Profile

HAYHURST, Theodore
(Service number 39578)

Aliases	Theo, Jack. Also recorded as Theo B. K. & Theodore Castlereagh
First Rank	Rifleman	Last Rank	Rifleman

Birth

Date	14/09/1900	Place of Birth	NZ

Enlistment Information

Date	16 October 1916	Age	19 yrs 1 mth
Address at Enlistment	C/o V. G.Pearce, Patea
Occupation	Farm hand
Previous Military Experience	11th Taranaki Regt. (still serving)
Marital Status	Single
Next of Kin	Mrs E. HAYHURST (mother), 51 Banks Street, Timaru
Religion	Church of England
Medical Information	Height 5 feet 7 inches. Weight 134 lbs. Complexion pale. Eyes light brown. Hair light brown. Eyes both 6/6. Hearing, colour vision,heart and lungs all normal. Limbs and chest well formed. Full movement of joints. No illnesses. Free from hernia, varicocele, varicose veins, haemorrhoids, inveterate or contagious skin disease. Not vaccinated. Good bodily and mental health. No slight defects. No fits. Never been off work from sickness.

Military Service

Served with	NZ Armed Forces	Served in	Army
Military District

Embarkation Information

Body on Embarkation	New Zealand Rifle Brigade
Unit, Squadron, or Ship	Reinforcements H Company
Date	16 February 1917
Transport	Navua
Embarked From	Wellington	Destination	Devonport, England

Other Units Served With
Last Unit Served With

Military Awards

Campaigns
Service Medals	British War Medal; Victory Medal
Military Awards

Award Circumstances and Date

No information

Prisoner of War Information

Date of Capture
Where Captured and by Whom
Actions Prior to Capture
PoW Serial Number
PoW Camps
Days Interned
Liberation Date

Discharge

Date	17 September 1919	Reason	Termination of period of engagement

Hospitals, Wounds, Diseases and Illnesses

26 May 1917 to hospital; agin on 9 February 1918, this time with diarrhoea.

Post-war Occupations

Death

Date	27 November 1937	Age	37 yrs
Place of Death	Timaru
Cause	Pulmonary tuberculosis
Notices	Timaru Herald, 29 November 1938
Memorial or Cemetery	Timaru Cemetery
Memorial Reference	General Section, Row 45, Plot 697
New Zealand Memorials

Biographical Notes

Theodore HAYHURST (Theo, Jack) was a son of Estelle HAYHURST (nee CASTLEREIGH) and John HAYHURST. When he enlisted he gave his birthdate as 15 November 1896, but this was obviously incorrect and done so that he would be eligible to enlist. He also stated that his birth place was St Helens, Lancashire, England. This too is unlikely, given that his mother seems to have been constantly in Timaru from at least February 1894. The birthdate provided in this record is derived from a school admission register; no birth registration can be identified in England or in New Zealand, From a reply to a letter sent by his mother on 9 February 1917, it is apparent that she was advising that he was underage. Unfortunately she was too late in moving, as Theo had already embarked on 16 February 1917. While at Featherston, on 6 December 1916, Theo was punished for insolence to an N. C. O.; he was just 16 years old then. And later in Etaples, France (11 August 1917) he forfeited 20 days pay for being out of bounds and gambling. He returned to New Zealand per "Somerset", embarking on 2 July 1919 at Liverpool His brother Lionel HAYHURST also also served in WWI; as did three HAYHURST brothers from Temuka - Cedric Dudley, Gilbert Clarence and Henry Holman - three men who were either half-brothers or nephews of Theo and Lionel. In 1920 Theo married Ellen Margaret DELURY, who was left a widow in 1937, with two children. Their son, Laurence Edward HAYHURST, born and educated in Timaru, was to died in WWII.

Sources

Cenotaph Database [01 December 2013]; NZ Defence Force Personnel Records (Archives NZ ref. AABK 18805 W5539 0052627) [27 July 2014]; Headstone image Timaru Cemetery (Timaru District Council) [01 December 2013]; Timaru Herald, 29 November 1937, 30 January 1945, 24 September 1970, (Timaru District Library) [30 July 2014]

External Links

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Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License unless otherwise stated.