Friends of the Somme - Mid Ulster Branch  
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D/24602   Private Alfred Hayes M.M.
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Dated added: 07/02/2022   Last updated: 08/02/2022
Personal Details
Regiment/Service: 6th Battalion, Royal Ulster Rifles (British Army)
Date Of Birth: 08/05/1888
Died: 06/02/1940 (Died of Illness)
Age: 51
Summary      
Alfred Hayes was a son of William and Sarah Ann Hayes. He was born on 8th May 1888 in Cookstown. He was one of at least twelve children. After his father died the family moved to Belfast. Alfred enlisted in January 1907, aged 18. He served with the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers in Malta, China and India. He fought throughout WWI and received the Military Medal. After the war her returned to Belfast and married. During the Second World War Alfred Hayes served with the 6th (Home Defence) Battalion, Royal Ulster Rifles. Private Alfred Hayes was 51 when he died of septicaemia on 6th February 1940.
Further Information
Alfred Hayes was a son of William and Sarah Ann Hayes. William Hayes and Sarah Ann Mitchell were married on 27th May 1871 in Colchester, England. William Hayes was a Recruiting Sergeant for the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers.
Alfred Hayes was born on 8th May 1888 in Cookstown, County Tyrone. He was one of at least twelve children.
Known family: William Hayes, Sarah Ann Hayes, Henry Hayes (born England), William Hayes (born about 1872, England), Isabella Hayes (born 8th March 1874, Londonderry), Catherine Hayes (born 16th May 1876, died 27th May 1876, Londonderry), James Hayes (born 13th May 1877, Londonderry), George Hayes (born 5th July 1879, Londonderry), Mabel Jane Hayes (born 6th November 1881, Londonderry), Andrew Henry Hayes (born 14th February 1884, Omagh), John Hayes (born 26th February 1886, Cookstown), Alfred Hayes (born 8th May 1888, Cookstown), Ethel Hayes (born about 1891), Adeline Lucy Hayes (born 23rd June 1892, Cookstown), Dudley O’Neill Hayes (born 7th August 1896, Cookstown), Dorothy Hayes (born about 1897).
Alfred’s father, William Hayes, died of exhaustion and exposure in Cookstown on 12th December 1896, aged 54.
The family moved to Belfast.
The 1901 census lists Alfred as age 12, living with the family at house 120 in Canmore Street, Belfast. His mother was a widow.
Alfred Hayes enlisted in Belfast on 4th January 1907, aged 18. He served with the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers (Service No. 8908) in Malta, China and India.
The 1911 census does not list Alfred as living with the family at house 57 in Bracken Street, Shankill, Belfast.
World War One
Private Alfred Hayes arrived in the Balkans with the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers on 25th April 1915.
Private Hayes also served in France.
In 1917 Private Alfred Hayes was awarded the Military Medal (London Gazette dated 9th July 1917).
He was wounded in action and suffered gunshot wounds to his back, left hip and left leg. After he recovered, pieces of shrapnel remained in his body. In 1918 in France he was transferred to the Royal Irish Fusiliers (No. 49793) and attached to 108th Trench Mortar Battery (Ulster Division).
Lance Corporal Alfred Hayes (aged 30) and Annie Smith (aged 21) of 79 Tennant Street, Belfast were married on 8th April 1919 in St. Silas’s Church of Ireland Church, Belfast. Annie Smith was a daughter of Joseph Smith, a dock labourer.
Lance Corporal Alfred Hayes was discharged from the Army on 15th September 1919 and awarded the 1914-15 Star, the British War Medal and the Victory Medal.
Between Wars
On 16th September 1919 he re-enlisted and joined the Royal Army Medical Corps (No. 206461). It was noted that he was 5 feet 5 inches tall and, because of the shrapnel in his body, he was discharged as being medically unfit on 22 September 1919.
Alfred’s mother, Sarah Ann Hayes, was 67 when she died of cancer on 26th June 1921 in Belfast.
In 1934 Alfred Hayes wrote to the War Office from his home in 38 Moltke Street, Belfast. The Army had never given him a copy of his discharge papers and they could not locate his papers in any of their offices. Alfred Hayes was unemployed, and he said that he needed the papers to get a job. He said that he was ‘finding things getting hard’.
World War Two
During the Second World War Alfred Hayes served with the 6th (Home Defence) Battalion, Royal Ulster Rifles.
Private Alfred Hayes was 51 when he died of septicaemia on 6th February 1940 in Knocknagoney Military Hospital
Memorials
Private Alfred Hayes is buried in Holywood Cemetery.
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References and Links
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1 1901 Census lists Hayes family Lists Alfred as age 12 living with the family at house 120 in Canmore Street, Woodvale Ward, Antrim
2 1911 Census lists Hayes family Does not list Alfred as living with the family at house 57 in Bracken Street, Shankill, Antrim
3 Barry Niblock - North Down & Ards Details of Private Alfred Hayes
4 FindAGrave.com Photo of Private Alfred Hayes's grave
5 National Archives UK Medal card can be purchased here
6 National Archives UK Miliary Medal card can be purchased here
7 The Gazette 6th July 1917 Supplement: 30172, Page: 6830 - Military Medal
8 War Graves Photographic Project Photo of Private Alfred Hayes's grave can be purchaed here
9 Wartime NI Brief details of Private Alfred Hayes
Cookstown District's War Dead Acknowledgements 2010-2023