2nd Lieut Leo John Hayes

• Age: 27
• From: Bootle, Liverpool
• Regiment: The King's (Liverpool Regiment) 18th Btn
• K.I.A Thursday 10th October 1918
• Commemorated at: Highland Cem Le Cateau
  Panel Ref: I.B.1

Less than five short weeks before the Allies reached the goal for which they had been striving through four grim, heart – breaking years, there fell near Le Cateau a brave and upright officer named Lieut. Leo John Hayes. He was a 1915 volunteer, who might have remained in comfort and safety at home, though that would have been at variance with the vision he had of life’s greater purpose and duty. In civilian life he made the quiet, kindly ministration to distress and affliction, a part of his life work, and such a man would hardly remain unmoved and inactive when a cruel impression was threatening humanity at large

“Jack” as his intimate friends knew him, was the son of the late Mr. L. W. Hayes, of the firm of Messrs. J&T. J. Irving, Stockbrokers, of Liverpool. His mother was Miss Tumilty, and Hayes himself was a cousin of the Town Clerk of Bootle, Mr J Spencer Tumilty. Some few years ago he married Miss Edith Brabin, daughter of Mr W. D. Brabin, and latterly they lived at 20 Manville Road New Brighton. No union could have been happier than theirs, we are told how the thoughts of this heroic officer, before he entered into his last battle, as also when he lay mortally wounded, were all for his young wife and his two little sons.

St. Joseph’s College, Dumfries, was the scene of his education, and his name is enshrined with those of many other earnest, conscientious fellow-students who met their gallant deaths in the service of the Empire. Entering the Bank of Liverpool at the age of seventeen he bore a first-class character for efficiency, and eventually he was appointed Assistant Manager at the Banks Branch in Wrexham. Ever a devout Roman Catholic, he became while quite a young man a member of the St. Alexander’s Conference at Bootle, which is associated with the St. Vincent de Paul Society.” I shall always bear pleasant recollections of Brother Hayes when on our round visiting the poor in the lower districts of St Alexander’s parish” writes one who was a companion on these errands of charity. Into this work, which he performed so typically in a quiet, unassuming manner, he put all that is best in his unselfish and warm-hearted nature, and in many humble homes that he visited he left a memory that will not easily fade with the passing years.

We Come now to outline his career in the army. He joined up in 1915 as a private in the army. He joined up in 1915 as a private in the Mechanical Transport section of the Army Service Corps. Within a week of his enlistment he was under orders for France, where his unit was attached to the 56^th Field Ambulance, where he remained for nineteen months. Selected as a candidate for a commission, he came home to train with the Artists Rifles O. T. C, at Romford. In August 1917 he was gazetted to the 3^rd K. L. R., and in the November he was sent to Salonika. Later he was attached to the 14^th K. L. R., a fine Kitchener Battalion, and went to France as a combatant in July 1918. Next month he had to be returned home with a nervous breakdown and he was attached to the 18^th K. L. R., one of the old “Pals “units, when he returned overseas on the 17^th September. Soon afterwards October 10^th was the date he fell in action whilst bravely pressing forward in one of those big assaults that brought the war to its grand climax and triumph.

Early that morning the Battalion set forth in search of the enemy, meeting with little resistance until they reached a rise in the ground, where they became exposed at short range to the fire of the opposing field guns. Lieut. Hayes himself was mortally hit by a shell splinter, and after he had uttered his last words, which were of his wife, he passed like a soldier to the Great Beyond. He was buried together with some of his comrades, quite near to the spot where he fell and about 300 yards of the town of Le Cateau, and in front of the village of Montay. By all ranks his death was mourned as that of a brave and devoted officer, who was always mindful of the welfare of his men, and always ready to stimulate them by the influence of his own warmhearted and sunny disposition.

Seven and twenty years of age, Lieut. Hayes was not one of those men who would join in the conflict of arms from any zest of adventure, for his tastes found their bent rather in the quieter adventures of charity. With him the inspiring motive was that of citizenship and Christianity. England’s cause, that of the protection of the weak and helpless, was one that accorded with his own ideals and his own deep sympathies for human betterment, and he faced the ordeal to which he felt instinctively called with a fine courage, and all the confident trust in his own fate and fortune that his faith had given him.

The above was taken from the Liverpool Scroll of Fame.

Further information:

Leo John was born 14th January 1891 in Bootle, the son of Leo Walter Hayes and his wife Isabella (nee Tumility). His father died 12th January 1910 and his mother Isabella had died in 1909.

1891 Census - 9 St Edmonds Road, Bootle - Parents with son Leo John (Jack) Hayes age 3 months

1901 Jack is a student in Hoylake.

Jack married Edith Mary Brabin 18th October 1911 at St Mary’s RC church, Wrexham. They went on to have sons Leo James Darlington in 1914, John William in 1915 (he sadly died 1915) and Anthony John in 1918.

His Army service is listed in the biography above.

Jack was killed in action serving as 2nd Lieutenant with the 18th Battalion of The King's Liverpool Regiment on 10th October 1918.

On 7th October 1918 the 18th Bn arrives at the Hindenburg Line and pursues the retreating German army.  The battalion War Diary records - 

10th October 1918 - At 0230 hours the battalion moved forward to a position near RUEMONT, and attacked towards LE CATEAU at 0510.  Very little opposition was met with at the start but later considerable M.G. fire was encountered. …  Our right company was not in touch with the flank, and the troops on the right appeared to be held up by M.G. fire from the railway embankment … A short length of trench on the high ground immediately E. of LE CATEAU was also reported to be held by the enemy.  At 0848 the Centre Coy reached K.33.b and pushed a platoon into the N. W. outskirts of LE CATEAU.  The right company was temporarily held up by MG and sniper fire, but appeared to be almost in the town itself.  Hostile M.G. fire was reported from the direction of Q.10. … Houses in K.28.a were reported to be strongly held by the Bosche, and a patrol was sent out to investigate and deal with them. … During the advance on LE CATEAU considerable difficulty was experienced, owing to a “whizz bang” battery being able to fire over open sights at the troops as they moved up the rise and along a slight valley.

Total Casualties from 7th to 13th October:

Killed – 2 Officers, 18 O.R.

Wounded – 6 Officers, 111 O.R.

Died of Wounds – 1 O.R.

Wounded and Missing – 1 Officer, 20 O.R.

Jack was one of the casualties referred to in the diary, he now rests at Highland Cem,Le Cateau at  Plot I, Row B, Grave 1. where his headstone bears the epitaph:

"REST IN PEACE" 

After the Battle of Le Cateau (26 August 1914), the town remained in German hands until the middle of October 1918. The original cemetery (Plot III) was made by the 50th (Northumbrian) Division after the fighting of 17 October; the name of Highland Cemetery is suggestive at once of the comparatively high ground on which it stands and of the 32 graves of the 13th (Scottish Horse) Battalion, Black Watch, found in this plot. The cemetery was greatly enlarged after the Armistice when graves of October and November 1918 were brought in from isolated positions on all sides of Le Cateau. Highland Cemetery now contains 624 First World War burials. The cemetery was designed by Charles Holden.

His headstone does not bear the Eagle and Child of the Pals Battalions, but the White Horse of Hanover worn by the Regular and some Territorial Battalions. This is presumably because his parent unit is given as the 3rd Battalion The King’s Liverpool Regiment, whose badge was the White Horse. In the next grave is buried Lieutenant F E Sanders who was killed in the same action, and in the same row are the graves of Private FW Consterdine , and Lance Corporal R Walker, also killed on the same day. All three also have the White Horse headstone, although the soldiers are listed as 18th Battalion in ‘Soldiers Died in the Great War.

A report of his death appeared in the Wallasey News: 

Lpool. Bank Clerk Killed
 
To official sad intimation has been received that Lieut. Leo John Hayes was killed in action on October 10th. He joined the Army Service Corps in August, 1915, and had been two years in France, when he came home for his commission, and became attached to the King’s Liverpool Regiment, and was drafted to Salonika. He was formerly in the service of the Bank of Liverpool at the Wrexham branch. He leaves a widow and two children, who reside at 20, Manville Road, New Brighton. 

The Liverpool Echo of 21st October 1918 reported:

HAYES - October 10, killed in action Lieutenant LEO JOHN HAYS K.L.R., the dearly loved husband of Edith Hayes, 20 Manville Road, New Brighton. R.I.P.

The Liverpool Echo 22nd October 1918:

WALLASEY OFFICERS KILLED

Lieutenant Leo John Hayes K.L.R., whose widow resides at 20 Manville Road, New Brighton, is also reported killed in action.

Soldiers Effects to widow Mrs Edith Mary Hayes, the Pension record acknowledges her remarriage.

Probate records show 6th June 1922 for Leo John Hayes of 20 Manville Road, Wallasey was to Edith Mary Collins wife of Arthur Vincent Collins - Effects £141.6.7d. Edith had re-married to Arthur V Collins in 1920.

We currently have no further information on Leo John Hayes. If you have or know someone who may be able to add to the history of this soldier, please contact us.