Sidney Hawkins

Story:
Sidney Hawkins was born in Shaftesbury, Dorset, on 3rd February 1887 and baptised there on 18th February 1887, the son of William Edward and Georgina Hawkins.   Sidney enlisted in the Territorial Volunteer Reserve of the 4th Battalion of the Dorsetshire Regiment on 1st April 1908 (Service No. 5236) and attended annual training camps.   He married Mabel Rose Gray at St. John's Church, Enmore Green, Shaftesbury, on 26th June 1913.  They went on to have two children.  Sidney was called from the reserve and embodied on 4th August 1914 as a Private. He served in the UK until he was discharged on 31st March 1916 having completed the terms of his engagement.   It is evident that he re-joined at some later time as there are records showing him with the 2nd Garrison Battalion of the Northumberland Fusiliers (Service No. 53455) and being discharged on 18th November 1919 due to being unfit by virtue of suffering from malaria.  He was awarded the Victory and British War medals.  Both the 1921 Census and 1939 Register show him living at 35 Bimport, Shaftesbury, working as a Carpenter.  He died in the Westminster Memorial Hospital, Shaftesbury, on 8 Jul 1959 and was buried in the Town Cemetery, Shaftesbury, on 11 Jul 1969.