F. C. Hayden
Service no. 724529
Private, London Regiment, 24th Battalion
Born in Thaxted; enlisted in Lambeth; lived in Studley Road
CWGC: “Husband of Mrs E. Hayden, of 2 Stanley Villas, Studley Road, Clapham, London.”
Died of wounds at age 36 on 22 August 1918
Remembered at Bray Vale British Cemetery, Bray-sur-Somme, France
British Army WWI Service Records 1914-1920
Frederick Charles Hayden, a 35-year-old married travelling salesman, living at 2 Stanley Villas, Studley Road, Stockwell, attested on 8 December 1915 and joined the Army Reserve. He was mobilised on 28 August 1916 and posted to France the next day, leaving his wife, Emily (née Austin) and their daughter Ethel, 9. It is unclear from the records whether his 14 days’ leave, granted on 31 July 1918 enabled him to return to London to see them, or were spent near the Front. In any case, he died shortly afterwards, on 22 August.
Few details of his life are available, but the medical examination on mobilisation records him as 5 feet 5 inches tall, with a 34½ inch chest, to which he could add 2 inches. He had both upper and lower dentures. His effects consisted only of two military discs.
Information from the 1911 census
The 1911 census shows a 29-year-old Frederick (or Fredrick*) Hayden working as a warehouseman and living with his wife Emily (née Austin), three-year-old daughter Ethel and in-laws at 2 Stanley Villas, Studley Road, London SW4. He was born in Thaxted, Essex. Emily’s stepfather, Henry Willey, 57, was a railway locomotive engine driver. There was a boarder, Alice Robinson, a 38-year-old single nurse from Gateshead, County Durham.
*The 1911 census has Frederick as Fredreck.
