Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

A Second War A.R.R.C. group of three awarded to Nursing Member Beatrice J. Hayward, British Red Cross Society, who was ‘indefatigable’ in her attention to the wounded following an air raid on Gosport, and was later the recipient of a Commander in Chief’s Commendation for a similar event

Royal Red Cross, 2nd Class (A.R.R.C.), G.VI.R. 1st issue, silver and enamel, reverse dated ‘1945’, on lady’s bow riband; Defence and War Medals 1939-45, good very fine (3) £400-£500

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, The Norman Gooding Collection.

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A.R.R.C. London Gazette 1 January 1945.

The original recommendation states: ‘R.N.H. Haslar. She showed outstanding zeal after an air raid, and was indefatigable in her attention to the injured and in reassuring women personnel in damaged quarters.’

Commander-in-Chief’s Commendation 28 May 1944:
‘For good services after an air raid.’

Beatrice Jane ‘Janie’ Hayward (née Eley) was born in Market Drayton, Shropshire, on 25 January 1920. She married William Thomas Hayward at Gripping in Suffolk in late 1939, but the marriage proved a brief one with the loss of her husband on 5 June 1941 in consequence of the torpedoing of the troop transport Anselm by U-96. Enrolling as a Nursing Member in the British Red Cross, Hayward served with the Sussex V.A.D. at Horsham, before being posted to Haslar on 10 March 1944. Billeted at the W.R.N.S. Quarters on St. Michael’s Road, Portsmouth, she was promoted Nursing Member Grade 1 on 10 June 1944 and awarded the A.R.R.C. six months later.

Sold with a fine archive of original documentation, including: letter of notification regarding A.R.R.C. award from the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, dated 4 January 1945; letter of notification from the British Red Cross, dated 1 January 1945, noting her ‘outstanding zeal, patience, and cheerfulness, and for courage and whole-hearted devotion to duty while serving in H.M. Naval Hospitals.’; letter of congratulations from the Chairman of the V.A.D. Standing Committee, dated 2 January 1945; notification slip regarding investiture of A.R.R.C. at Buckingham Palace on 3 July 1945; British Red Cross Society letter of congratulations regarding the award of the Distinguished War Service Certificate, dated 7 March 1945, and corresponding note of congratulations from the Commodore and Officers of the R.N. Barracks, Portsmouth; together with a fine assortment of personal correspondence, including a letter from the B.B.C. inviting Hayward to appear on the programme ‘What’s My Line?’ as a Stock Car Racing Driver - something at which she appears to have excelled.