Hoyland family

Vida and Walter Hoyland with girls about 1916
Walter and Vida with daughters Mildred, Joyce and Rachel, 1917

Walter's military career began when he served in the Yorkshire Dragoons for one year although further detail of this isn't yet known. The Dragoons served on horseback and Walter is known to have ridden when at home too. When courting his future wife, Vida Roulstone, he used to ride from his home in Penistone to visit Vida at her home in Wortley.

During the First World War, Walter enlisted in the army in December 1915 but wasn't mobilised until May 1917. This was probably due to his disabilities detailed in his WW1 pension records. He suffered deafness as a result of brain fever (meningitis) which he had in 1901 when aged 19. He was totally deaf in one ear and partially deaf in the other. His record describes him as 5ft 11 1/4 inches tall with brown hair. It would seem that he'd also had an accident at some stage of his life which had left him with further disabilities to add to the deafness. He was described as having a scar on the right hip and right shin and an old fracture of the right ankle with deformity of the foot. Consequently he had 'done nothing except a few light fatigue duties'. On 21st January 1918 he was discharged from the army - no longer physically fit for war service.