Sidney Hipkin

Born: 1888

Died: 8 October 1918

Rank and Regiment: Private 29841 in the 9th Battalion of the Norfolk Regiment

Resting Place: Montbrehain British Cemetery, France - Plot A. 23

Memorials: St. Mary’s, Cranworth, United Kingdom

Sidney was born in 1888 to James and Alice Hipkin, in the little village of Ovington, about a mile from Watton. He was baptised in the village on 27th May 1888.

By 1911 the family had moved to Cranworth, Sidney’s father, James, and brothers, George, Arthur and Harry were all agricultural labourers while Sidney and his younger siblings, Mabel and Walter went to school. Alice remained at home caring for the couple’s youngest son, Thomas.

By 1911, the couple had another son, Frank. James was working as a teamster on a farm and while the older children appear to have moved away, Sidney and Walter worked as farm labourers, and Thomas and Frank went to school.

Sidney enlisted as a Private in the 9th Battalion of the Norfolk Regiment. On the day of his death, Sidney’s regiment attacked and liberated the town of Bohain securing a strategic victory for the allies. It was here that Sidney was killed in action, just a month or so shy of the end of the war. He is buried at Montbrehain British Cemetery in France.

His effects amounting to £15 13s 4d were paid out to his father, together with a War Gratuity of £11 10s. The amount of the War Gratuity suggests that he enlisted early in the War.

Montbrehain British Cemetery, France