With the aid of symbolic computation by Maple, a new integrable generalization of the classical Wadati-Konno-Ichikawa hierarchy is derived from a corresponding matrix spectral problem associated with the Lie algebra sl(2, R). Each equation in the resulting hierarchy has a bi-Hamiltonian structure furnished by the trace identity, and possesses infinitely many independent commuting symmetries and conservation laws. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.