From Yorkshire Fields to the Antipodes
Every family tree has a branch that stretches across an ocean, and for the Hick family, that branch belonged to George Charlton Hick. Born in Great Ouseburn, Yorkshire, in 1887, George was raised amidst the simple industry of Northern England. His father, also George, worked steadily as a municipal gardener in York, supporting ten children with his wife, Jane (Jennie) Charlton.
But the steady routine of York life wasn’t enough for the young George. At 25, he made a decision that would change his life: emigration. On 29th November, 1912, he boarded the Beltana in London, bound for Australia. What drew him away? Perhaps it was the widespread promise of well-paid work, the lure of sunshine, or simply the desire for a fresh start far from home. We may never know his exact motive, but that voyage set him on a course that would eventually lead him to Wellington, New Zealand.
George made this life-altering journey around the time of great personal change back home. His mother, Jennie, passed away in 1913. While records suggest George didn’t return for the funeral, the bond to his roots remained strong enough to pull him across the globe several times over the next decade.
The Interrupted Years: War and Family
The period between 1916 and 1922 reads like a timetable of transatlantic voyages. George returned briefly to the UK in 1916, only to sail back to New Zealand the following year. Yet, war soon called upon him. In 1918, while living in Newtown, Wellington, he was conscripted into the 40th Reinforcements, B Company, New Zealand Expeditionary Force.
On July 10, 1918, Private Hick set sail for England on the troopship HMNZT 107, the Tahiti. He remained in England until his final discharge in March 1919. This time, however, he spent a significant period reconnecting with his family in Wakefield, Yorkshire. The visit held a special significance: he was staying with his brother Harry and wife Ruth, and undoubtedly came to meet his namesake, Harry’s son, a young George Charlton Hick Bradley who was then 4 years old.
After one final round trip and a fleeting return to England in the early 1920s, George returned to New Zealand in 1922 and married Beatrice Alice Want, and they began raising their three sons: Owen, Robert, and Peter.
The Greengrocer’s Indiscretion: Sly Grog Selling, 1926
For a time, George settled into a routine as a fruiterer, running a green-grocery on the bustling Courtenay Place in Wellington. It was here, in April 1926, that his life took an unexpected, dramatic turn that landed him in the headlines.
New Zealand, at the time, was not fully ‘dry,’ but strict regulations made selling liquor after hours a punishable offence, a practice known as ‘sly grog.’ As the local paper, Truth, sensationalised it: “The troubles of George Charlton Hicks… have not always been little ones…”
The trouble arrived late one unlucky April evening in the form of a disguised police constable. The officer, replete with conventional goggles and posing as a cyclist needing urgent aid, asked George for a bottle of whisky. George, scraping by selling cabbages and leeks, initially refused but, wishing to oblige what he believed was an emissary from a sick friend, he tried to source the liquor. When a local hotel refused to sell after hours, a friend of George’s, who happened to be present, agreed to sell a bottle of his own whisky to the ‘cyclist.’
It was an act of neighbourly help, but the magistrate saw it differently. Despite the conflicting stories with George insisting he was tricked into helping a ‘sick friend,’ and the police claiming it was a straight transaction and the magistrate found him guilty.
The court, however, showed remarkable compassion. Sub-Inspector Harvey revealed that George had been convicted of sly grog once before, but the magistrate focused on the present reality: “Hicks has a wife and a couple of youngsters to keep.” Influenced by the financial plight of the family, George was spared immediate financial penalty. He received a conviction and a caution, ordered to appear for sentencing only if called upon within two years.
A Quiet End to a Full Life
Despite losing his job and reputation in the short term, George managed to rebound. By 1928, electoral records show he was back working as a fruiterer at 56 Courtenay Place, putting the scandal behind him.
Life eventually quieted down. By 1949, George and Beatrice were living at Tawa Street, Island Bay, where George was listed as a labourer. He had exchanged the entrepreneurial risk of the fruiterer for the steady income of a working man.
George Charlton Hick passed away on 26th August 1951, at the age of 64. He was laid to rest in the Soldiers’ Section of Karori Cemetery, Wellington, New Zealand. This final resting place serves as a fitting reminder of a life well-lived and the long, winding journey that took him from a small English village to the green hills of New Zealand.
(c) Rooted Lines Genealogy 2025
