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Gnr. John Gardner Hayes
British Army 90th Heavy Battery Royal Garrison Artillery
from:Woking
(d.4th October 1917)
I discovered my Grandfather's grave in Voormezeele Enclosures No's 1 and 2 near Ypres by accident when attending a conference in Ypres in 2003. Since then I have visited his grave 5 times and will take part in a wreath laying ceremony at the Menin Gate on 4th October 2017 commemorating his death 100 years ago.
In 1899 John Hayes enlisted with 2nd Battalion of the London Rifle Volunteers to serve in the Royal Army Medical Corps and served overseas in South Africa during the second Anglo-Boer war. He was awarded the service medals, the Queens South Africa Medal 1899 with bars, Transvaal, Orange Free state and Cape Colony and the King’s South Africa Medal 1902 with bars South Africa 1901 and 1902. After the war ended in 1902 he can be seen stationed in Tipperary. After his twelve year period in the army he can be found in the 1911 Census living in Wokingham, Berkshire as a boarder with two others at 13a Havelock Road, and working as a postman. In 1912 he married Kathleen Ellen Smith and lived at Wokingham. They had a son Percy Alfred born on 14th June 1914. In 1916 he joined the Royal Garrison Artillery and served as Gunner with the 90th Heavy Battery in Belgium.
