Remembering Edward Hayward: His Role in the Second Battle of Ypres

Private Edward Hayward (service number G/932) served with the 2nd Battalion, The Buffs (East Kent Regiment), and was killed in action on 23 April 1915 during the opening phase of the Second Battle of Ypres.[file:195]

He has no known grave and is commemorated on the Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial, Panels 12 and 14, in West‑Vlaanderen, Belgium.[file:195][web:143]

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Early Life and Family

Edward Hayward was born in Minster in Thanet, Kent, in the first half of 1890, his birth registered in the Thanet district in the June quarter of 1890 (volume 2A, page 877). He was baptised on 1 June 1890 at St Mary the Virgin, Minster in Thanet.[file:195]

He was the son of Charles Hayward and Mary Ann (née White). In the 1891 census he appears as an infant at Prospect Road, Minster; by 1901 the family lived at Conyngham Cottage, Monkton Road, Minster, with Edward recorded as a ten‑year‑old son. In 1911 he was at 2 Freehold Villas, Augustine Road, Minster in Thanet, aged twenty, single, and working as a jobbing gardener.[file:195]

Around June 1912 he married Daisy Alice Golding in the Thanet registration district (volume 2A, page 2250, line 131). The couple had at least two children: Alice Mary Hayward and Ralph Edward (“Ted”) Hayward, so he left a young family when he went to war.[file:195]

The CWGC records him as “Son of Mrs C. Hayward, of 1, Tothill Cottages, Minster, Ramsgate,” indicating that by the time of his death his widowed mother had moved to this address, while his wife and children remained part of the same Minster community whose church Roll of Honour still bears his name.[file:195]

From Prospect Road and Augustine Road in Minster, Hayward went from jobbing gardener to front‑line infantryman with his local county regiment, The Buffs.

Reconstructed from parish, census, and marriage records

Enlistment and the 2nd Battalion, The Buffs

Edward enlisted at Minster, joining The Buffs (East Kent Regiment) and being posted to the 2nd Battalion, with the service number G/932. His service is recorded as running from 3 September 1914 to 23 April 1915, placing him among the early wartime drafts.[file:195]

The 2nd Battalion was a regular army unit which, on 4 August 1914, was stationed at Wellington, Madras, in India. It embarked from Bombay and landed at Plymouth on 16 November 1914, then moved to Winchester and joined 85th Brigade in the newly formed 28th Division. After mobilisation and training, it prepared for service on the Western Front.[file:195][web:13]

Between 15 and 18 January 1915, 28th Division embarked at Southampton for France, disembarking at Le Havre between 16 and 19 January. The division then concentrated between Bailleul and Hazebrouck by 22 January and subsequently took over trenches in the Ypres Salient, where it would face some of the earliest and most intense fighting of 1915.[file:195]

Fresh from India, the 2nd Buffs joined 28th Division in Flanders, manning exposed trenches in the Ypres Salient through the winter of 1914–15.

Based on battalion and divisional war histories

The Second Battle of Ypres, April 1915

The 2nd Battalion, Buffs, as part of 85th Brigade, 28th Division, was in the Ypres Salient in April 1915 when the Germans launched the first large‑scale poison gas attacks on the Western Front. On 22 April 1915, during the Battle of Gravenstafel Ridge, German forces attacked the north flank of the salient, using chlorine gas against French troops and causing them to fall back several kilometres.[file:195][web:140]

Canadian forces helped to stabilise the line, and reserve battalions from 27th and 28th Divisions, including elements of 85th Brigade, were deployed to support them. The 2nd Buffs, within these formations, were drawn into this chaotic fighting around St Jean (Sint‑Jan), the Ypres–Brielen road, and the approaches to the Ypres canal crossings.[file:195][web:143]

The individual report’s “Death Notes” explicitly situate Edward’s death in this context, stating that he served with the 2nd Battalion Buffs in the “Battles of Ypres – Battle of Gravenstafel Ridge – 22/04/1915” and “Battle of St. Julien – 24/04/1915,” where German attacks and gas use inflicted severe casualties and forced the Allies back onto new defensive lines.[file:195][web:143]

Hayward was killed at Ypres as the 2nd Buffs and their brigade fought through the gas‑filled chaos of Gravenstafel Ridge and St Julien.

Context drawn from 28th Division operations, April 1915

Circumstances of Death

Edward’s date of death is given as 23 April 1915, with CWGC and related records describing him as “Killed in action” and listing his duty location as “France and Flanders.”[file:195] This places his death between the first gas attack at Gravenstafel on 22 April and the subsequent fighting at St Julien on 24 April, during the most intense phase of the opening of the Second Battle of Ypres.[file:195][web:194]

War Office casualty lists reported him as “Wounded” on 12 May 1915 and later “Previously reported wounded, now reported wounded and missing” on 3 July 1915, entitling him to a Wound Stripe under Army Order 204 of 6 July 1916. These delayed notices reflect the confusion of fighting in the Salient, where many men were initially reported only as missing amid the chaos.[file:195]

The absence of a known grave and his commemoration on the Menin Gate suggest that his body was either never recovered or could not be identified, which was common in the pulverised ground of the Ypres Salient, especially under heavy shelling and gas attacks.[file:195][web:140]

Burial and Commemoration

Edward has no known burial place and is commemorated on the Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial, Panels 12 and 14. The Menin Gate, at the eastern exit of Ieper (Ypres) on the road to Menen, bears the names of more than 54,000 officers and men of Commonwealth forces who died in the Ypres Salient before 16 August 1917 and have no known grave.[file:195][web:137][web:140]

His CWGC entry can be found at CWGC casualty details for Private E. Hayward. A further memorial entry is available at Find a Grave memorial 12051717, which may include photograph and tribute material.[file:195]

Edward’s name also appears on the parish war memorial in St Mary the Virgin, Station Road, Minster. This consists of an oak mensa‑style altar table with a wall‑mounted Roll of Honour board, inscribed “IN GRATEFUL MEMORY OF THE MEN OF MINSTER WHO SERVED THEIR KING AND COUNTRY 1914–1919,” with those who gave their lives specially remembered and their names listed in gold and white lettering.[file:195]

Medals and Recognition

Edward was entitled to the 1914/15 Star, the British War Medal, and the Victory Medal, reflecting his early arrival in the Western European theatre and subsequent service. His entitlement to a Wound Stripe, recorded in War Office casualty lists, marks him as one of those who were officially recognised as having been wounded in action before being posted as missing and ultimately presumed killed.[file:195]

His family would also have received the Memorial Plaque and Memorial Scroll, issued to the next of kin of those who died in the Great War. Together with his listing on the Menin Gate and the Minster parish memorial, these items formed the tangible part of his posthumous recognition.[file:195]

Family and Legacy

Private Edward Hayward left behind his widow, Daisy Alice, and their children, Alice Mary and Ralph Edward (“Ted”), as well as his mother Mary Ann and wider family at Minster. For them, his name on the Menin Gate and in St Mary the Virgin Church served in place of a grave in Flanders.[file:195]

His story sits within the broader history of the 2nd Battalion, The Buffs, which, as part of 28th Division, moved from India to Flanders and endured some of the earliest gas warfare at Ypres. For genealogists and local historians, resources such as Ancestry, CWGC, and Buffs regimental histories help to place his life—from his baptism at Minster in Thanet to his commemoration on the Menin Gate—within a richer regimental and community narrative.[file:195][web:13][web:143]

Sources

• Individual report for Private Edward Hayward (family tree compilation, including birth and baptism at Minster in Thanet; census addresses at Prospect Road, Conyngham Cottage, and 2 Freehold Villas; marriage to Daisy Alice Golding; children Alice Mary and Ralph Edward (“Ted”) Hayward; enlistment at Minster; service with 2nd Battalion, The Buffs (East Kent Regiment); death on 23 April 1915; and commemoration on the Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial).[file:195]
• Commonwealth War Graves Commission – casualty record for “HAYWARD, EDWARD”, Private G/932, 2nd Bn., The Buffs (East Kent Regiment), commemorated on the Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial, Panels 12 and 14; son of Mrs C. Hayward, of 1 Tothill Cottages, Minster, Ramsgate: CWGC casualty details.[file:195]
• Find a Grave – memorial for Edward Hayward (Menin Gate Memorial, with scope for photograph and inscriptions): Find a Grave memorial 12051717.[file:195]
• Buffs (Royal East Kent Regiment) – regimental history outlining the regiment’s origins, structure, and service on the Western Front, including the deployment of its regular battalions in 28th Division: Buffs (Royal East Kent Regiment).[web:13]
• Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial – background on the memorial’s purpose, design, and the 54,000+ names of those with no known grave, including panels listing Buffs casualties: Menin Gate Memorial overview and detailed roll at Menin Gate Memorial – Roll of Honour.[web:137][web:143]
• War Office casualty lists – transcribed notices recording Edward Hayward as “Wounded” (12 May 1915) and later “Previously reported wounded, now reported wounded and missing” (3 July 1915), confirming his entitlement to a Wound Stripe under Army Order 204 of 6 July 1916 (summarised in the individual report).[file:195]
• 28th Division and Second Battle of Ypres – narrative accounts of April 1915 operations, including the German gas attack at Gravenstafel Ridge and subsequent fighting at St Julien, used to contextualise the actions of 2nd Buffs in which Hayward was killed.[file:195][web:140][web:194]
• Parish memorial at St Mary the Virgin, Minster – description of the church Roll of Honour (mensa‑style altar table and wall‑mounted board), listing Edward among those from Minster who served and those who fell in 1914–1919 (as transcribed and described in the individual report).[file:195]