Herbert Edward Bichens Hawkins was born in Finsbury, London on 28th December 1895 and baptised along with his sister Henrietta Elizabeth on 24th April 1896 at St Luke’s, Old Street, London. He was the fourth child born to Edward Charles Hawkins and Henrietta Sarah Bichens who had eight children, three of whom died young. The children were: Evelyn, Alice Mary, Robert Patrick, Henrietta Elizabeth, Herbert Edward and Ivy Victoria. Just like Herbert, each of the Hawkins children had been given a second or third forename Bichens, their mother Sarah’s maiden name. Herbert’s father was a professional soldier who initially enlisted with the Grenadier Guards in 1878, before transferring to the 6th Battalion Royal Fusiliers with which he served for twenty-six years. He achieved the rank of Serjeant Major by the time of his discharge in 1904. All the children were born in army barracks, Evelyn in Ireland, Alice at Windsor in Berkshire and the others at the Finsbury Barracks in London home to the Honourable Artillery Company.

Herbert’s father came to Nash Mills in 1905 to run the ‘Three Tuns’ public house which has served the village since 1793 and still stands on Belswains Lane today. This was no doubt a lucrative living given that the pub stood almost directly opposite the John Dickinson site at Nash Mills. Edward was the landlord of the ‘Three Tuns’ until he retired in 1912. When Herbert left school in 1909, he started work with John Dickinson & Co. Limited in Apsley Mills, where his older brother Robert was already working. He joined Robert in the Book department and trained as a ‘Book Binder’, before moving to the Card department where he was working when the war began.

Shortly after the outbreak of war, Herbert went to Bedford where he attested in February 1915 and enlisted with the Bedfordshire Regiment. He was posted to the 5th Battalion at Bury St Edmunds and spent the next year training until before going overseas in January 1916. The 5th Battalion was redesignated the 1/5th and assigned to the 162nd (East Midland) Brigade in the 54th (East Anglian) Division. It performed Home Defence around East Anglia until it was sent overseas in July 1915. The battalion left Devonport on 26th July 1915, bound for 'somewhere out East' and after a brief stop-over in Egypt, disembarked at Gallipoli, serving there between the 10th August and 4th December.

During the assault against the Kiretch Tepe Sirt on the 15th August 1915, a Staff Officer observing the Battalion’s progress through his binoculars, saw the metal flashes on the soldiers uniforms glinting yellow in the sun as they doggedly advanced. He remarked "By Jove! If only we had one or two more battalions of those yellow devils we should be across the peninsular by tomorrow". With that, the battalion's nickname - the 'Yellow Devils' - was born. A pitifully small number of them remained by December 1915 and the 1/5th Bedfords was moved back to Egypt to be rebuilt between January and March 1916. Herbert joined his unit on the 12th February at Mena Camp in Cairo as part of a draft of 420 men. He had already been promoted to Lance Corporal and not long after he joined his Battalion, he was promoted Corporal.

For the next year the Battalion were charged with guarding the Suez Canal until it advanced to Gaza with the British and Commonwealth forces in March 1917. Herbert saw his first serious action at the First Battle of Gaza on the 26th March, where the Egyptian Expeditionary Force suffered defeat despite almost capturing Gaza. A month later he fought in the Second Battle of Gaza were the allied defeat was more emphatic and the 1/5th Bedfords suffered a number of casualties as recorded in the War Diary: “Casualties for the day, 2 officers wounded, Lieut H. Wilkin MC & 2nd Lieut L.L. Brereton who died of his wounds 10 days after & about 40 ORs killed wounded & missing.”

Herbert survived both battles and apparently avoided the sickness that beleaguered so many of his comrades in the desert. Diseases such as Typhus were rife and fever and dysentery were common ailments amongst the allied troops. The Battalion War Diary entry in May, gives an indication as to the extent of the issue as follows: “Average Daily Sick Average daily sick for 1st week 75 all ranks Average daily sick for 2nd week 110 all ranks Average daily sick for 3rd week 105 all ranks Average daily sick for 4th week 122 all ranks Average daily sick MONTH 102 all ranks Max number of sick on 20th 208 all ranks Minimum number of sick on 2nd 56 all ranks”

In July he fought in both raids at ‘Umbrella Hill’ were the 1/5th Bedfords earned twenty-five Military Medals awarded for gallantry in both raids. The Battalion suffered sixty-one casualties in these actions but again Herbert’s luck held and he came through unscathed. On the 2nd November 1917 he fought in the Third Battle of Gaza and over the next two days the Bedfords came under persistent heavy shelling from the Turkish position on higher ground. The number of casualties incurred is not known, but they were significant and Herbert was amongst the men who fell.

He was killed on Saturday, 3rd November 1917. At the time of his death he was Acting Sergeant and had he lived would have been promoted Sergeant.

Herbert’s death was announced a few weeks later in the Hemel Gazette along with a short obituary.

He was commemorated on the John Dickinson & Co. Limited War Memorial in Apsley.

Herbert is Remembered with Honour in Gaza War Cemetery, Israel and Palestine (including Gaza), where he is interred in Grave XXII. A. 2.

He was only 21 years old when he died.

Herbert was entitled to the British War Medal and the Allied Victory Medal.