Sidney Hayward was a young agricultural labourer from Brook, near Ashford, who served in two Kent regiments during the First World War. A lance-corporal in the 2/4th Battalion, Queen’s Own Royal West Kent Regiment, he was killed in action on 4 November 1917, aged twenty. He rests in Beersheba War Cemetery, far from the Kent villages in which he grew up. [1][2]
Early Life and Family
Sidney was born at Brook in the final quarter of 1896 and baptised there on 10 January 1897. His birth was registered in the East Ashford district. Although the family report suggests an approximate December birth, the registration quarter alone does not establish his exact birthday. His parents were William Hayward and Kate Cullen. [1][3]
The report also records “Barham” as the mother’s surname in the birth-index information, an apparent discrepancy that deserves explanation rather than silent correction. Published family research identifies Kate as a daughter of Mary Cullen, who subsequently married William Barham. It therefore supplies a plausible family context for the use of both Cullen and Barham, although the original birth certificate would be needed to confirm precisely how Sidney’s mother was described. [1][3]
In March 1901, four-year-old Sidney lived at Newgate, Wye. His father and older brothers Arthur, John and Frederick worked as agricultural labourers, while Ernest was a baker’s apprentice. His sister Kate was also at home. The household included William Barham, described as William Hayward’s brother-in-law, and a widowed boarder, Harriet Randall. [1]
By April 1911, Sidney was fourteen and living at Rose Cottage, The Street, Brook. He had begun agricultural labour himself, following the occupation recorded for his father and several brothers. His early life was thus closely connected with the farms and villages around Brook and Wye. His parents’ later address was Troy Town, Brook, which appears in his casualty information. [1][4]
Enlistment and Regimental Service
Sidney enlisted at Ashford and initially served as Private 1969 in The Buffs, the East Kent Regiment. He subsequently served as Lance-Corporal 202502 in the 2/4th Battalion, Royal West Kent Regiment. The surviving compilation does not establish the date or administrative circumstances of his transfer between the two regiments. [1][3]
The report dates his overseas service from 9 August 1915 and places it in the Balkans and Egyptian theatres. That date coincides with the 53rd Division’s landing at Suvla Bay, Gallipoli. It is consistent with the recorded 1914–15 Star entitlement, but should not be confused with an enlistment date: the report’s separate reference to enlistment in 1917 cannot represent the beginning of service already recorded overseas in 1915. [1][5]
No marriage or children are recorded for Sidney. His next-of-kin information continued to identify William and Kate at Troy Town. The family report supplies neither personal correspondence nor an account of his military training, leaving his two service numbers and eventual battalion as the firmest links in his individual service history. [1]
At fourteen Sidney was working on the land in Kent; by twenty he was a lance-corporal serving in the Palestine campaign.
Census, service and casualty information in the family report.
From Gallipoli to Egypt
The 2/4th Royal West Kent was a Territorial Force battalion whose early organisation included the Kent Composite Battalion, formed from Royal West Kent and East Kent companies. In April 1915 it joined 160th Brigade of the 53rd (Welsh) Division. This composite background provides useful context for Sidney’s service in both Kent regiments, without establishing his particular transfer date. [1][5][6]
The division sailed for the Mediterranean in July 1915, travelling through Alexandria and Lemnos before landing at Suvla on 9 August. Its Gallipoli service brought fighting, disease and a severe November blizzard. By the time it withdrew in December, the division had been reduced to approximately fifteen per cent of its full strength. These are divisional figures, not a casualty total for Sidney’s battalion alone. [5]
After evacuation through Mudros, the division reached Egypt in December 1915 and rebuilt its strength. Its subsequent campaign included Romani in August 1916 and operations in Palestine during 1917. The family report lists these campaigns as unit history; it does not independently establish Sidney’s presence in every engagement or account for any periods away from his battalion. [1][5]
Unit Context at the Time of Death
In November 1917, Sidney’s battalion remained in 160th Brigade, 53rd Division. Its brigade companions were the 2/4th Queen’s, 1/4th Royal Sussex and 2/10th Middlesex. The division was taking part in the Third Battle of Gaza, an operation that included the capture of Beersheba on 31 October and the fighting at Tell Khuweilfe from 3 to 7 November. [5]
Beersheba was attacked from the west by formations of XX Corps and from the east by the Desert Mounted Corps. Its capture opened a new phase of operations beyond the town, rather than immediately ending Ottoman resistance. The celebrated Australian Light Horse charge on 31 October was therefore one part of a larger campaign involving infantry, artillery and mounted troops. [7]
Sidney died four days after Beersheba’s capture, during the period officially identified as the fighting for Tell Khuweilfe. His division’s role places his death within the struggle to exploit the breakthrough and overcome the remaining Ottoman positions in southern Palestine. It should not be described as a death in the mounted charge itself, nor should a particular company action be assigned to him without battalion-level evidence. [1][5]
The distinction between campaign geography and administrative terminology also matters. Although the report describes his death as occurring in “Egypt”, Beersheba and Tell Khuweilfe lay in the Palestine theatre. “Egypt” should therefore not be repeated as a precise battlefield location. His burial is in present-day Beersheba, Israel, while the military context belongs to the 1917 Palestine campaign. [1][5][7]
Circumstances of Death
Lance-Corporal Sidney Hayward was killed in action on 4 November 1917. He was twenty years old and serving under number 202502 with the 2/4th Royal West Kent. The supplied material does not identify the weapon responsible, his exact position or the immediate circumstances in which he was killed. [1][4]
The strongest reconstruction therefore combines two levels of evidence: Sidney’s confirmed casualty details and the documented operations of his division. Together they establish that he died during the advance following Beersheba and the fighting around Tell Khuweilfe. They do not establish a more detailed personal narrative of his final moments. [1][5]
Burial and Commemoration
Sidney is buried in Beersheba War Cemetery, grave G. 41. His commemorative record identifies his parents as William and Kate Hayward of Troy Town, Brook, near Ashford. This named grave provides a permanent place of remembrance linking his military service overseas with the family home in Kent. [1][4]
Beersheba War Cemetery was established after the capture of the town and subsequently enlarged by the concentration of graves from other burial grounds. Sidney’s present grave reference alone does not establish whether he was originally buried there or transferred later. The cemetery contains casualties from the wider southern Palestine fighting, not solely the men who died on 31 October. [7]
The family report records entitlement to the 1914–15 Star, British War Medal and Victory Medal, together with a Memorial Plaque. These entries preserve recognition of his overseas service and death, though the report does not reproduce the underlying medal roll or next-of-kin correspondence. [1]
Legacy
Sidney’s life connected a large agricultural family in Brook and Wye with the Mediterranean and Palestine campaigns. His service illustrates how men from Kent could pass through locally associated regiments into a predominantly Welsh divisional formation, fighting far from the Western Front more commonly associated with the war. [1][5]
With no wife or children recorded, his surviving family story centres on his parents and siblings. His remembrance rests on the combination of those family relationships, his recorded service and his grave at Beersheba: the traces of a farm labourer whose life ended at twenty during the continuing struggle beyond a celebrated victory. [1][4]
Sources and Further Reading
- Commonwealth War Graves Commission: Sidney Hayward — official casualty record linked in the supplied report.
- Sidney Hayward: Transcribed CWGC Casualty Details — battalion, parents’ address and grave G. 41.
- Faded Genes: Sidney Hayward and His Family — local genealogical account, including the Cullen and Barham family connections.
- The Long, Long Trail: 53rd (Welsh) Division — brigade organisation, Gallipoli service and Palestine operations.
- The Long, Long Trail: Queen’s Own Royal West Kent Regiment — Territorial battalions and the Kent Composite Battalion.
- Remembering the Fallen: Beersheba War Cemetery — cemetery history and battlefield context.
- Commonwealth War Graves Commission: Casualties of Beersheba — further reading on the battle and its commemoration.
- Individual Report for Sidney Hayward, supplied family-history compilation — birth, baptism, census, service and casualty details. A separate Brook war memorial inscription has not been verified for this biography.
Sources
[1] Individual-Report-for-Sidney-Hayward.pdf https://ppl-ai-file-upload.s3.amazonaws.com/web/direct-files/attachments/141549598/ead1d764-3d24-4276-ab0a-8d06c33ac71b/Individual-Report-for-Sidney-Hayward.pdf
[2] Sidney Hayward – Every One Remembered https://www.everyoneremembered.org/profiles/soldier/644655/
[3] Sidney HAYWARD 1896 – 1917 – Faded Genes https://www.fadedgenes.co.uk/SidneyHAYWARD.html
[4] Casualty Details – fadedgenes.co.uk https://www.fadedgenes.co.uk/CWGC_Sidney_Hayward.pdf
[5] 53rd (Welsh) Division – The Long, Long Trail https://www.longlongtrail.co.uk/army/order-of-battle-of-divisions/53rd-welsh-division/
[6] The Queen’s Own (Royal West Kent Regiment) – The Long, Long Trail https://www.longlongtrail.co.uk/army/regiments-and-corps/the-british-infantry-regiments-of-1914-1918/the-queens-own-royal-west-kent-regiment/
[7] Beersheba War Cemetery – Remembering the Fallen https://www.ww1cemeteries.com/isr-beersheba-war-cemetery.html
[8] The history of the 53rd (Welsh) Division in the Second World War https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/1500093301
[9] Royal West Kent Regiment – 1st & 2nd Battalions https://armyservicenumbers.blogspot.com/2009/07/royal-west-kent-regiment-1st-2nd.html
[10] Profile, London War Memorial, The Online Resource For Londons … https://londonwarmemorial.co.uk/view_profile.php?id=101633
[11] 160th Infantry Brigade – WartimeNI https://wartimeni.com/profile/british-army/british-troops-northern-ireland/53rd-welsh-infantry-division/160th-infantry-brigade/
[12] Search Sidney Hayward Obituaries and Funeral Services https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/name/hayward/sidney
[13] 160 Brigade, Royal Field Artillery in the Great War https://www.wartimememoriesproject.com/greatwar/allied/fartillery.php?pid=9751
[14] Units / Commanding Officers – The Queens Own Royal West Kent R https://www.janetandrichardsgenealogy.co.uk/queens_own_royal_west_kent_regiment%20-%20Units%20&%20Commanding%20Officers.html
[15] History | rwklhg https://www.royalwestkentlhg.com/history
[16] Private Hayward Irwin Brook Browne – Veterans Affairs Canada https://veterans.gc.ca/en/remembrance/memorials/canadian-virtual-war-memorial/608450
[17] Israel | Cemetery Details | CWGC https://www.cwgc.org/visit-us/find-cemeteries-memorials/cemetery-details/4004341/ISRAEL/
[18] Beersheba War Cemetery | NZ History https://nzhistory.govt.nz/page/beersheba-war-cemetery
[19] Casualties of Beersheba | CWGC https://www.cwgc.org/our-work/news/casualties-of-beersheba/
[20] Pilot Officer Hayward Selby Tulk – Veterans Affairs Canada https://veterans.gc.ca/en/remembrance/memorials/canadian-virtual-war-memorial/628464
[21] 2nd Cavalry Division (United Kingdom) – Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2nd_Cavalry_Division_(United_Kingdom)
[22] Canterbury Mounted Rifles Regiment – Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canterbury_Mounted_Rifles_Regiment
[23] Directory – Monuments Memorials & Markers https://monuments.freedomsway.org/directory/
[24] Biographical Notes 3 – TRING: LOCAL HISTORY TITLES. https://tringhistory.tringlocalhistorymuseum.org.uk/Memorial/Biog.%20Notes%203.htm
[25] Beersheba War Cemetery – Cemeteries and memorials – The Great … https://www.greatwarforum.org/topic/148377-beersheba-war-cemetery/
[26] Beersheba War Cemetery – Find a Grave https://www.findagrave.com/cemetery/1971970/beersheba-war-cemetery
[27] CWGC Beersheba (Israel): WW1 memorials, some graves … https://www.ww2talk.com/index.php?threads/cwgc-beersheba-israel-ww1-memorials-some-graves-victoria-cross-and-video-of-cemetery.58376/
[28] Obituaries – 2023 – Southwest Arm Historical Society https://swahsociety.com/records/obituaries/obituaries-2023
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