Hicks's wit, musical talent, and good taste in art made him a favourite in society, especially in company with his old friend George Wightwick, architect. They were frequent visitors of Sir William Molesworth at Pencarrow, near Bodmin. Many of his narratives were in the Cornish dialect, but he was equally good in the Devonshire, as well as in the peculiar talk of the miners. Among his best-known stories were the ‘Coach Wheel,’ the ‘Rheumatic Old Woman,’ ‘William Rabley,’ the ‘Two Deacons,’ the ‘Bed of Saltram,’ the ‘Blind Man, his Wife, and his dog Lion,’ the ‘Gallant Volunteer,’ and the ‘Dead March in Saul.’ His most famous story, the ‘Jury,’ referred to the trial at Launceston in 1817 of Robert Sawle Donnall for poisoning his mother-in-law, when the prisoner was acquitted. Each of the jurors gave a different and ludicrous reason for his verdict. On 31 Dec. 1860 Hicks resigned his connection with the lunatic asylum, retiring on a full pension. He died at Westheath (a residence which he himself had built), Bodmin, on 5 Sept. 1868, and was buried at Bodmin cemetery on 9 Sept. His wife, whom he married in 1834, was Elizabeth, daughter of George Squire of Stoke Damerel, Devonshire; she remarried in 1876 J. Massey. A caricature portrait of Hicks, by Sandercock of Bodmin, was lithographed and published; it was reproduced in 1888 in lithographic chalk by the Rev. W. Iago.
[Collier's W. R. Hicks, a Memoir, 1888, with a portrait; Notes and Queries, 1881, 6th ser. iv. 367; J. C. Young's Memoirs of C. M. Young, 1871, ii. 301–8; Morning Post, 8 Sept. 1868, p. 5, by Abraham Hayward, Q.C.; Boase and Courtney's Bibl. Cornub. p. 238; Boase's Collectanea Cornubiensia, p. 363.]
HICKSON, WILLIAM EDWARD (1803–1870), educational writer, born on 7 Jan. 1803, son of William Hickson, boot and shoe manufacturer, of Smithfield, London, by Matilda Underhill, his wife, was brought up to his father's business, in which he early became a partner. He retired in 1840 in order to devote himself to philanthropic and literary pursuits. He was one of the pioneers of national education, and in particular of popular musical culture. A composer of some merit, he published ‘The Singing Master: containing Instructions for Teaching Singing in Schools and Families,’ &c., London, 1836, 8vo, and ‘The Use of Singing as a part of the Moral Discipline of Schools. A Lecture delivered on 29 May 1838 before Members of the Sunday School Union,’ London, 1838, 8vo. Associated with Nassau Senior, the economist, on the royal commission appointed on 14 Sept. 1837 to inquire into the condition of the unemployed handloom weavers in Great Britain and Ireland, he threw himself with great zeal into the work, visiting all the principal seats of the industry in the three kingdoms. In 1840 he returned a separate report (ordered to be printed 11 Aug.), in which he advocated the repeal of the corn laws and the improvement of elementary education. He also signed the joint report of the commissioners (returned 19 Feb. 1841), which was much to the same effect.
In the autumn of 1839 Hickson made a tour in Holland, Belgium, and North Germany, in order to study the national school systems of those countries. The results of his observations appeared in June 1840 in the ‘Westminster Review,’ which he had just purchased, and which he edited until 1852. The article was also published in pamphlet form with a supplement containing the outlines of a scheme of national education based on Dutch and German methods, under the title ‘Dutch and German Schools,’ London, 1840, 8vo. Hickson also published ‘Part Singing; or Vocal Harmony for Choral Societies and Home Circles,’ London, 1842, 4 pts. 8vo, and ‘Time and Faith. An Inquiry into the Data of Ecclesiastical History,’ London, 1857, 2 vols. 8vo. He married, on 15 Sept. 1830, Jane Brown, and died at Fairseat, Sevenoaks, Kent, on 22 March 1870.
[Reports from commissioners; private information; Parl. Papers, 1840–1; Brit. Mus. Cat.]
HIEOVER, HARRY (1795–1859), sporting writer. [See Bindley, Charles.]
HIERON, SAMUEL (1576?–1617), puritan divine, was the son of Roger Hieron, originally a schoolmaster, who became vicar of Epping in Essex in 1578 (Newcourt, Repertorium, ii. 248). Samuel Hieron is said to have been born in 1576, but Wood states he was about forty-five at the time of his death. He was taught by his father and admitted to the foundation at Eton in 1590. He passed to King's College, Cambridge, and after the death of his father he was assisted at the university by Sir Francis Barrington of Barrington Hall, Essex. He probably took orders about 1600, and, according to Hill, became at once eminent as a preacher. Harwood (Alumni Eton. p. 197) says that ‘Sir Henry Savile, the provost of Eton, conferred on him a pastoral charge, which he soon vacated for the living of Modbury in Devonshire’ (in the gift of Eton College), which he held till his death in 1617. His previous preferment appears to have been in London, where he immediately became so
