| Description | Work completed by volunteer includes the following information:
Private Bethel Hayton, aged 18, of the 10th Battalion of the East Yorkshire Regiment was killed in action in unknown circumstances on 7 May 1917, probably in the vicinity of Arleux, north east of the town of Arras. He is buried in the Orchard Dump Cemetery at Arleux-En-Gohelle, Dept du Pas-de-Calais France. His death was recorded in the Beverley Guardian of 19 May with a letter from his Platoon Officer, C H Piper, to his father Robert that sheds light on Bethel’s character.
Piper said that, “He was a good and willing worker and a true friend. I am sure his loss will be felt by everyone in my platoon. Kindly accept my deepest sympathy. Trust you will bear the great loss with courage as he died for a noble cause.”
Bethel was born in Walkington in July 1898 and was a farm worker, at the time of his enlistment, working at Londesborough Wold near Market Weighton. His father was Robert Spencer Hayton, a shepherd, who came from the village; in 1884 he married his Sarah Jane in Hull. In Walkington they lived at Great End but by 1911 had moved to Molescroft, living at Thompson Place. Bethel had three siblings, Florence born 1887 but died in childhood, Alice (1900-81) who later moved to Hull, and Mark (1894-1975). Mark served in the Royal Navy from 1916-19 and was on board his destroyer HMS Sparrowhawk when it sank after a collision with HMS Broke on 1 Jun 1916 at the Battle of Jutland. Little else is known of Bethel’s upbringing. He was unmarried.
Bethel enlisted at Beverley the 10 Oct 1916. He was posted to the “1st Hull Pals” (The “Hull Commercials”) as the 10th Battalion was called. Though he had little connection with Hull this was probably because of their heavy losses in the action at Serre on the Somme on 13 Nov 1916. He arrived in France in early 1917 and would have survived the Hull Pals action at heavily defended Oppy Wood on May 3rd-4th. There is nothing in the War Diary for 7 May to indicate how Bethel died on this date. He was posthumously awarded the War and Victory Medals.
Bethel is remembered on Molescroft’s Roll of Honour and also on the East Riding Memorial in Beverley Minster.
Includes photograph, information taken from census, military records, Commonwealth War Graves, newspapers |