James Hayes

From the 1901 census; an 1892 passenger list; an 1898 newspaper article and other items in newspapers and from his mother's writings, it seems that Alice had a son, recorded in the census as James Hayes, born about 1883 in Edinburgh, however no birth registration record in Scotland or England has been found.

Scottish birth registration

- not James Hayes, 1882, Kinning Park registration district, No. 644/14 109 (father James John Hayes, mother Eliza Anne Kavanah, died 1882)

- not James Henry Hayes, 1883, Milton registration district, No. 644/8 583 (father James Hayes, mother Margaret McElroy)

- not James Patrick Hayes, 1883, Greenock New or Middle registration district, No. 564/1 96 (father Michael Hayes, mother Catherine Brady)

- not James Thomas Kavanah Hayes, 1883, Kinning Park registration district, No. 644/14 689 (father James John Hayes, mother Eliza Anne Kavanah, died 1884)

No Scottish Hayes death registrations with mother's maiden surname Pyett.

No James Pyett registrations and no other likely Pyett registrations around 1883 found.

- not James Pyott, Kinnell registration district, No. 296/ 19. 1883 (father William Pyott, mother Mary Taylor).

No England & Wales birth registrations with mothers maiden surname Pyett.

It is assumed that James left England with his mother in 1885 when Horace Hayes commenced his overseas horse breaking tour and Alice followed a few months later. And again when his parents commenced their second tour in 1887, which ended in Calcutta, India. In his mother's book "My leper friends" (London : Thacker, 1891), she writes about her first visit to the leper asylum in Calcutta, possibly in 1888 (p24) : "When I arrived home from the asylum, I went at once to find my husband, to tell him all that I had seen, and ask him to help me in doing something for the lepers. He was out, unfortunately, and, no one else being in the house, I tried to interest my little boy in the fate of the poor leper child whom I had just seen. His baby brain could not grasp the full extent of my meaning ; but he understood enough to offer his scrap-book and promise me his musical-box and other things, all of which were duly handed over to the poor little leper next day." And writing about the Nuns of the Loretto Convent (p.89) : "I first became acquainted with them through sending my little boy to school at their convent in the hills. During the hot weather, it is found necessary to send as many children as their parents can afford to pay for, away out of the heat of Calcutta, to the cooler climate of Darjeeling or any adjacent hill station, where the little ones remain till the temperature becomes sufficiently cool for them to return to their studies in the plains. I sent my boy one season to Darjeeling with the nuns, and it was when arranging for his trip that I first met my kind friends."

Not located in the 1891 census as it is assumed James and his parents did not arrive back from India until after the census date of 5 April 1891.

While he is listed in the passenger list with his parents when they travelled to South Africa in 1891, returning in 1892, he is not mentioned in his father's book of the trip, Among horses in South Africa.

They left Southampton on Saturday 21 November 1891 for South Africa on the Dunnottar Castle.

Colonies and India - Saturday 28 November 1891, p29

DEPARTURES. - - Per Messrs. Donald Currie & Co.'. "Dunottar Castle" (Capt. J. C. Robinson), from London November 20 :- ... FOR CAPE TOWN.... Capt Hayes, Mrs Hayes, Master Hayes ...

UK, Incoming Passenger List record for Captain Hayes, 49 (born about 1843), horse trainer, and Mrs Hayes, 34 (born about 1858), leaving Natal on the Tartar, arriving Southampton 10 July 1892. There is a Master Hayes, 11 (born about 1881), boarding at Cape Town towards the bottom of the passenger list page, so it is speculated that James stayed in Cape Town, and boarded at a school, while his parents were on tour in South Africa.

In 1898 his parents property, Yew Tree House, Crick, near Rugby, was extensively refurbished and the newspaper reported his parents held a dinner for the workers, with him assisting:

Rugby Advertiser - Tuesday 22 June 1948, p 2.

50 Years ago, from the Rugby Advertiser, June 25th 1898.

Workmen's Dinner.—On Monday the men employed by Mr. James Hollowell, Rugby, in the extensive alterations which have just been completed at Yew Tree House, Crick, for Capt. Hayes, were entertained by that gentleman and Mrs. Hayes to dinner at the residence. About 25 sat down to a substantial spread, and the host and hostess, together with their son, assisted in attending to their wants. The evening was spent in harmony, and the usual toasts —not forgetting that of the founders of the feast—were enthusiastically honoured. The schoolmaster kindly played the piano.

The Hampshire Telegraph - Saturday 04 February 1899, p. 7 has a Southsea Visitors List. Included at Western Parade, No. 14, Lauderdale: Capt. Hayes, Mrs and Master Hayes.

Father Horace would died at Southsea in 1904.

1901 England census - James Hayes, 18 (born about 1883), born Edinburgh, Midlothian, Scotland. Also in the house: mother Alice M Hayes, 36 (born about 1865), born Norwood, Surrey, England, Authoress; servant Arthur H Fretter, 15 (born about 1886), born Crick, Northamptonshire, England, House Boy; and servant Joseph Fretter, 18 (born about 1883), born Crick, Northamptonshire, England, Garden Boy Domestic.

Address - (Yew Tree House), Yelvertoft Road, Crick, Northampton, England.

While there is no mention of James, or a son, in any of Horace’s books, in the introduction to the 1903 edition of mother Alice's book The Horsewoman : a practical guide to side-saddle riding, Alice writes: "Knowing the immense value of photographs in explaining technical subjects, I have gladly availed myself of the expert help of my husband and son in that form of illustration." Other mentions of her son in The Horsewoman include talking about a cup she had won in a jumping competition, at a circus in Calcutta: "By-the-bye, my acquisition of this cup caused me to be branded as a “circus rider” by the ladies in a Little Pedlington village in this country; for when the local society leader called on me, I was out, and my son, by way of entertaining her, showed her “the cup that mother won in a circus!”" And in the chapter on riding difficult horses, while in India: "She [the horse] would carry my son to his school, a distance of about five miles, and bring him home without making any attempt to shy with the child, but if an adult person rode her on the same route, she would play up as usual."

In The Leamington, Warwick, Kenilworth & District Daily Circular 20 February 1903, p. 2, Alice Hayes, Yew Tree House, Rugby, writes about the high cost of joining a hunt club and that during the recent war in South Africa, so many of the young men who had gone to fight could not ride or shoot, "Yet the hunting field is the best place to teach them riding. I, as an Englishwoman and mother, beg to protest against this rediculously high "cap" being imposed on our sons in their efforts to ride well over a country."

His father died in 1904, but James is not mentioned in any newspaper announcements of his father's death, or in his father’s will, in which the sole beneficiary of all the assets was his mother Alice.

Not located in the 1911 census and not further identified.

An analysis of his mother's writings has revealed in later editions of The Horsewoman, all references to a son have been removed.

His mother Alice died in 1913, but no newspaper announcements of his mother's death have been identified and James is not mentioned in his mother’s will, in which all the assets were given to Alice’s second husband Enrique Rucker.

Possible England & Wales death registrations:

James H Hayes, died aged 32 (born about 1883), January-March quarter 1915, Darlington registration district, Durham, Vol. 10A. p. 64

James Hayes, died aged 38 (born about 1883), July-September quarter 1921, Prescot registration district, Lancashire, Vol. 8B. p. 700

James Hayes, died aged 48 (born about 1883), January-March quarter 1931, Wellington registration district, Somerset, Vol. 5C. p. 360

James Hayes, died aged 53 (born about 1883), January-March quarter 1936, Barton registration district, Lancashire, Vol. 8C. p. 804

James Hayes, died aged 54 (born about 1883), April-June quarter 1937, Wandsworth registration district, London, Vol. 1D. p. 569

James Hayes, died aged 71 (born about 1883), January-March quarter 1954, Manchester registration district, Lancashire, Vol. 10E. p. 429

James Hayes, died aged 81 (born about 1883), October-December quarter 1964, Shoreditch registration district, London, Vol. 5D. p. 495

James Hayes, died aged 34 (born about 1882), October-December quarter 1916, West Derby registration district, Lancashire, Vol. 8B. p. 302

James Hayes, died aged 38 (born about 1882), July-September quarter 1920, Guildford registration district, Surrey, Vol. 2A. p. 90

James Hayes, died aged 48 (born about 1882), July-September quarter 1930, Chesterfield registration district, Derbyshire, Vol. 7B. p. 673

James Hayes, died aged 48 (born about 1882), July-September quarter 1930, Lambeth registration district, London, Vol. 1D. p. 171

James Hayes, died aged 55 (born about 1882), January-March quarter 1939, Spilsby registration district, Lincolnshire, Vol. 7A. p. 698

?? WWI British Army Veterinary Corps

No. 14835 - Sergant James Hayes
No. 20901 - Private James Hayes