Date of birth: 19/03/1895

Place of birth: Brightwater, Tasman, New Zealand

Profession: Farmer

Country: New Zealand

Force: New Zealand Expeditionary Force

Rank: Private

Service number: 11661

Enlistment date: 11/01/1916

Enlistment place: Trentham, Wellington, New Zealand

Units:  —  Canterbury Regiment, 2nd Bn.  (Last known unit)

Date of death: 12/10/1917

Place of death: Bellevue 's, Graventafel, Belgium

Cause of death: Killed in action (K.I.A.)

Age: 22

British War Medal Medal — 20/10/1921

Victory Medal Medal — 28/08/1922

Private Lewis Roy Gordon Haycock was part of the 12th company of the 2nd Battalion Canterbury Regiment, 2nd New Zealand Brigade, New Zealand Division. His battalion took part in the First Battle of Passchendaele on 12 October 1917. The 2nd and 12th companies of the 2nd Battalion Canterbury Regiment went forward on the night of the 10th/11th with the 2nd Otago battalion and dug in near Korek and Boethoek on the Graventafel Spur. On the 12th of October the 2nd Otago Battalion attacked the first objective around Bellevue, but the advance was stopped by machine gun fire from German pillboxes located on at the Graventafel-Mosselmarkt road. The 2nd and 12th companies of the 2nd Canterbury Battalion were called up from reserve and tried to flank the pillboxes in Bellevue, but failed due to the heavy fire from the German pillboxes and the lines of barbed wire. After both attacks had failed the advance crumbled and men still in the field came under machine gun and sniper fire. Private Lewis Roy Gordon Haycock was reported missing after the attack and later reported killed in action. His notebook (dated 1917) did find its way back to his relatives in New Zealand despite the fact that he was missing. How this happened remains a mystery, but it's not unlikely that he gave the notebook to a friend or chaplain before the battle (his last entry was made on the 10th) to safeguard it in case something happened to him. This person could have returned it to New Zealand.

Ferguson David, The History of the Canterbury Regiment N.Z.E.F. 1914-1919, (Uckfield, the Naval & Military Press Ltd, 1921), p 196-198. Sources used

Latter Edward, Marching Onward: the history of the 2nd Battalion Royal New Zealand Infantry Regiment, (Christchurch, Regimental Published,1992), p 72. Sources used

McCarthy Chris, Passchendaele : The Day-by-Day account, (London, Uniform, 2018), p 128-131. Sources used

Palmer Richard, The life and death of a New Zealand soldier in World War One, (London, Copy Press, 2015), p 139 -143. Sources used

Commonwealth War Graves Commission Database https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/847649

Namenlijst (In Flanders Fields Museum) https://namenlijst.org/publicsearch/#/person/_id=4bbd9b62-eee9-4fc2-b202-0915125954cf

Lives of the First World War (Imperial War Museum) https://livesofthefirstworldwar.iwm.org.uk/lifestory/7176137

The NZEF Project (UNSW Canberra) https://nzef.adfa.edu.au/showPerson?pid=110904

Online Cenotaph (Auckland Museum) https://www.aucklandmuseum.com/war-memorial/online-cenotaph/record/c6635