TAYLOR, George Henry
| Service Number: | 2175 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 10 September 1915, Naval Forces UT |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 47th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia, 4 June 1897 |
| Home Town: | Newcastle, Hunter Region, New South Wales |
| Schooling: | Newcastle East Public School, New South Wales, Australia |
| Occupation: | Cleaner |
| Died: | Killed in Action, Battle of Flers, France, 14 November 1916, aged 19 years |
| Cemetery: |
No known grave - "Known Unto God" Australian National Memorial, Villers-Bretonneux, France |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Hamilton Newcastle District Tramways Roll of Honor, Haymarket NSW Government Railway and Tramway Honour Board, Newcastle (Gardner Memorial) War Memorial, Newcastle East Roll of Honour, Villers-Bretonneux Memorial |
World War 1 Service
| 10 Sep 1915: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 2175, 31st Infantry Battalion, Naval Forces UT | |
|---|---|---|
| 18 Feb 1916: | Involvement Private, 2175, 31st Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '16' embarkation_place: Melbourne embarkation_ship: HMAT Ballarat embarkation_ship_number: A70 public_note: '' | |
| 18 Feb 1916: | Embarked Private, 2175, 31st Infantry Battalion, HMAT Ballarat, Melbourne | |
| 14 Nov 1916: | Involvement Private, 2175, 47th Infantry Battalion, --- :awm_ww1_roll_of_honour_import: awm_service_number: 2175 awm_unit: 47th Australian Infantry Battalion awm_rank: Private awm_died_date: 1916-11-14 |
Help us honour George Henry Taylor's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.
Add my storyBiography contributed by Evan Evans
From Gary Mitchell, Sandgate Cemetery
Let us remember a Fallen soldier of The Great War memorialised at Sandgate Cemetery.
On the 14th November 1916, Private George Henry Taylor, referred to as Snowy, 47th Battalion (Reg No-2175), tram cleaner (Newcastle District Tramways), from "Hillside", 12 Reid Street, Newcastle, New South Wales, was Killed in Action about 8 p.m. by enemy artillery shell, Battle of Flers, age-19 Years 5 Months.
Born at Newcastle, New South Wales on the 4th June 1897 to Charles Frederick (died 25.12.1935, Newcastle Hospital, N.S.W., age 62) and Caroline Taylor nee Brien (died 12.12.1958, Hamilton, N.S.W., age 85, mother of 10?), Snowy enlisted on the 10th September 1915 with the 31st Battalion at Newcastle, N.S.W.
Unit embarked from Melbourne, Victoria on board HMAT A70 Ballarat on the 18th February 1916.
Admitted to the 11th Casualty Clearing Station 6.4.1916 (bronchitis, hammer toe - a condition where one or more toes exhibit an unusual bend at the middle joint).
Snowy’s name has been inscribed on the Australian National Memorial, Villers-Bretonneux, France.
Place of Association - Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia.
Mr. Taylor’s name has also been inscribed on the Gardner Memorial, Newcastle East Public School Roll of Honour, Book of Gold, Newcastle District Tramways Roll of Honour, NSW Govt Railways and Tramways Roll of Honour, 1914-1919 and The Capt. Clarence Smith Jeffries (V.C.) and Pte. William Matthew Currey (V.C.) Memorial Wall.
I have placed poppies at the memorialised Taylor gravesite in remembrance of the service and supreme sacrifice of their son Snowy for God, King & Country. ANGLICAN 1-33. 40.
Older brother Charles Frederick Taylor (born 6.10.1895, Newcastle, New South Wales, beer bottler (Castlemaine Brewery & Woods Bros), from "Hillside", 12 Reid Street, Newcastle, New South Wales and 78 Parry Street, Newcastle, N.S.W. (1928), enlisted 8.3.1915, 1st Royal Australian Naval Bridging Train, Reg No-20N, RTA 11.4.1919, died 4.9.1966, Kahibah, N.S.W., age 70, not officially commemorated) also served 1st A.I.F.
For more detail, see “Forever Remembered “
http://www.commemoratingwarheroes.com/cemetery-main-search/
Lest We Forget.
Biography contributed by John Oakes
George Henry TAYLOR, (Service Number 2175) was born on 4th June 1897 at Newcastle. He worked for the NSW Tramways as a temporary motor cleaner in Newcastle from 18th July 1914, becoming permanent in November. He remained in this position until he was released from duty to join the Expeditionary Forces on 10th September 1915. He enlisted at Newcastle the same day. He gave his father Charles Frederick Taylor living in Newcastle as his next of kin. He was allotted to the 3rd Reinforcements to the 31st Battalion.
Taylor embarked HMAT ‘Ballarat’ at Melbourne on 18th February 1916 and reached Suez on 23rd March. He joined the 47th Battalion at Serapeum on 1st April. He was soon hospitalised at the 12th Field Ambulance with Bronchitis and a contracted tendon in his toe. He was transferred to the 11th Casualty Clearing Station and the 1st Australian Stationary Hospital. He re-joined his Battalion on 24th April. On 27th April he was re-admitted with an overlapping 5th toe of his left foot, which made him unable to march. He was transferred to the 54th Casualty Clearing Station. The deformity remedied by amputation of the little toe on his left foot. He went back to his unit on 30th April. On 19th May he was admitted to No. 3 Auxiliary Hospital with what was later diagnosed as ‘vesical irritation’. Subsequently he spent time at the British Red Cross Society Hospital at Montazah. He re-joined his unit at Tel-el-Kebir (Egypt) on 7th July 1916.
On 6th August 1916 he embarked ‘Megantic’ at Alexandria to join the British Expeditionary Force, travelling first to England. From there he proceeded overseas to France on 8th September and was taken on strength of the 17th Battalion on 29th September.
Taylor was killed in action on 14th November 1916.
Pte. G J Brophy (1875) reported:
‘I saw Taylor killed by a shell when in supports near the Sunken Road about 8 p.m. on the 13th Nov. 1916. He was killed instantaneously, the shell blowing his head off. He was buried at the left-hand side of the Sunken Road, just outside one of the dugouts. There was no mark on the grave when I saw it.’
Contemporary reports show that he was buried in the village of Flers at Bull’s Road, with a map reference given, but after the war the grave could not be located. Therefore Taylor has no known grave. He is remembered at the Villers-Bretonneux Memorial, France.
A pension of 10/- per fortnight was awarded to his mother Caroline Taylor from 14th January 1917.
- based on the Australian War Memorial Honour Roll and notes for the Great Sydney Central Station Honour Board.
Click images to start slideshow.