60 
TRANSACTIONS OF THE PLYMOUTH INSTITUTION. 
WILLIAM ROBERT HICKS, OF BODMIN. 
% Jfttemotr. 
BY W. F. COLLIER. 
(Read 1st March, 1888.) 
Alas, poor Yorick ! I knew him : a fellow of infinite jest, of most 
excellent fancy. William Robert Hicks was born in Bodmin in 
the year 1808, and died in Bodmin on the 5th of September, 1868; 
he was therefore 60 years old at his death. He was the son of a 
schoolmaster, and was himself a schoolmaster early in life. He was 
just two years older than his neighbour, Sir William Moles worth, 
of Pencarrow, and took his first lessons in mathematics with him. 
He was afterwards often to be met at Pencarrow, in the days 
of his infinite jest. He may be said to have been a good 
mathematician, as a country schoolmaster of that day, and this 
fact is essential to the due estimation of his remarkable character. 
He was a very good man of business in the performance of his 
various duties as Governor of the County Lunatic Asylum, which 
office he filled for twenty years ; as Clerk to the Bodmin Board 
of Guardians ; and as Clerk to the Highway Board — the last 
two offices being usually held by solicitors. Hicks was also a 
musician, and played the violin well enough to rank with pro- 
fessional players. He could take a violin part in an orchestra, as 
well as play ordinary drawing-room pieces. 
Hicks was a very useful public man, and carried great weight 
with the various public bodies which he served. But he was, 
above all things, a humourist, and it is for his wit and fun that 
he will be best remembered. 
He was a short, thick, fat man, much as Falstaff is represented. 
His face was large; he had small, bright, twinkling grey eyes; 
his nose was short, of the Socrates kind, the reverse of aquiline ; 
and he had a small, expressive mouth, with a large, fat, double 
chin. Players pride themselves on their ability to change their 
