Howard Hedley TAYLOR

TAYLOR, Howard Hedley

Service Number: 2382
Enlisted: 22 March 1917, Brisbane, Queensland
Last Rank: Trooper
Last Unit: 11th Light Horse Regiment
Born: Birmingham, England , 1 January 1869
Home Town: Kilcoy, Somerset, Queensland
Schooling: Samford State School
Occupation: Grazier
Died: Killed in Action, Palestine, 25 September 1918, aged 49 years
Cemetery: Haifa War Cemetery, Israel
Row B, Grave No. 53
Memorials: Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Kilcoy Honour Roll
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World War 1 Service

22 Mar 1917: Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 2382, Brisbane, Queensland
9 May 1917: Involvement AIF WW1, Private, 2382, 11th Light Horse Regiment, Enlistment/Embarkation WW1, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '3' embarkation_place: Sydney embarkation_ship: HMAT Port Sydney embarkation_ship_number: A15 public_note: ''
9 May 1917: Embarked AIF WW1, Private, 2382, 11th Light Horse Regiment, HMAT Port Sydney, Sydney
25 Sep 1918: Involvement AIF WW1, Trooper, 2382, 11th Light Horse Regiment, Megiddo - Syria 1918, --- :awm_ww1_roll_of_honour_import: awm_service_number: 2382 awm_unit: 11 Light Horse Regiment awm_rank: Trooper awm_died_date: 1918-09-25

Narrative

Howard Hedley TAYLOR # 2382 11th Light Horse Regiment

Howard Taylor was born in Birmingham, England in 1872. His parents John and Emily Taylor emigrated to Australia when Howard was six months old. The family settled in Samford where Howard went to school.

When Howard presented himself for enlistment on 22nd March 1917, he was a successful business man and grazier living at Kennedy Street, Kilcoy. Howard was at that time the Chairman of the Kilcoy Shire and had been on the council for 5 years. His attestation papers state his age as 44 years and 6 months ( this is quite suspicious as the upper limit for enlistment was 45 years) and he declared he was married to wife Alice and they had one child.

It is also likely that as Shire Chairman, Howard was a member of the Kilcoy Patriotic Committee. Patriotic Committees were a feature of many communities during WW1. Their main function was to conduct activities that encouraged enlistment and many were involved in prosecuting the “Yes” case in the conscription plebiscites of 1916 and 1917. Was it perhaps Howard’s support for enlistment that prompted his own decision to join, even though he was close to being too old? Several members of his regiment commented on the fact that Howard appeared quite old and that his hair was grey.

Howard embarked for overseas in Sydney on 9th May 1917 as a reinforcement for the 1th Light Horse. He landed in Suez on 20th June and proceeded to the large Light Horse depot at Moascar. In December, Howard was taken on strength by the 11th LHR. The Light Horse Brigades were engaged in campaigns that would take them from the banks of the Suez Canal across the Sinai Peninsula, into Southern Palestine and eventually to the city of Damascus. Conditions for the troopers were quite harsh when the columns were on the move. Apart from physical deprivations, various diseases such as malaria and typhoid were common.

During the first half of 1918, as the Light Horse moved into Palestine after the defeat of the Turks at Beersheba and Gaza, Howard spent a lot of time in hospital and convalescent camps suffering from diarrhoea and general debility. He rejoined his unit at the end of July in time for the final campaign which would see the Light Horsemen fight their way up the east bank of the Jordan River in what is now Jordan.

After the success of the Australian bayonet charge at Beersheba in late 1917, the British General Allenby had the Light Horse issued with cavalry swords to improve their effectiveness in what had become a signature manoeuvre, the charge.

On 25th September 1917, the 11th Light Horse were tasked with attacking and capturing the railway station at Semakh on the southern shore of the Sea of Galilee. The station was defended by Turkish rifleman and German machine gunners. Simultaneous cavalry charges by squadrons from the east and west secured the station. The action resulted in 16 members of the regiment being killed. They are listed in the regiment’s war diary. Among those killed was #2382 Trooper Howard Taylor.

Reports to the Red Cross Wounded and Missing Inquiry Service stated that Howard had sustained a wound from a machine gun bullet in the abdomen. The 16 casualties were buried in marked graves and photographs were taken. Interestingly, among the captured equipment at Semakh was a German Field Artillery piece which was a prominent war trophy displayed at Shorncliffe for many years. The gun is now mounted at Gallipoli Barracks Enoggera.

At the end of the war, small British and Australian burials in Palestine were consolidated into larger permanent cemeteries. Howard and the other 15 of the 11th Light Horse were reinterred in the Military cemetery at Haifa. Alice Taylor received Howard’s service medals and a memorial scroll and plaque.

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Biography contributed

Howard Hedley TAYLOR was born in Birmingham, England in 1869

His parents were Alfred John TAYLOR & Emily MacRAE

He married Alice Maud GOLDSMITH in Queensland on 14th August, 1897