3rd Officer, Cyril Le Cai (or Gai) Hayward, R.N.

[Tonym]

How would I be able to ascertain if there was an RN Officer of the above name who served in WWI. He was possibly with HMHS China in August 1918. Grateful for any assistance.

Tony

[horatio2]

3rd Officer is a Mercantile Marine rank, not RN

[Tonym]

Thanks Horatio

That would explain why I cannot find him under RN

Cheers Tony

[IPT]

His real name appears to have been Cyril Le Gay Hayward, born Portsea Island 1892.As has been mentioned previously on the forum, he can't be found on CWGC.

[Tonym]

Thanks ITP

Can you advise the thread that he was mentioned in please? I fed his name into search but only your post here turns up.

Tony

[IPT]

Hi Tony,The thread was regarding the hospital ship China. Of course, it refers to le Gai as per the memorial;

 

The Le Gay version was from his birth and probate records on Ancestry.

[Tonym]

Thanks ITP

It was worth a try1

Tony

[Tracey Ball]

There’s a Cyril Le Gay Hayward on the 1918 memorial tablet in the chapel at Denstone College, Staffordshire. I saw it this evening. It’s such an unusual name that I imagine it’s the same person? 

Edited 30 January by Tracey Ball
Wrong date.

[seaJane]

Just trawling through my photographs from RN Cemetery in Lyness (visited September 2016) and this was the memorial stone at that time. As remarked elsewhere, Cyril Le Gai Hayward's rank as 3rd Officer indicates that he was in the Mercantile Marine (as crews of hospital ships taken up from trade usually were) and therefore his name does not appear on the CWGC site. The other three people memorialised were all Royal Navy personnel in one way or another.

Regards,

seaJane

 

Edited 5 February by seaJane

[KizmeRD]

In order for Merchant Marine Officers to be commemorated by CWGC their death needs to be directly related to enemy action.
In this case the four casualties had taken leave together from the hospital ship and borrowed one of the ship’s whalers (small boat) to take a trip round the island’s coast (presumably they would have organised somewhere to stay, possibly a small cottage). There was a doctor, a dentist, a nurse AND Cyril (he was needed to operate the whaler and to not get them lost). It would have been a lovely thing to do during August, had it not been for the fact that it appears that their boat came into contact with a drifting mine (most likely a British one laid to defend Scapa Flow).

Service men & women (doctor’s & nurses) who died in service during the war (from any cause) are commemorated by CWGC, but that’s not the case for a Merchant Marine Officer (technically a civilian) - therefore Cyril’s death got treated differently to the other three (somewhat unfairly).

MB

[seaJane]

1 hour ago, KizmeRD said:

somewhat unfairly

My feelings exactly - and thank you for clarifying my rather hasty description and explanation. 

sJ