BORN COTTINGHAM, 1889. SON OF GEORGE OATES (1865-1892) & FRANCES MOORE HAYHURST (1867-1926). OF 42, SHARP STREET, HULL (ARMY RECORDS ADDRESS) AND 4, BRAMWELL TERRACE, GREY STREET, HULL (HDM ADDRESS 02/11/1916). HIS FATHER DIED WHEN HE WAS THREE YEARS OLD AND HIS MOTHER RE-MARRIED. HE HAD TWO SISTERS, FOUR HALF BROTHERS LIVING AT 42 SHARP STREET, HULL AND TWO HALF SISTERS. EMPLOYED AS AN ASSISTANT, AT MESSRS. WILLIAM CUSSONS & SONS, CAROLINE STREET, HULL. DESCRIBED AS 5 FOOT, 7.5 INCHES TALL, 175 LBS WEIGHT, 38-41 INCH CHEST, “VERY GOOD” PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT.
HE MARRIED ELIZA MACKINDER, AT ST STEPHENS, HULL, ON 05/04/1915. THEY LIVED AT 15, SHERBURN TERRACE, LANSDOWNE STREET, HULL (WAR PENSION ADDRESS).
HE ENLISTED IN THE HULL PALS. PROMOTED TO LANCE CORPORAL, ON 25/07/1916. KILLED BY A SHELL, ON 20/10/1916, AGED 27. MARRIED ONLY 18 MONTHS.
Hull Pals Memorial Post. Private, ARTHUR LOUIS HAYHURST 11/893. Born in Cottingham in July 1889, Arthur was the only son from the first marriage of Frances Hayhurst (1867-1926). He had two sisters. The family set-up was a little complicated as it appears Frances had two further husbands leaving Arthur with a number of half-siblings. The 1911 Census finds Arthur lodging at 36 Queen Street, Withernsea where he worked as a Grocer’s Assistant. When war came he joined in the rush to enlist signing-up at Hull City Hall on 10th September 1914 for the fledgling 11th Battalion East Yorkshire Regiment. He married Eliza Mackinder in April 1915, and perhaps trying to squeeze every last second with her, Arthur got into trouble for overstaying a pass by three days in October just before the Pals shipped for Egypt. Landing in France in early March 1916, they headed north for the trenches and the harsh realities of the war. Arthur was killed in action on 20th October 1916 and is commemorated on a Special Memorial in Hebuterne Military Cemetery; he was 27 years old. What price those three days, bet he would have taken the docked pay a hundred times over.
His death was reported in the Hull Daily Mail, on 02/11/1916 & 22/10/1917.
