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The Story of Dan Hayward
Harold Raugh


Joined: 25 May 2008
Posts: 211
Location: Heidelberg, Germany (U.S. Army)
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Greetings --

Is anyone familiar with this 88-page book: The Story of Dan Hayward, by Dan Hayward (born 1857- )(Newport, Mon.: Southall, 1909).

A copy of this book is located in the National Library of Wales. Subject listings for this book include "Zulu War, 1879," and "Temperance, Wales, 19th Century."

I would be grateful to learn what this book is about, and who Dan Hayward was!

Thanks in advance for any assistance.

Best wishes,
Harold Raugh
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Paul Bryant-Quinn


Joined: 14 Oct 2007
Posts: 551
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Harold

If no-one else can help you on this, I will check it out in the NLW.

Regards,

Paul

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AMB


Joined: 07 Oct 2005
Posts: 921
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Harold,

Nothing in my library and my scout about the 'Net met with a negative. Sorry!

AMB
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Harold Raugh


Joined: 25 May 2008
Posts: 211
Location: Heidelberg, Germany (U.S. Army)
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Dear Paul and AMB,

Thank you for your responses.
Any information you can find out, Paul, would be greatly appreciated, and I am sure other forum members would also be interested in what you find out.
Many thanks,
Harold
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Paul Bryant-Quinn


Joined: 14 Oct 2007
Posts: 551
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The Story of Dan Hayward, Southall & Co (Newport, Mon.), 1909, 88pp.

This short but entertaining book is essentially a product of the Temperance movement. It is quite professionally produced on good paper, well bound, with a picture of the author as a frontpiece. Dan Hayward�s intent is unashamedly confessional, and the book tells the story of his descent into the hell of drink, violence, crime, the loss of his family, and his eventual redemption (via a brief sojourn with the Mormons) in an Abertillery chapel.

The AZW related material � if such it can be called � is to be found on pp. 9-26, and it will be recalled that he was writing some 30 years after the events he describes. According to Hayward, he was born in 1857 in Risca, from where his family moved to Brynmawr in Breconshire. He states that he enlisted in Cardiff on 10 May 1877 �in the 41st Welsh regiment� [p. 9]. In 1878 he �volunteered to go to the South African Zulu War, as many did at that time� (sic) [p. 9] and embarked for South Africa on 10 December 1878. Hayward says that the regiment to which he was attached (to be fair, he does not say that this was the 41st: whatever unit he claims to have been with is merely left unidentified) landed at Port Natal on 22 January 1879, from where they �marched to Greytown�, during which he says news reached them that the 24th had been "cut up". While on a subsequent march to Conference Hill he claims that he and 37 men of his regiment were attacked by 2,000 Zulus. This he describes as his first experience of battle, and a solemn affair. It was not, however, to be his last: at Conference Hill he says that his regiment joined the �main column� where they "engaged in battle with 25,000 Zulus" (pp. 17-19). There are details in this account which appear to reflect a garbled description of the battle of Khambula and its aftermath.

From Conference Hill that column marched to Ulundi, where he states that he took part in the battle, which he correctly says took place on 4 July, and gives a lively - if brief - account of it with some vivid personal touches. He claims that Cetshwayo �was captured the following day�, thus bringing the Zulu War to an end. Hayward has nothing but praise for the bravery of the Zulu. Then follows a curious detail:

After this we received orders to march into the Transvaal, and as we marched we sang the following song to the tune of the 'Men of Harlech':

British soldiers fight for glory
Let great nations tell the story
How we fought, one man to forty,
Britons never yield.


[p. 23]

One is tempted to ask whether this booklet was known to someone involved in the making of ZULU?

Hayward states that his regiment remained in Pretoria for three months, and then marched back to Port Natal from where they embarked for a tour of duty in India. He describes his time in India and states that he was discharged from the Army after a total of 7 years' service (an appreciable proportion of which, by his own admission, he spent in prison); the rest of the book concerns his life and tribulations up to the point of publication.

The Story of Dan Hayward is a curious little book, and it is hard to know what to make of it. Hayward�s overriding aim is to tell the story of his mis-spent youth, and it is a breathless page-turner in which he does not shrink from painting himself in the worst possible light prior to finding God. I have no idea whether he was ever even in the Army, and there are many things in his story which are simply wrong and which call his claim to be an eyewitness into serious question. On the other hand, his account certainly does not lay claim to any heroism: if anything, his purpose is to underline what an unpleasant character he was prior to his conversion. If he is to be believed, he seems to have spent most of his time in the Army either trying to get his hands on grog or beating up other soldiers. But even if Hayward did not take part in the Zulu campaign it is, of course, not impossible that he might have heard stories at some point from someone who did. And you have to wonder whether, if what he wrote was completely untrue, such a brazen piece of published fiction might not have been challenged by those who were there. Perhaps it was: I haven't looked for reviews.

However, my take on it is that while the Good Lord may indeed have saved the author from the demon drink, He certainly seems not to have worried too much about his fertile imagination. Either that, or our man's memory was shot to pieces by 1909. In any event I don't think that The Story of Dan Hayward is going to revolutionise our perception of the Anglo-Zulu War.

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Harold Raugh


Joined: 25 May 2008
Posts: 211
Location: Heidelberg, Germany (U.S. Army)
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Dear Paul,

Thank you very much for your fascinating overview of Hayward's book. It sounds like a lively read!

Many thanks indeed for your efforts and enlightenment.

All the best,
Harold
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John Young


Joined: 30 Aug 2005
Posts: 1020
Location: Lower Sheering, Essex
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There's a Pte. D. Hayward, served in the 4th (King's Own) Regiment.

In haste.

John Y.
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Paul Bryant-Quinn


Joined: 14 Oct 2007
Posts: 551
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Harold: many thanks for your kind comments.

John - many thanks for the reference: you read my mind! Having worked on 1933 Pte 'Charles Roberts' for a while, some - but not all - of what Hayward writes does seem to make more sense in the context of the 4th's march to Luneburg; and 'Roberts' himself refers to contact with an impi. But the 4th did not fight at either Khambula or Ulundi (correct me if I'm wrong) - or did it? And the book specifically states that Hayward enlisted with a 'Welsh' regiment in Cardiff. I'd be interested to find out whether the King's Own did in fact seek recruits in South Wales.

What I suspect on reflection may have happened is that Hayward told his story to someone who then ghosted this small volume; and that writer confused events of which Hayward was aware but did not take part in, with his actual experiences.

Regards,

Paul

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Peter Ewart


Joined: 31 Aug 2005
Posts: 1797
Location: Near Canterbury, Kent, England.
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Fascinating, Paul. I think John may be close to the mark because several companies of the 4th were still on the L of C, including between Greytown and Helpmekaar, when news of the disaster hit them on their march through Natal. I'm pretty sure no companies of the 4th were at Ulundi and will be surprised if they were with the 2nd Div or Flying Column either. As you say, the idea may have been to draw in bits of the campaign familiar to the public to add interest to that part of the book.

Much of the remainder seems all right, though. According to the decennial census returns for Wales, a Daniel Hayward (and I can only find one in Wales, which is helpful) gave his birthplace as Risca and is found - with his parents and siblings - in Bedwellty, Ebbw Vale, in 1861 and at Llangattock, Breconshire, by 1871, having lived at Brynmawr, where a sister was born, and possiby Machen, in the meantime. His father, Luke, was a collier. I found him in a lodging house with 20-odd other lodgers, many of them Irish, at Home Penrhys, Ystradyfodwg, Rhondda, in 1891. He married and had children, his wife Ann settling with him in Glandowr St., Abertillery, by the turn of the century, earning his living as a "coal hewer, below."

Just to be sure, I checked the 1881 census, when he should have been in India according to your notes, and found no trace, which tends to support that part of his story, too. No doubt you have returned the book now, but does any of this ring a bell?

Peter

P.S. Look what you've started, Harold!
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Paul Bryant-Quinn


Joined: 14 Oct 2007
Posts: 551
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Peter

Excellent stuff, and your census records are the clincher. It seems beyond doubt that Hayward was with the King's Own and not the 41st; and though that regiment did not fight at either Khambula or Ulundi, two of its officers did. Capt. R.H. McCarthy, in command of the Mounted Infantry, was present at Khambula where he was wounded. His replacement, Capt. F.M.G. Hutchinson, went on to fight at Ulundi where he showed 'conspicuous gallantry'.

The text's claim that Hayward was present at these battles may perhaps be explained (albeit somewhat indulgently!) if some over-zealous ghost writer helping Hayward to record his account had confused his stories about them to imply that he was actually present. Presumably stories about Khambula and Ulundi had circulated in some form back to the men of the 2/4th, and thus found their way into his tale of personal redemption. Neither of his accounts is particularly accurate, by the way, although his Ulundi version has a couple of interesting notes.

Ann seems to have been Hayward's second wife; according to what he wrote his first wife (she may have been his partner: the text is unclear at this point), and their infant child, died tragically. Hayward never forgave himself.

I was interested by his story of the words sung to Men of Harlech. Is there any parallel to what he says about this?

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Harold Raugh


Joined: 25 May 2008
Posts: 211
Location: Heidelberg, Germany (U.S. Army)
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Dear John, Paul, and Peter,

Thank you very much indeed for your superb detective work and insightful comments on D. Hayward. This was very interesting.

Here's another book I have tried to acquire via interlibrary loan with no success:

Ives, J.C. Six Years with the Colours in Zululand, Penang, and Hong Kong. Canterbury: E. Milton Small, [1891].

Does anyone know anything about this book or Ives, whom I believe was a corporal in the 2nd Buffs?

Many thanks once again!

All the best,
Harold
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Peter Ewart


Joined: 31 Aug 2005
Posts: 1797
Location: Near Canterbury, Kent, England.
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Harold

I have a smallish collection of works relating to The Buffs but have never heard of this title. The Buffs regimental museum's collection of records & books was transferred to the Nat Army Museum, Chelsea, about ten years ago, and if they had a copy they may just be able to help.

The 2nd Bn, The Buffs (3rd Foot) left Zululand for Hong Kong and the Strait Settlements, coming home in the mid-1880s via a couple of months in the Sudan, where they were eventually not required for the Gordon relief effort. As they had gone out to S Africa in 1876, this chap presumably came home with the Bn., perhaps after more than 6 years with the Colours altogether, although without knowing whether he went out with a draft, and/or came back with a draft, rather than with the battalion as a whole, he may have become time-expired a litte before or after that time.

In the 1891 census was a John C. Ives, living in Canterbury and employed at this time as a police constable. Married with children, all born C'bury. He born Clapham. Looks like him, but the book itself would presumably confirm. (The Buffs regimental depot was in Canterbury).

Going back to Dan Hayward (I realise this is superfluous to your requirements!) there can be no doubt that the chap JY identified in the 4th (K.O.) is the chap. The two battalions asked for by Lord C before the war were both (99th and the 2nd Bn, 4th KO) sent out in Dec. The 99th had to be augmented with volunteers from other regiments to bring it up to strength & was sent out in three ships in the first week of the month. I suspect the 2nd/4th contained volunteers too, which would tie in exactly with DH's claim about volunteering but having originally enlisted in another regiment. They sailed in the Dunrobin Castle, with specially added troopdecks, on the 10th from Gravesend - exactly the date Dan recalled - having travelled from Aldershot. They arrived at the Cape on 5th Jan and disembarked at Durban around the 10th ownards, a little ahead of Dan's recollection, which he might have confused with events of the 22nd, the news of which reached them on the march. The companies were split up and several did duty guarding border communities near the disputed territories, tying in again with his mentions of Conference Hill.

Paul, he was described as single in 1891, but in 1901 his son David (born Mardy, Glam.) was 14 years old, confirming that he had had a family well before his marriage to Ann, as you suggest.

Peter
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John Young


Joined: 30 Aug 2005
Posts: 1020
Location: Lower Sheering, Essex
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Again in haste, having just arrived home.

Pte. J. Ives, 2nd Battalion, 3rd (East Kent) Regiment of Foot, The Buffs.

John Y.
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Paul Bryant-Quinn


Joined: 14 Oct 2007
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John

If you find a moment, can you tell me what Hayward's regimental number was? Unfortunately a lot of my books / papers are still in storage.

Peter

This all makes sense. To your knowledge, if Hayward volunteered for service in the AZW from another regiment, and given that he seems to have gone subsequently to India with the King's Own, would his secondment to that regiment have been considered permanent for the duration of his time in the Army?

Regards to you both,

Paul

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John Young


Joined: 30 Aug 2005
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Paul,

Once again in haste due to the current situation in Sri Lanka. (Which has forced me to cancel at the R.E. Museum tomorrow.)

11th Brigade/2354.

JY


Last edited by John Young on Sun May 17, 2009 7:50 pm; edited 1 time in total
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The Story of Dan Hayward
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