Harmsworth Hero: The Bob Hayward Story

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Chapter 1: Growing Up Hayward

It is said that the place to trace a family history is to find a family Bible in the house and thumb through it. This is true with Bob Hayward’s family as well. Hayward is a common English name, as evidenced by the number of Haywards found in www.ancestry.ca.

The first Haywards who pertain to our story are John and Mary Hayward. They had nine children, who were in order of descent:

1) Frederick Hayward (b. 24 December 1842)

2) Ambrose Hayward (b. 30 September 1844 & d. 21 April 1907)

3) Emily Hayward (b. 1 January 1847)

4) Martha Hayward (b. 19 July 1949)

5) John Arthur Hayward (b. 20 October 1851) *

6) Harriet Jane Hayward (b. 26 June 1854)

7) James Henry Hayward (b. 5 September 1856)

8) Philip William Hayward (b. 2 April 1859)

9) Alice Booth Hayward (b. 14 February 1862)

The fifth child, John Arthur Hayward, is important to our story, because he is Bob Hayward’s grandfather. He is listed in the 1901 census as of ‘English’ background and employed as a ‘farmer’. He was listed in McAlpine’s Dominion Business Directory of 1873-1874, as being a member of the Church of England, and, once again, as a farmer. The Hayward family lived in Eastwood, a small hamlet about one mile south of Highway 401, at Exit 238, on old Highway 2 at its junction with Oxford County Road 55. Family members are buried in the cemetery of St. John’s Anglican Church.

John Arthur Hayward married Jemina Gillean Gibson on 25 September 1888 in, of all places, Beamsville, Ontario. She had been born on 23 January 1864 at 60 Marischall Street in Peterhead, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. She was the fifth of six children born to William and Lucretia Gillean, both of Scotland. She emigrated to Canada in 1880.

John and Jemina had four children: three sons and one daughter. Gordon Hayward was the oldest, being born on 9 October 1889. Gordon served with the Canadian Expeditionary Force in World War I, being drafted under the Military Service Act of 1917. His Regimental Number was #3139361; and he was described as being age 28 at 5’5" tall and having brown eyes and auburn hair. On 10 July 1918, he was posted to the 1st Depot Battalion, where he remained till the end of hostilities. Arthur John Hayward was born on 9 November 1891, and was Bob’s father. The other two children were Earl Gibson Hayward (b. 18 April 1893), and Hanna Lucretia Hayward (b. 2 October 1895).

John Arthur Hayward, the patriarch of the family, passed away on 18 March 1916 at age 64. He died at East Oxford, Lot 7 Concession 1, and was buried at the churchyard in Eastwood. His cause of death was given as cystitis for the final three months, augmented by uremia in the last ten days of his life. His wife, Jemina Gibson outlived him until 12 January 1937. Her occupation was listed as housekeeper. She passed on at age 72 years, 11 months and 20 days, with cause of death being listed as mental illness. More specifically, the cause of death was uremia, with convulsions due to nephritis. She spent the last eight years of her life in the London Hospital.

Arthur John Hayward continued in the family tradition of farming. He was married on 9 June 1920 to Edith Pearl Meikle. She had been born on 9 November1899, and was the daughter of William Meikle, and Frances Mary Smith. The bride’s father had been born in Paisley, Scotland. Obviously, the family was of Scottish descent, and they were of Baptist religious affiliation. They had settled in Norfolk County around the community of Middleton. On their wedding day, he was age 28 and she was 20. Arthur was Anglican, while his wife was a staunch Baptist. The witnesses to the wedding were Mr. W.L. Meikle (RR #8, Woodstock) and Miss Anna L. Hayward (RR #6, Embro). They were married by the Baptist Minister in Woodstock, Reverend Joseph James, and it was noted that both the bride and the groom could read and write. They moved from Eastwood to the Embro property in the 1920’s, and they brought Mrs. Hayward with them to the new home.

The family property was purchased on 1 April 1921. The two brothers bought it off of Frederick E. Day for the sum of $2600. It was in the Township of West Zorra and was described as being ‘….composed of Northerly 25 acres of the SE Quarter of Lot #5 in the 5th Concession of Said Township’…. On 19 April 1949, Gordon Hayward sold his interest of the farm to his brother and his sister in law, in consideration of $4,000. It was described as a ’deed of land situate in the Township of West Zorra’ and goes on to describe it as ‘Part of Lot #5 in the 5th Concession of said Township, commencing at the NE corner of said lot, thence southerly along the Easterly limit of the said lot, 15 chains more or less to the said lot on the easterly limit thereof thence westerly parallel with the northerly limit of the said lot 33 chains, 33 ½ links to the center of the concession thence southerly along the center of the concession, 7 chains and 50 links thence westerly parallel with the northerly limit of the said lot to the Easterly edge of the North Oxford and West Zorra Grand Road. Thence northerly along the Easterly edge of the said gravel road to the Northerly limit of the said lot. Thence Easterly along the Northerly limit of the said lot to the place of beginning and two other lots….’ Four days later on 21 April, Arthur sold it to himself and his wife as joint tenants for the sum of $1. The farm was set on 11 acres; while another 150 acres were set across the road, but were scrubland.

The Haywards were a very progressive and forward thinking family. Both of the parents had graduated from high school. Mrs. Hayward did secretarial work in Detroit; while Mr. Hayward worked in a bank. Both parents were both great readers and very intelligent. A typical Saturday evening would see Mr. Hayward poring over the Saturday Evening Post; while Mrs. Hayward sat in her favorite place, next to the heating register, darning socks. Doris Hayward remembers that Mrs. Hayward was a ‘tremendous cook…who could make something out of nothing’, which accounted for the stocky build of the men in the family. Keith picked up his parents love of the written word; though Bob did not take to it as readily. Family suppers followed a similar routine. World affairs were a dinner time staple for discussion. Bob was the mathematical mind in the house. He was a genius at math and could do all the math he needed in his own head. The parents were always open to new ideas: being one of the first farms to have a hay baler and a combine; and later, on, a television set. They had hydro, as well as a water tank in the attic of their home. They owned a flush toilet inside rather than having an outhouse in the yard. They rigged up milking machines to milk the Guernsey cows rather than having to do the herd by hand. Both Arthur and his brother Gordon owned the family farm. They made money by gravelling the local roads. This working relationship would cease when Gordon moved west and became a jeweler. He would ultimately die of liver cancer, while out there.

Bob was quite precocious: one time, Uncle Gordon, who was a bachelor, lived with them, and had gone out and purchased a pair of top quality work shoes, and then left them laying on the floor of the kitchen till they were to be used. When he went to make use of them, he found that young Robert had cut the tongues out of the shoes with a jackknife, and had used them to make a pair of slingshots for Keith and himself…. Embro native John McKay recounted a personal story about Bob:

I vividly recall an incident when we were Grade 9 students at Embro Collegiate. I went home with Bob for supper! We had big plans! After the evening meal, we were going to ride our bikes to Woodstock, an eight mile jaunt and take in a picture show. Unfortunately one of the chain guard supports on my bike broke. In view of the fact that the bike was almost new, it was hard on my pride and my frugal Scottish upbringing to rip the guard off completely and throw it in the garbage. Bob came to the rescue. Like a flash, he removed the broken piece, measured it carefully and picked up a scrap piece of metal, sawed it to size, filed the edges, put it in the vice, hammered it into the desired shape, and drilled the necessary holes for the bolts. The finished product, as one might expect was far more superior than the original and to complete the evening we were in time for the movie. Somehow I knew that night as we peddled merrily along to our destination that I had a great friend….

Bob’s sister-in-law, Doris, the only remaining member of that generation, described his physical appearance as: ‘He had reddish chestnut hair, with brown eyes, and ruddy coloring. He had a widow’s peak at the front of his hairline. He had short arms, no neck and he was very hairy. He weighed about 160 lbs, and never gained weight. He looked like his mother’. Keith was fifteen months older than Bob, and they shared everything they got. Frances was seven years younger, so the boys spoiled her: she was like a small toy to them with the age difference. Frances was an animal lover in her own right. So the farm was filled with dogs, cats, cows and calves, all of whom could be her playmates. The three children were all musically inclined. Bob played both the saxophone and clarinet, the latter he bought off a wino at the train station for $20. He took lessons. Keith played the accordion, while Frances mastered the piano. So the family had its own band on site; they would often set up in the dining room of the house, and proceed to entertain their folks. There was a story of how Bob and three compatriots were off to Waterloo to compete in a music festival. On the way there, Bob discovered that he had forgotten his lyre, and he knew that he would be unable to have his music sheets open and visible. He stopped the car at the side of the road, ran over to the fence, twisted a piece of wire loose, and fashioned a substitute lyre out of it. At the festival, Bob and his colleagues went on to win the cup! Once again, necessity was the mother of invention for Bob; and he was not found lacking. Before Bob and Keith headed off to a musical engagement, for which they were always much in demand, Bob would say: ‘Now which Miss will I take out tonight? I’ll take Miss Saxophone’, or ‘Miss Clarinet’. When he went down to Florida to work, he was part of a band down there. One of his many skills was that he was musically inclined: he used to play in a local dance band at Woodstock Collegiate. He taught himself how to play the saxophone, and he learned by ear. His mother played the piano quite well. Every Sunday there was a jam session in the barn, and Bob progressed to play music at dances in small places like Ayr. He built stereo speakers and put them in Keith’s house. He used to tape the sounds of different musical instruments, and then would pretend to play the instrument, while this wonderful music would issue forth.

When Bob was a young boy, his Uncle Gordon had a dump truck, and Gordon looked out the window one day to see the truck weaving in and out of posts at the roadside: it was young Robert behind the wheel. Diagonally from the cairn at Cody’s Corner, stood the Cody School. It was run by the county, and was staffed by local people. It was part of the Thames Valley School Board. After leaving the local school, Keith went on to the high school in Embro for four years, with a fifth year at Woodstock Collegiate Institute (WCI). Bob quit after two years of secondary education, attending WCI as well. The difference between the two boys was that Keith’s record keeping skills were strong; while Bob did not write things down. Also Bob had a more cavalier attitude about school than his brother.

Each of the boys owned a BB gun: one was left at the house and the other out at the barn, and they would shoot away with them. In his last two years of elementary school and his two years of high school, which were during World War II, Bob was let out of school early to work on the harvest. He would drive around a big tractor and a plow on a farm to till the soil. Also when he was in school, he was painting bridges for the township: no one else locally owned an air compressor like the Haywards. Physically, he was well built: a stocky 5’6 to 5’7. Bob was very opinionated: he would argue that ‘black is white’. He was also a daredevil: he used to walk around the silo edge at the top. He was not afraid of anything. Once he went into the hen house while the hens were roosting and got his nose broken for his efforts. Another time at Christmas, he tried to do a magic trick by pulling the tablecloth off the table, with the result