1st Australian Horse, Trooper No.334
Born 23 November 1877 at ‘Currandooley’, the eighth of William and Anne, (nee McNamara), Haydon’s nine children. On 23 April 1902, he married twenty-year-old Edyth Emily Sweeney of Bungendore in the St Mary’s Catholic Church. John and Edith had four children.
John’s younger sibling was Thomas James Haydon who served in the 5th Battalion of the Commonwealth Horse during the Boer War.
When he enlisted in the 1st Australian Horse (1AH) as Trooper 334 his occupation was recorded as a Farmer.
The First Australian Horse comprised two Contingents; the first of which departed on the 14th November 1899, taking their own horses with them. It consisted of 2 officers and 32 sergeants and rank and file, with 36 horses. For the detachment the conditions were: Men to be good shots and proficient swordsmen, of superior physique, not under 5 ft.6 in. or 34 in. chest; good riders and bushmen, accustomed to find their way about in strange country. Horses to be capable of carrying up to 16 or 17 stone, and fit to carry that weight day after day.
Haydon sailed with the First Contingent and arrived in South Africa on 13 December 1899.He was promoted to Lance Corporal on 17 February 1900.
In a letter written on 23 May 1900 and published in the The Queanbeyan Age on 27 June 1900 by Trooper Curtis Masters, his fellow Bungendore and 1st AH man, he praised the gallantry of Jack Haydon shown on the fifth day of their seven-day march from Bloemfontein to Kroonstadt:
“….I am pleased to say that Jack Haydon did a plucky act. They got into a kopje, or a hill, which was alive with Boers and when our men had to retire, it was a fearful sight, dead men and horses all over the hill and loose horses galloping in all directions, the riders of which had been shot or thrown off. Well Jack caught one of the riderless horses and seeing a dismounted man almost in the hands of the Boers, raced back and gave him the horse and so he escaped quite safe and then brave but reckless Haydon saw another man (Trooper S.C. Parry of Goulburn) still closer to the enemy; he instantly turned and raced to him and got him on his own horse behind himself and they both got clear away. All this was done under a deadly hail of bullets, it was about the hottest corner we have been in yet….”
The Queanbeyan Age of 15 December 1900 devoted a long article to the return of Trooper Jack Haydon after he sailed home on the Harlech Castle:
“Fully an hour before arrival of the train the station yard was filled with horses and vehicles, the station was crowded with friends and well-wishers, to welcome home the returning hero, who has won for himself golden opinions, not only among his Australian friends, but from comrades returned and returning from South Africa, for many acts of daring and bravery performed by him at the war. Almost every house in town had its bunting flying high in honour of the homecomer. As the train steamed in eager eyes scanned every carriage until that containing Trooper Hayden reached the platform, when a succession of mighty cheers went up that would have given Mr Kruger an anxious spasm could he have heard it. As soon as his parents’ greetings were over his band was warmly taken by Mr Welch, President of the progress association, who on behalf of that association, and the town generally, feelingly, sincerely and warmly welcomed. He was then taken in a carriage in waiting where, with his father, he was driven by Mr McAlister to the Temperance Hall where the greatest crowd ever seen in this town gathered to give him a public welcome….”
He was selected for the Coronation Contingent of King Edward VII and one of six Bungendore men who received the Queen’s Medal from the Duke of York at Government House, Sydney on 1 June 1901. His Queen’s Medal came with seven clasps. As a Corporal then, he was selected as an orderly to his Royal Highness during his stay in New South Wales.
The Queanbeyan Age of 11 January 1902 mentioned that Jack Haydon, along with Tom Overend, Vincent and Robert McJannett had decided to re-enlist for service in the Boer War. However, Jack had been injured in a horse and sulky accident earlier that month and was left to hobble with a stick for some time and was thus prevented from going with his mates to Sydney for the necessary army tests.
He was one of the first two men to volunteer from this district when the Great War was declared in 1914. When he enlisted with the 6th Light Horse as Trooper No. 209 on 18 September 1914 he was 37 and 10 months. His Service Record noted that he had previous military service of two years in South Africa and seven years with the 7th Australian Light Horse (Militia). He was promoted to Corporal-Sergeant on 1 October 1914.
He sailed on the HMAT Suevic on 21 December 1914, but in August 1915 he was in hospital at ANZAC Cove with rheumatism (hip). Soon after, he was evacuated to a hospital in Alexandria, Egypt and then had to be invalided home in October. He was finally discharged from the AIF on 17 January 1916.
On 13 September 1918, at the age of forty, he died of cancer of the liver and pancreas at his parents’ home in Bungendore. He was buried in the Bungendore Cemetery.
John William Haydon is also remembered on the Bungendore Memorial Great War Roll of Honour.
Notes:
1.The AWM WW1 Embarkation Roll Card Record lists John William Heydon Service No. 209 Sergeant 6 Light Horse Regiment embarking on the HMAT Suevic from Sydney on 21 December 1914.The Embarkation Roll for the 2nd Light Horse Brigade, 6th Light Horse Regiment - “B” Squadron lists the same individual being a 38 year old Labourer from Bungendore NSW NOK: Edith Heydon, wife, Bungendore NSW .RC. Date of joining 18.09.14.
2. The AWM Nominal Roll does not list a John William Heydon No. 209 however it does list a John William Haydon No.209. It is suggested that the Embarkation Roll spelling of Haydon as Heydon is incorrect.
3. Ian Wood in Transvaal The Boer War 1899-1902 Volunteers from Queanbeyan and Surrounding Districts at page 5 provides an Author’s Note that says that J.W. Haydon should be J.W. Heydon. At page 3 he refers to Christy Heydon who is also mentioned at page 39. Noting that the Grave Headstone in the Bungendore Cemetery refers to Christ Haydon. It is suggested in this instance that Ian Wood’s Note is incorrect.
See also: BUNGENDORE & DISTRICT WAR MEMORIAL SOUTH AFRICAN (BOER) WAR 1899-1902 ROLL OF HONOUR ISBN: 978-0-646-55612-3 Peter John Hugonnet 2011
