William Joseph HAYES, LIEUTENANT CORPORAL 200248

Born: 1896 at Earlestown, Lancashire
Son of: James and Louisa Hayes of 40 Thompson Street, Darlington
Local address: 59 Hercules Street, Darlington (1911)
Pre-war occupation: Office boy at Robert Stephenson and Company
Father’s occupation: Engine fitter at locomotive works
Siblings: Only child
Enlisted: Stockton-on-Tees
Regiment: 5th Durham Light Infantry (DLI)
Died: Killed in Action, 15 December 1917
Age: 22
Commemorated: Tyne Cot Memorial, Zonnebeke, Belgium
Commemorated after the war:
Brass Memorial Plaque in St Andrew’s Church, Haughton-le-Skerne
Brass Memorial Plaque at Robert Stephenson and Company
(now in Head of Steam Railway Museum, Darlington)
Roll of Honour, Darlington Public Library
Book of Remembrance 5/DLI St Thomas’s Church, Stockton-on-Tees (878 names)

William Joseph Hayes was born in 1890 in Earlestown, Lancashire, the son of James Hayes, an engine fitter, and Mary Louisa Hayes. In 1901 the family lived in Newton-in-Makerfield in Lancashire, but by the time of the 1911 census were at 59 Hercules Street, Springfield, Darlington where James, 58, was working at Robert Stephenson’s loco works as an engine fitter. William, 15, was described as an office boy, also at Robert Stephenson’s works.

William Hayes’ Service Record does not exist but we know from Soldiers Who Died in the Great War that he enlisted at Stockton and joined 5/DLI with the number 200248. Very little else is known about him except that he achieved the rank of Lance Corporal and was killed in action on 15 December 1917 aged 22. According to Commonwealth War Graves Commission records, his parents James and Louisa were living at 40 Thompson Street East, Darlington by then, only a short distance from Hercules Street.

The Battalion War Diary entry for 5/DLI for 13 - 16 December records that A and B companies of the battalion were in trenches in the front line close to Passchendaele village, while C and D companies were deployed close by. We do not know which company William Hayes was part of, or the circumstances of his death as there are no specific details in the diary until the battalion was relieved by 5/Northumberland Fusiliers (NF) on 16 December.

The officer who wrote the diary, recorded on the following day that:

The tour was a rather trying one as the shelling was very heavy. Getting rations to the front line was difficult owing to the darkness and the ration parties constantly lost their way besides suffering casualties from shellfire. Our total casualties were 7 killed, 28 wounded and 16 sent down sick. During the tour enemy aeroplanes were very active and flew so low over our posts that in one case the observer could be seen trying to locate the exact position of the posts. They also used their machine guns freely as our Adjutant discovered when he attempted to perform an operation of nature outside the pill-box used as Battalion HQs.

Lieutenant-Colonel Spence was the Commanding Officer of 5/DLI but had not been present during the action. He is recorded as having returned from leave, only reassuming command when the battalion arrived at Potijze, having been relieved by 5/NF. Although the Third Battle of Passchendaele had ended in November 1917, there was clearly much continuing action, as the above entry for 5/DLI shows. Passchendaele in the winter of 1917 has become a byword for the horror of the Great War.

Lance Corporal William Joseph Hayes has no known grave and is commemorated on the Tyne Cot Memorial.

After the war, William Hayes was commemorated on the Brass Memorial Plaque in St Andrew’s Church, Haughton-le-Skerne, on the Roll of Honour in Darlington Public Library, in the Book of Remembrance for 5/DLI in St Thomas’s Church, Stockton-on-Tees, and on the Brass Memorial Plaque erected in the entrance hall of Robert Stephenson’s Works, Springfield, Darlington. There are 45 names on the Robert Stephenson plaque.

William Hayes had been James and Louisa Hayes only surviving child. James Hayes died in 1931 in Darlington, Louisa died in 1941 aged 75, having returned to Lancashire.