Hull Pals Memorial Post. PRIVATE BETHELL HAYTON 33228. Born 1898 in Walkington, the second of three children to Robert and Sarah Hayton of Molescroft, Beverley. Bethell was from farming stock, his father a Shepherd and his elder brother a Farm Labourer, he was a Horseman prior to enlistment on 16th October 1916 aged just 18 years and 3 months. He was killed in action on 7th May 1917 and is buried at Orchard Dump Cemetery, Arleux-en-Gohelle. Percy Cawkwell was a Stretcher Bearer with the Pals. His diary entry for that day describes the scene after a Cavalry company trotted into the village they were billeted, well within range of the German guns: “We watched the scene from our reinforced cellar. Horses reared as they were peppered with…shrapnel. Some fell with their riders hit too and then high explosives, five point nines rained down. There was pandemonium as horses and men were blown in the air in pieces. When the smoke and dust settled and the barrage was over, no horse or rider was left standing.”
HE IS PHOTOGRAPHED WITH HIS SERVING FIVE BROTHERS AND TWO BROTHERS IN LAW, IN THE HULL DAILY MAIL ON THE 23RD DECEMBER 1915. * HIS BROTHER FRANK WAS KILLED IN 1918, AND IS LISTED ON THE MARBLE WW1 MEMORIAL AT ALL HALLOWS CHURCH, WALKINGTON. FOR SOME REASON BETHELL HAYTON IS MISSING?
