Douglas Hickling Ivens was born in 1915, the youngest of four children born to John Quilex and Elizabeth Julia Ivens. He had two older brother John Oswald Ivens b.1900, Kenneth Burnett Ivens b.1903 and one older sister Elizabeth Mary Ivens b.1913. He was baptised at St Alban the Martyr Church in Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex in March 1916.

No date can be established for when he first left for Portugal, the first record for him being an arrival in Southampton from Lisbon in October 1921 travelling with his mother, sister and his brother Kenneth. Their intended address in the UK was the Woodcote Hotel in Epsom. They then sailed back to Lisbon in June 1924 travelling first class.

He arrived back in England five months later in October 1924 aboard the Royal Mail Steam Packet ship “Andes”, this time just with his mother and sister. Their proposed address was Lascelles House, Eastbourne.

There is then another gap for the outbound journey, before he arrived in Southampton once more in September 1926, this time aboard the “Flandria” of the Royal Holland Line. He was travelling with his mother only on this occasion and their intended address was 25 Princess Square, Bayswater.

He and his mother then departed from London aboard the “Avelona” of the Blue Star Line in August 1927 again traveling first class and bound for Lisbon. This was again a short stop and his final recorded return journey is aboard the same vessel arriving in London in September 1927.

Having arrived back in England permanently, he attended Fernden Preparatory School in Haslemere for two years before attending Sherborne School from September 1929 to July 1932. He is commemorated in the Sherborne School Book of Remembrance, which records that he was in Abbey House for the three years that he was there.

In the late 1930s he was living at 42 Lansdowne Crescent in London and was employed as an Office Manager.

Flying Officer Ivens was commissioned in February 1941 and the following month he survived an aircraft crash at No13 OTU, RAF Bicester, Oxfordshire. Whilst undertaking a training mission on Anson N5157, for unknown reasons the twin engine airplane crashed while circling in the vicinity of the airfield. He was injured as were four of his crew: Pilot Officer R A Plumb, Sergeant N J Giblin, Sergeant W R Meaker and Sergeant C H Gray; Sergeant L A Froom the sixth member of the crew was uninjured.

Sometime later, Flying Office Ivens re-mustered as an Observer.

Pilot Officer Ivens was killed on 6 December 1941. Blenheim IV Z7962 of 13 OTU RAF took off at 11:30am from Bicester airfield for a training sortie but crashed, due to incorrect trim tab settings, near the airfield, killing the four men aboard. Sergeant Victor Horace Langrish (pilot) Pilot Officer Eric Lionel Victor Stanley (observer) Sergenat Allan Edward Bailey (wireless operator/air gunner) Flying Officer Douglas Hickling Ivens (passenger) Sergeant Bailey and Flying Officer Ivens are buried in Caversfield Churchyard; Sgt Langrish was cremated at Enfield Crematorium and Pilot Officer Stanley was buried in Weston (Holy Trinity) Churchyard, near Southampton.

The precis of the Court of Inquiry on the fatal accident details that F/O Ivens had been granted a 48-hour leave pass and had asked the flight commander for permission to be flown to an aerodrome near his home, a request that was refused. Sgt Ivens proceeded to ask Sgt Langrish if he would drop him at Aldermaston which was near the route that Sgt Langrish had been detailed to fly. F/O Ivens then sought information about the serviceability of Aldermaston from the Duty Officer to be told that Aldermaston was unserviceable and that Hampstead Norris was the nearest aerodrome. The delay that F/O Ivens’ enquiries caused is suggested to have contributed to the accident, as in view of Sgt Langrish’s previous record he could have been anxious to take off as quickly as possible, hurried his cockpit drill and overlooked the correct setting of his trimming tabs.

Two death notices in newspapers both refer to him as “Blokey”, evidently the name he was known by in the family. He is commemorated on Panel 187 of the Memorial Wall at the International Bomber Command Centre in Lincoln.

An interesting footonote is that both his parents are buried in the same plot next to Flying Officer Ivens at Caversfield, his father dying in 1960 and his mother in 1958.