sydney died on 3 January 1961 at Silver St in Edmonton, Middlesex, at age 71 on his way to the Nth Middlesex Hospital after running in front of a bus at 11 pm on his way home from a Freemason’s meeting.^2,16,17,18

His will was probated in London on 6 March 1961 with Rose Emmeline Rust appointed administrator of an estate of £1386/2/10.¹⁷

Sylvia Wicks was born in Edmonton, Middlesex, on 26 November 1927.¹

She married Kenneth James Merison in Edmonton, Middlesex, on 8 August 1952. There were no children from this marriage.^2,3

She was widowed at age 73 on the death of her husband Kenneth in April 2001.⁴

Sylvia died on 28 September 2007 in Enfield, Middlesex, at age 79.^5,6

Her will was probated in Winchester on 21 July 2008.⁵

Thora's birth was registered between January 1912 and March 1912 in Wycombe, Buckinghamshire.^2,1
The siblings Ronald, Geoffrey, Thora and Mary were listed in the 1921 census at Burke Cottage in Cookham Rise, Cookham, Berkshire, with their mother Elizabeth Martha Hildreth.²

Although his birth was registered under WICKS, due to his father's name change he married and died under the name of WESTON.¹ William Wicks was born at the Pilot Station in Tauranga on 16 September 1885.^1,2

He married Florence Louisa Sheard in New Zealand in 1906.³

He was widowed on the death of his wife Florence in 1940.⁴

William died in 1945 in New Zealand.⁵

William Augustus Wicks was born at 16 Albert St in Portsmouth, Hampshire, on 21 June 1849.^2,1 and was baptised on 3 November 1850 at St Marys in Portsea.³
The siblings Eliza and William were listed in the 1851 census at 5 Victoria St in Portsea, Hampshire, with their mother Sarah Elizabeth Buckingham.⁴ After the death of his father in 1859 he was admitted to the Royal Hospital School in Greenwich in Jan 1860 (aged 10) and was probably there until his enlistment in the Royal Navy.⁵
He was attending the Hospital School at Greenwick at the time of the 1861 UK census.⁶

He enlisted in the Royal Navy as Boy 2nd class (height 4" 11 1/2", hair brown, eyes hazel) on 27 May 1864. However, he did not volunteer for 10 year continuous service until 21 June 1867. The RN records only document service from Jan 1873 until September as a signalman on HMS Sphinx, by which time he had grown to be 5' 6".

His subsequent RN discharge record, on 4 Oct 1873 in Halifax, show he had served on HMS Irresistible (May 1860 - Apr 1868), Hector (May - Nov 1868) and Duke of Wellington (Nov 1868 - May 1870) with Very Good conduct throughout, but on leaving HMS Sphinx, he is noted as 'RQ' (meaning 'Run, with Query'). As this date was only part way through his 10-year service contract he appears to have absconded.^7,8

He was awarded his Master's Certiticate on 1 Jul 1878 in Cork, Co. Cork, while claiming to be an American citizen named Augustus William WESTON, born in Portland, Maine on the 21 June 1848 (1 year before his real birth). In support of his application he provided a list of supposed service periods on board various vessels, at least part of which he must have invented to cover the period 1865-1873 when he was, in fact, in the Royal Navy. He also supplied a Declaration of his US service supported by the US Consul in Queenstown, who must have had no way of checking the details.

William's marriage to Sarah Ann Holman was registered between January 1881 and March 1881 in Portsea, Hampshire. Despite William's use of the name Weston, he reverted to Wicks for his marriage.⁹

As of 13 November 1882, William Augustus Wicks was also known as Augustus William Weston as he had himself naturalised as a British subject (which he was already), having claimed to be American. This effectively performed his renaming from WICKS to WESTON - he included his 1 yr old son Evelyn in the declaration, although it should be noted that Evelyn already had WESTON as a middle name.¹⁰
He was listed in the 1891 census, boarding at 96 Gough St in Tower Hamlets, Poplar, London, Middlesex, with his wife Sarah and son Percy in the household of one Thomas Kepple Clark, also a seaman. In this census he is using the name WESTON and claiming to be a naturalised American.¹¹

He signed a will dated 20 November 1897 at sea, aboard the Yanariva, of which he was Master. It was witnessed by the 1st Mate and Chief Engineer and subsequently lodged on June 12, 1899. Apart from various items and £100 to be given to each of his two sons, most of his estate was to be inherited by his wife Sarah.¹²

William died on 28 January 1899 at sea at age 49, washed overboard from his ship Yanariva in the Nth Atlantic.¹³

His will was probated in Glasgow on 27 June 1899 with Sarah Ann Holman appointed executrix with the estate valued at £436/14/8; note that in Scotland, probate was granted under the name of WESTON.¹⁴

His will was probated in London on 9 July 1901 under his birth name of Wicks, with effects of £252 going to his widow Sarah.¹⁵