Joseph Hayton was a Boer War veteran and world adventurer. He was born near Ventnor, Isle of Wight, to George Hayton, Rector of Niton, and his wife Ellen Louisa (Chadwick) Hayton. Hayton immigrated to Canada at age 19 aboard the Laurentian in 1895. He returned to England to enlist in the British South African Police and Loch’s Horse and served in the Boer War from 1900 to 1901. He returned to Canada and purchased the V Bar V Ranch from William Furniss in 1903. Hayton then successfully completed his Crown Grant applications on adjacent lots in October 1905 and 1906. He traveled to England in 1908, returned and settled on the V Bar V. In the 1911 Canada Census he was listed as single with no hired hands.
Hayton sold the V Bar V in 1914, before he “went off to Australia.” Australian records show him enlisting in Battalion 11, Infantry in the Australian Imperial Army on 17 August 1914, listing his occupation as “cowboy.” His army record extended to 1919 but he may not have seen active service as he was already 39 years of age. Army service must have been important to him as his gravestone is adorned with the insignia of the Australian Imperial Force.
Hayton’s domestic life is traceable through electoral rolls for Western Australia. Beginning in 1917 he is seen living with Adeline Lois (nee Hawkins) Hayton in Western Australia.[1] In 1917 he and Adeline lived in Bonny Downs where he was employed as a “station hand.” In 1925 he is listed as a farmer on Goomarin Farm in Burracoppin, in 1936 they lived in Darlington and in 1954 in Fremantle. The retired couple traveled to England in 1950. Joseph died on 5 October 1958 at age 82 and Adeline died in 1961.
[1] Adeline was apparently separated from her first husband, George Henry Corringham, as early as 1911. The Haytons did not register their marriage until the death of George Corrington in 1941.
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