TAVERNER, George Alfred
| Service Numbers: | 341, 96 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | Not yet discovered |
| Last Rank: | Trooper |
| Last Unit: | 2nd South Australian Mounted Rifles |
| Born: | Torrens Vale, South Australia, Australia, 18 May 1881 |
| Home Town: | Yankalilla, Yankalilla, South Australia |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | General Dealer |
| Died: | 1961, cause of death not yet discovered, place of death not yet discovered |
| Cemetery: | Not yet discovered |
| Memorials: |
Boer War Service
| 1 Oct 1899: | Involvement Trooper, 341, 5th South Australian Imperial Bushmen | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 Oct 1899: | Involvement Trooper, 96, 2nd South Australian Mounted Rifles |
Help us honour George Alfred Taverner's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.
Add my storyBiography contributed by Stephen Brooks
George Taverner suffered the loss of his arm during the South African Boer War.
His younger brother, 2192 Fred Arthur Taverner 1st Battalion AIF was later killed at Gallipoli 4 September 1915.
His own son, 429835 Flight Sergeant George Alfred Badge Taverner RAAF, died in a Lancaster bomber over Germany, 24 July 1944, aged 21.
Matthew Kollosche, formerly of the 5th South Australian Imperial Bushman, who had served in the Boer War with George Taverner, wrote the following letter to the Adelaide Advertiser on 15 June 1927.
"On April 26, 1901, D Squadron was advance guard. Mr. Taverner was one of them. About 10 o'clock the guard got into a shower of bullets, the Boers firing from behind a stone wall and they kept it up for half an hour. Mr. Taverner was firing from a bush. All at once the bush was silent. Mr. Taverner got a bullet in the wrist and came out at the elbow. The Boers came up to him and told him he was very cheeky to stop there by himself and shoot. Taverner begged them to stop the pain but they said he would be all right. His mates would be up soon, and they cleared.
I got one through the right leg. The Doctor picked us up at 11oclock in the Cape cart and although we were only 4 miles from the column it was 7 o'clock at night before we got in camp as the driver lost his way. What a trip it was!
That night Regimental Sergeant-Major McGillvray (a better man never left (Adelaide), with Adjutant Richman came to see us and called Taverner a hero.
We followed the column until Tuesday, when we were sent on a two-day journey to Heilbron in a bullock wagon. On Wednesday afternoon at 4 o'clock we arrived at Heilbron.
I was sent to Kroonstadt. but as Mr. Taverner’s case was dangerous he stopped in Heilbron, a trip that neither of us will ever forget.
I have not seen Mr. Taverner for 26 years but I can still hear that pitiful cry that I heard for six days. and six nights. "Oh, that pain! Oh, the pain!"
About six months ago a working man lost his left hand through getting it into a machine. Within a few weeks he got 540 pounds compensation. George Taverner went twice to war, fought for King and country, lost his arm and to give him 10 shillings a week is not a blunder it is a crime"