Ernest Hicks
Ernest Hicks (c1911-1944)
1946 Obituary [1]
Major ERNEST HICKS, I.E.M.E., who lost his life in an aircraft accident in India on 4th August 1944 at the early age of thirty-three, was elected a Graduate of the Institution in 1937 and was transferred to Associate Membership in 1939. He received his technical training (which extended over eight years) at the Verdun Technical College, Northwich and at the Manchester College of Technology, and began a seven years' apprenticeship in 1926 with Messrs. W. J. Yarwood and Sons, of Northwich, in whose employment he continued for a short time as a draughtsman in charge of the erection of plant.
He then joined the staff of Imperial Chemical Industries, Ltd., at Northwich as a draughtsman and two years later was promoted to be leading draughtsman in the alkali section of the research department, where he was concerned with the design and construction of experimental plant. In 1937 he entered the Royal Ordnance Factory at Hereford as a technical assistant and took charge of the design, installation, and testing of new plant.
After holding this position for three years he was granted a commission as lieutenant in the Indian Army Ordnance Corps. Major Hicks was transferred to the I.E.M.E. in 1943.