Kenora Great War Project

 

Personal Details
Date of BirthMarch 20, 1892
Place of BirthOulton, Cumberland, England
CountryEngland
Marital StatusSingle
Next of KinEdward Irving, half brother, Overly Abbeytown, Carlisle, England
Trade / CallingPoliceman
ReligionChurch of England
Service Details
Regimental NumberP2726
BattalionMilitary Foot Police
ForceArmy
BranchBritish Infantry
Enlisted / ConscriptedEnlisted
Place of EnlistmentWakefield, Yorkshire, England
Address at Enlistment24 York Street, Wakefield, Yorkshire, England
Date of EnlistmentNovember 17, 1915
Age at Enlistment23
Theatre of ServiceEurope
Prisoner of WarNo
Survived WarYes
Death Details
Date of DeathAugust 22, 1948
Age at Death56
Buried AtLake of the Woods Cemetery, Kenora, Ontario
Plot56E-25-4

Storey, Hayston

Hayston Storey was born on 20 March 1892 in Oulton, Cumberland, England. He was the son of Esther Storey, also born in Oulton, and grandson of James and Mary (née Hayston) Storey. Over the years grandfather James worked as a cotton weaver, husbandman (free tenant farmer) and in latter years operated a market gardening business that the family continued after his death in 1909. The 1891 census found Esther working as a domestic for the William Brown family, farmers in Kirkbampton, Cumberland. Also working for the family was Matthew Irving. Born in Rockcliffe, Cumberland, Matthew and Esther married in 1894. They gave birth to two sons, Edward (1895) and Abraham (1899). By the 1901 census the Irving family, including Hayston, were living in Workington, Cumberland where Matthew was working as a blast furnaceman. Sadly, Esther died in 1904 and it appears that at some point after her death the family unit disintegrated. By the time of the 1911 census Hayston was working as a gamekeeper and boarding with the Robinson family in the civil parish of Skiddaw and Underskiddaw, his stepfather Matthew was boarding in the Rockcliffe area of Carlisle and working as a housebuilder/jobber, Edward was working as a farm servant for the Thirlwall family in Mealrigg/Abbey Holme, and Abraham was living with relative Janet Irving in Carlisle where he was going to school.

Hayston joined the Wakefield, West Yorkshire City Police on 18 March 1914. Granted permission from the Wakefield City Police, he signed his attestations with the British Expeditionary Force, Military Foot Police on 17 November 1915. His occupation was given as policeman and his half brother Edward in Carlisle as next of kin. Upon attestation he was immediately promoted to Lance Corporal.

The Military Foot Police were one of two units available to the Provost Martial and operated generally within the Divisional Command area. In France duties mainly included the manning of ‘stragglers’ posts, traffic control, dealing with crime committed by British soldiers, the control of civilians within the battle area, handling prisoners of war, and patrolling rear areas and ports.

Hayston embarked for France aboard the SS Maiden on 18 March 1916. He joined the 3rd Army for duty in Arras on the 22nd. In mid October he was transferred to the town of Doullens for duty and then in early December transferred to the 5th Army where he was to serve until June of 1917 when he was transferred back to the 3rd Army. In May of 1918 Hayston joined the Traffic Control Company and in late August was granted a two week leave to the UK. He was out of service for most of February and March of 1919, stationed in Paris/St Germain by mid April. He was granted a second two week leave to the UK that May and by the end of August was returned to England for discharge due to demobilization.

After the war Hayston returned to Wakefield and his job as a constable with the Wakefield City Police. On 26 January 1921, in Wakefield, he married Ruth Oliver. Born on 16 July 1902 in Magro, Guisborough, Yorkshire, Ruth was the daughter of blacksmith Thomas Oliver and Mary Ann Gray. That November Hayston and Ruth gave birth to son Keith in Upper Poppleton, a community about 50 kilometres from Wakefield.

Hayston was the first to immigrate to Canada, arriving in Quebec aboard the SS Canada on 29 May 1922. Ruth and Keith followed that October, embarking from Liverpool aboard the SS Montclare on the 13th. The young family first settled in Lindsay, Ontario where Hayston enlisted with the Ontario Provincial Police. Son Harry was born on 12 June 1926 in Lindsay. Following the path of his career with the OPP, Hayston was next stationed in Cobourg where daughter June Gwendolyn was born on 12 March 1929. From there Hayston was transferred with the OPP to Belleville, to Ottawa, to Perth, and back to Belleville in 1942 as Inspector. Along the way Hayston and Ruth gave birth to another son, Thomas. When the new Kenora Division of the OPP was formed in 1945, Hayston transferred to it as Inspector. While in Kenora Hayston was a member of the Kenora Rotary Club, played tennis, and was an enthusiastic curler, skipping his own rink in numerous competitions.

Hayston passed away suddenly on 22 August 1948 in St Joseph’s Hospital in Kenora. He had just returned from a routine trip to the Fort Frances OPP detachment when he took ill. Tribute was paid to the late Inspector Storey at an impressive service at St Alban’s Pro Cathedral. Members from the OPP, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the Winnipeg City Police, the Kenora and Keewatin Municipal Police and the Canadian Pacific Railway Police as well as local service and sporting organizations gathered to pay their respects to the late police officer. Haytson is interred in the Lake of the Woods Cemetery, Kenora.

Hayston’s wife Ruth later married widower James Lang and worked for a number of years as a matron at the local jail. Although living in Lindsay, Ontario at the time, she died in Winnipeg on 8 September 1984. She was predeceased by her second husband James in 1972. Son Keith was to serve with the Royal Canadian Air Force for the duration of WW2 and died while in training at Camp Borden, Ontario on 17 September 1960. Son Harry, a barber, died on 6 June 1968 while in Smithers, BC. Daughter June married John Patrick Wilson and died on 11 March 1998 in Winnipeg. It appears that Thomas also pursued a military career. Ruth, Keith, and Harry all are interred in the Lake of the Woods Cemetery.

by Judy Stockham

newspaper clippings: Kenora Miner and News
photographs of Hayston: public bjstorey family tree on ancestry.ca


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