Frank Percy Hayter

Story:
Frank Percy Hayter was born in Shaftesbury, Dorset, on 18th August 1895 and baptised at St. James' Church on 8th September 1895, the son of William Hayter and Elizabeth Hayter (née Padfield).  Frank spent his early life with his family at 30 St. James, Shaftesbury.  His mother passed away during 1912. He enlisted as a Private with the 7th Battalion of the Dorsetshire Regiment on 13th November 1915 (Service No. 15793).  He also served with the 2nd and 9th Battalions and had postings to Mesopotamia from 14 June 1916 and later in India.   He was discharged on 4th August 1919 being physically unfit due to malaria.  He was awarded the Victory and British War medals.    He married Edith Frances Parker in Shaftesbury on 3rd May 1922 and they went on to have three children. The 1921 Census shows him boarding at 5 South View Terrace, Bournemouth, Hampshire, as a Painter (unemployed).  By the 1939 Register he had moved to 6 Overton Terrace, Wincanton, Somerset, working as a Road Sign and Highway Painter.  He passed away in 1991 in the Yeovil Registration District aged 96 years.

Frank's brother Robert John (b.1887) also served in the war, with the Devonshire Light Infantry and the Labour Corps.