Silver spoon
William J. Hayman was the youngest soldier to serve in 1914; he was born January 7th 1900 and was sworn in as a boy soldier on 16th March 1914; almost five months before war was declared. William came from a service family, his Father and Uncle on his Father’s side were in the Royal Engineers and his Uncle on his Mother’s side was in the West Yorkshire Regiment. As such his family had lived in married quarters and he would have been used to the structure of the army; his diaries document how his mother had to leave her married quarter in 1914 because the houses were reassigned to deal with the growing number of recruits being brought into the army. He served as a Trumpeter with the Royal Engineers and remained in the Corp till 1936. This silver spoon is imprinted with 26229, William’s service number. Although he is recorded on the Medal Roll as William Thomas rather than William John it shows that he was awarded the Allied Victory Medal and British War Medal. At the Royal Engineers Museum, Library and Archive we recently received a collection relating to William and the spoon is going to be on display in our Eighth Corridor Exhibition from 23rd April- late May 2013.