Tangled Web 1

Every family has unconventional relationships due to adoptions etc, the bane of genealogists. Hereís an example. Tamara Jane COULSTON born 3 May 1988 is a ggg grand daughter of A K and Edith Hawker (descending through Annie Beatrice OLD, Valerie Edith REEVE, Judith Phyllis MAIN and then her mother, Tracy MAIN. Tracy and her partner Christopher James COULSTON parted when Tamara was very young and Tamara was taken into care by her grandparents, Barry and Margaret COULSTON, who owned a sports shop and then a very large nursery/garden centre business at Kerikeri. On 4 July 2000, her adoption was formalised by the Court and Tamara became the daughter of her grandparents! BACK

Tangled Web 2

One of the 19th century family trees listed on this site reveals an interesting trap for genealogists researching similar names. James Henry Wixon married Kuini Owen, and his son, also named James Henry Wixon, married Kuini's daughter Mary. The latter had 13 children who had Kuini Owen as their grandmother twice. BACK

HAWKER Street in Wellington

It was sometimes mentioned in our family that Hawker St in Wellington was named after a long gone rellie. However, in his book about the NZ Company, E L Irvine-Smith wrote the following -- ìHawker Street was named in 1840. The origin is doubtful and investigators are divided between Mr C C Hawker of Camelford, Cornwall, and the Rev Robert Stephen Hawker, one of the Molesworth Wakefield group of reformers".BACK

The town HAWKER in South Australia

Hawker is the Hub of the Flinders Ranges in South Australia, about 370km north of Adelaide, formerly a small outback road and rail junction which has become a tourist attraction. It was named after The Hon George Charles (Collins?) Hawker (1818-1895) who was born in London and arrived in South Australia on the ship Lysander in September 1840. He and his brothers established the Bungaree run. He entered SA parliament in 1858, becoming speaker in 1860, but returned to England in 1865-1874. A year after his return to South Australia he was re-elected to parliament and served until his retirement in 1883. He was Commissioner of Public Works on 1 Jul 1880 when the settlement was proclaimed a town. On 6 May 1948, a letter to The Chronicle said ìthe township received its name from the Hon G C Hawker. The Hon Tom Playford, I think it was, told him they were going to name it Hawkerton, but the Hon G C Hawker asked, if it was going to be named after him, to name it Hawker.îBACK

HAWKER convicted of murder, 1997.

In the Wellington High Court on October 21 1997, Nicholas Iain Hawker, 19, was sentenced to life imprisonment for murder. A supermarket worker from Broadmeadows, Hawker had earlier been found guilty of murdering Vanessa Woodman, a 15 year old schoolgirl, in the grounds of Onslow College on February 13. Witnesses said Hawker had been heavily influenced by cannabis oil when he stabbed and strangled the girl who had apparently taunted him about his lack of sexual prowess. There is no-one named Nicholas Iain Hawker on the family tree descending from Alfred King Hawker.BACK

HAWKER COAT OF ARMS

Blazon of arms Sable A hawk standing on a perch argent, beaked and legged or. translation = The hawke is a symbol of one "eager or hot in the pursuit of an object most desired." HAWKER CREST A hawks head erased or. HAWKER MOTTO Accpiter praedam nos gloriam. Translation , the hawk seeks it's prey, we glory.BACK

The VIKINGS Connection

Vikings? Yes, some of us are descended from Vikings, and we can prove it. The writer of this had acute dupuytrens contractions, a reasonably common affliction which can gradually bend the fingers over into the hands to form a permanent fist (and in severe cases also affects the toes). This medical condition was unknown until the Vikings (Normans) came on the scene, and only people descended from Vikings can pass it on. Ron did not know whether his dupuytrens is a legacy from English or Irish forebears. Regardless, he wished he never contracted it because it ended his piano playing.BACK

The HAWKER AIRCRAFT COMPANY

Ahh, the magnificent World War 2 fighter, the Hawker Hurricane, which won the Battle of Britain to set Hitler back on his heels. Had it not been such a deadly machine it could have been romantic.

In e-mail correspondence with Ron, several Hawkers worldwide have asked about this famous company, wondering whether because it operated in England it was founded by an Englishman named Hawker, and as our Hawker forebears came from England, ergo, we are sure to be related!

Well we may be related, but we would need to have rellies in Australia because Harry George Hawker (1889-1921) after whom the Hawker Aircraft Company was named, was born in South Brighton, NSW.

As a 12-year-old he worked at a garage for 5 shillings a week, where he built engines, before going to England in 1912. He became immersed in aviation, began instructing novice flyers, and managed hangars at Brooklands Aerodrome, the hub of British aviation. Having established his name as an aviator he became Chief Test Pilot for Tom Sopwith who was already recognised as the originator of many fine aircraft..

In 1914 Harry Hawker demonstrated flying in various parts of Australia in the revolutionary Sopwith Tabloid which he had earlier designed . A wild crowd nearly wrecked the plane on one occasion and he further damaged it during stunt flying, so he went back to England.

WW1 saw him kept in England designing and testing production aircraft. In 1919 he attempted to fly the Atlantic in a triplane and disappeared. Six days later he turned up in Europe aboard a tramp freighter without a radio. He won the Daily Mail prize of 5000 pounds, however. He was killed in 1921 when his plane crashed while practicing for an aerial 'Derby' . He had spinal TB and that plus a fire in the air were considered contributing factors.

Not many months before this his surname was deliberately chosen as the name of a new aircraft company

The mighty Sopwith Aviation company was liquidated in September 1920 because there were fears the government would examine the wartime aircraft production contracts of the various companies such as Sopwith and would impose crippling retrospective tax liability on them..

About the same time, Tom Sopwith, Fred Sigist, Bill Eyre and Harry Hawker together formed a new company, each contributing 5,000 pounds. To avoid any possible government claims against the new company for the wartime contracts of the old company, the new entity purposely avoided using the Sopwith name and chose the name Hawker.

Tom Sopwith said at the time -- "to avoid any muddle if we had gone on building aeroplanes and called them Sopwiths -- there was bound to be a muddle somewhere -- we called the company the Hawker Company. I didn't mind. He was largely responsible for our growth during the war."BACK

Major Lanoe HAWKER, DSO, VC

Lanoe George Hawker, born New Yearís Eve 1890 in Longparish, Hampshire, won the first VC for aerial combat. (A VC had already been awarded for aerial deeds but not during combat.)

As a youngster he was interested in anything that was electrical or mechanical but his father wanted him to join the Royal Navy. Lanoe was sent to the Royal Navy College in Dartmouth but could not keep up his grades so decided to enter the Royal Military Academy in Woolwich where he was later commissioned.

In 1910 he saw a film featuring the Wright Flier aircraft and was hooked. He joined the Royal Aero Club and began taking private flying lessons and on March 4, 1913, gained his private pilot certificate. He then graduated from the academy and in October 1913, was promoted to Lieutenant.

He applied to the RFC and was told to report to the Upavon Central Flying School. Hawker moved to 6 Squadron on October 5, 1914. After being moved around quite a bit, the squadron was finally made permanent at Baileul and got some new BE2s.

He was awarded the DSO following an incident in April 1915, when armed with only a few bombs and hand grenades, he bombed the Zeppelin hangar at Gontrode from his BE2c . The London Gazette of 8 May 1915 reported -- "For conspicuous gallantry on 19 April 1915, when he succeeded in dropping bombs on the German airship shed at Gontrode from a height of only 200 feet under circumstances of the greatest risk. Lieutenant Hawker displayed remarkable ingenuity in utilizing an unoccupied German captive balloon to shield him from fire while maneuvering to drop the bombs."

The Squadron then moved to Poperinghe, where Hawker flew constantly and was wounded in the leg by ground fire. When he returned from sick leave, he was issued a Bristol Scout. Lanoe really liked this aircraft and mounted a machine gun on the upper wing of the plane. On July 25, 1915, while testing his invention, Hawker shot down three aircraft (although one was not seriously damaged) and was awarded the Victoria Cross for his efforts.

The London Gazette of 24 August 1915 reported -- "... most conspicuous bravery and very great ability on 25 July 1915. When flying alone he attacked three enemy aeroplanes in succession. The first managed eventually to escape, the second was driven to the ground damaged, and the third, which he attacked at the height of about 10,000 feet, was driven to earth in our lines, the pilot and observer being killed. The personal bravery shown by this officer was of the very highest order, as the enemy's aircraft were armed with machine guns, and all carried a passenger as well as a pilot."

When he was not flying, Hawker and a friend invented the Prideaux disintegrating link machine gun belt. He also came up with putting a fabric protective covering on the tips of wooden propellers and helped design the double drum for the Lewis gun.

Hawker had already become an Ace and had been promoted to Major by November 23, 1916, which proved a fatal day for him. He and Captain Andrews and Lieutenant Saundby were flying DH2 aircraft when they spotted several German two-seater aircraft.

Those planes turned and fled but suddenly a group of single-seat German fighters dived on the trio. After several minutes of battle, Hawker found himself alone fighting a German plane. The pilot turned was Baron Manfred von Richthofen, the greatest flyer of the war. Their duel became known as one of the longest dogfights of the war.

The two pilots fought a very even battle with neither gaining the upper hand on the other. But suddenly, obviously injured, Hawker broke away and headed for allied lines. Richthofen gave chase and having a faster machine was able to gain ground.

The Red Baronís guns jammed but he was able to clear them. He fired several more bursts into the fleeing DH2 (more than 900 rounds according to his debrief report) and ended up hitting Hawker in the head, killing him instantly.BACK

Private Will HAWKER

Private William (Will) HAWKER, No 16068, of the Scottish Gordon Highlanders died on February 23 1917 of complications following appendicitis in hospital in Durban, South Africa. His funeral was used as a fly-the-flag public relations exercise and received widespread publicity at the time, far exceeding anything usually given to a humble private dying from natural causes. Curiously, his memory is still kept alive by the Gordons to this day.

Will lived with his parents, Mr & Mrs F. Hawker of 45 Hill Street, Baxenden. He was 20 when he enlisted in September 1914 in the Scottish Rifles (The Cameronians). He was severely wounded at the battle of Loos in France in September 1915. After hospitalisation he volunteered to return to the front but his injuries were such that his regiment returned him from France back to England. In November 1916, on the grounds that he was unfit for general service, he was transferred to the 1st Garrison Battalion, Gordon Highlanders, for garrison duties in India and was on a troopship en-route to India when he was taken ill and taken to Durban hospital.

On Saturday, February 24 1917, Will was given a full military funeral with the regimental band and his comrades in attendance. Thousands of people watched as the funeral procession went through the streets of Durban on its way to Durban Military Cemetery. Will's platoon officer later wrote to his mother --"L/Cpl. Hawker was one of my NCOs and such an obliging and capable young fellow that his death was a real grief to us all - we paid our respects to the memory of one I and my comrades got to admire and like to an unusual degree. Yours very truly, Nicol Bruce, Lt."

Durban Military Cemetery is on the north-eastern outskirts of the city. It was started in 1842 during early fighting in the colonisation of Natal. There are eighty World War One war graves. For some 20 years after 1917 a local lady who had a son buried nearby also tended Will's grave.

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