O GOD OUR HELP IN AGES PAST

PRIVATE GEORGE HERBERT HAYWARD

LONDON REGIMENT

12TH JULY 1917 AGE 35

BURIED: BAILLEUL COMMUNAL CEMETERY EXTENSION, FRANCE


Private George Herbert Hayward, a pawnbroker's warehouseman in civilian life, died of wounds in a Casualty Clearing Station in Bailleul on 12 July 1917. In October 1915 he had married Anne Catherine Varley and it was she who chose his inscription. It is the the first line of a very popular hymn:
O God, our help in ages past,
Our hope for years to come,
Our shelter from the stormy blast,
And our eternal home.