Thomas Edgecumbe Hickman

Thomas Edgecumbe Hickman DSO (25 July 1859 – 23 October 1930) was a British army officer and Conservative Party politician.

Hickman was one of sixteen children of Sir Alfred Hickman, industrialist and member of parliament for Wolverhampton West. Educated at Cheltenham School, in 1881 he was commissioned as a lieutenant in the 36th (Herefordshire) Regiment of Foot, which became the 2nd Battalion of the Worcestershire Regiment in July of the same year. From 1884 to 1894 and again from 1896 to 1900 he was attached to the Egyptian Army, serving in the Camel Corps during the Mahdist War. He was awarded the Osminieh Order (fourth class) and Order of the Medjidie (fourth class) by the Khedive of Egypt, and made a companion of the Distinguished Service Order. He also served in the Second Anglo-Boer War, and he remained in South Africa until 1908. He was placed on half-pay on return to the United Kingdom, and officially retired from the army with the rank of brigadier-general in April 1914.

Hickman entered politics, and was elected as Conservative member of parliament for Wolverhampton South at the general election of January 1910. He held the seat until its abolition at the 1918 general election. With the outbreak of World War I Hickman returned to the army, and was appointed general officer commanding the 109th Brigade, 36th (Ulster) Division, in September 1914. He remained with the brigade in France until 1916, then involving himself in recruitment activities.