Lucien Herbert Higgs was born in Schaerbeek, Brussels on 21st March 1892 to a British father – Herbert James Higgs, born in Bristol in 1855 – and his Belgian wife, Florentine Augusta Victorine Therese, née Benoit, who was born in Antwerp circa 1873. Some official records give Lucien’s name as Lucien John Halbert Higgs. He had two younger siblings – André and Simone.
After the German invasion of Belgium in 1914, Herbert managed to get his son out of Belgium in December 1914, and then followed on later. On 20th January 1915, giving his home address as 16 Royal Park, Clivedon, Bristol, Lucien joined the 19th Division Signal company, Royal Engineers as a Pioneer. (no. 54366). He was promoted to the rank of Corporal the following day. On enlisting, he gave his occupation as an importer/exporter and motorcycle mechanic. He first entered a Theatre of War on 19th July 1915 and was a despatch rider in France for almost two years, returning to England on 15th March 1917 to take up a commission.
By 1917, his father, Herbert, had set up home at Lansdowne, St Bernards Road, Olton.
In April 1917, Lucien Higgs was transferred to the Royal Flying Corps and, after training at the School of Military Aeronautics (SMA) Reading, was commissioned Temporary Second Lieutenant on probation on Friday 1st June 1917 and transferred to No. 5 Training Squadron at Castle Bromwich. He spent the weekend of 2nd/3rd June at the family home in Olton, leaving on the morning of Monday 4th June to take up duty at Castle Bromwich. On Friday 8th June, after only three hours and 15 minutes of dual flying experience, he made his first solo flight, taking off from Castle Bromwich in a Maurice Farman S.11 Shorthorn A6897.
It seems that he got lost. He had only had 15 minutes of fuel left when 50 miles from base and he tried to land in a field near Blisworth, Northamptonshire.
Mr Herbert James Higgs “Lansdowne, St Bernard’s Road, Olton, Birmingham said that the body was that of his son, who was 25 years of age. He was born at Brussels, but witness got him out in December, 1914 and witness came away later. He joined the Royal Engineers, and for two years was a despatch rider in France. About three months ago he was transferred to the Royal Flying Corps, in which he obtained a commission as recently as June 1. He trained in aviation in Reading, and witness last saw him alive on the morning of June 4, when he left after spending the weekend at home, and went to Castle Bromwich to take up duty. He had never known his son to fly alone.
Edward Thomas Freestone, a carpenter carrying on business at Blisworth, stated that just before noon on Friday he noticed an aeroplane flying low at Blisworth. It seemed to him to be in control and about to land. It planed down gradually and seemed to settle nicely. Then it seemed to stop suddenly, and turn a complete somersault. He saw Lieut. Higgs fall out, and with others went to render assistance. The aeroplane was a wreck, and Lieut. Higgs lay under the wire between the tail of the machine and the engine. He was taken to the railway station, a quarter of a mile away, and a special train was obtained to take him to Northampton. The accident took place in a clover field, and the witness thought the clover, a very fine crop, clogged the wheels and over-turned the aeroplane.
Captain Herbert Victor Stammers, R.F.C. Castle Bromwich, said that Lieut. Higgs had only had one flight, and that in Belgium before the war, when he went to Castle Bromwich on June 4. During the week he had two or three flights with witness, spending in all three hours and 15 minutes in the air.It was not unusual for a man with no more experience than that to be allowed to fly alone; witness took his first solo flight when he had been in the air an hour and a half. The machine was twice examined before it went up. It made a safe landing in a clover field at Lichfield in the morning, but the field at Blisworth was slightly different, and he though the accident was due to an endeavour to land on a slope with the wind behind him. The conditions would increase the pace of the machine, the long clover would clog the wheels and cause the aeroplane to overturn. Lieutenant Higgs ought not to have gone far from the aerodrome but he must have lost his way, for he was 50 miles from Castle Bromwich, and had only sufficient petrol for another 15 minutes’ flight. He was a pupil of exceptional promise.
Sergt. Fitzgerald R.F.C. Castle Bromwich said the machine was in perfect order when Lieut. Higgs went up at five minutes to nine.
Dr. Maden, house Surgeon at the hospital, said Lieut. Higgs was unconscious when he was admitted to the hospital and was evidently suffering from concussion of the brain. He died without regaining consciousness. Fracture of the skull was the cause of death.
The Coroner summing up, expressed sincere sympathy with Lieut. Higgs’ parents and relatives.
The jury returned a verdict of “Accidental Death” and associated themselves with the Coroner’s expression of sympathy with the relatives and of regret that the country should have lost so promising an officer in such an accident.
Official reports give his date of death as 8th June, although some newspaper reports indicated that he died early on Saturday 9th June. A telegram sent to his family on 9th June informs them that he had died in hospital on the previous night.
He is buried in the churchyard at St Mary & St Margaret’s Church, Castle Bromwich, with a private gravestone in the form of a large cross, rather than the usual military pattern headstone.
Lucien Herbert Higgs’ gravestone at Castle Bromwich churchyard
