HAYCOCK, Walter

Walter Haycock lived in the High Street, Lye, and was the youngest of the six children of George and Ann Haycock. He was admitted to Old Swinford Hospital and left the school as an apprentice for the Foley estate at Stoke Edith near Hereford. He worked as a blacksmith and farrier but was taken, so it was said, because at 6ft 3ins he was a good cricketer and the estate team needed him. He volunteered for the Shropshire Light Infantry in August 1914 and joined the 5th (Service) Battalion. Within six months he had been promoted as one of the youngest sergeants in the British army. They moved to France in May 1915 and to Artois. They were in the front line on the 25th September for the first day of the Battle of Loos. The German defence was strong and the distance to their trenches too great. Losses were heavy and included Sergeant Walter Haycock who was killed by a sniper. He was 20 years of age and is commemorated on the Menin Gate, Lye and Wollescote, Lye church and Stoke Edith church Memorials.