Have You a Tiger In Your Family?

Rank : 2nd Lieutenant

Army Number : 80066

Unit : 11th Bn (Midland Pioneers)

Biography :

Gerry Taylor was educated at Shaftesbury Grammar School from September 1893 to July 1902; there he was captain of the cricket and football teams, and was Champion Athlete in 1901 and 1902. After leaving the school he entered University College, Nottingham, and subsequently worked for Messrs, Griggs and Co. builders' merchants, in Loughborough. He also played regularly for the Loughborough Corinthians Football Club (photo). On 2.3.1905 Gerry went to Canada where he became a farmer in Red Deer, Alberta, until the outbreak of the war.
On 14.12.1914 Gerry enlisted in Alta, Calgary, and joined the 31st Battalion (Alberta Regiment) of the Canadian Infantry as Private 80066. After initial training in Calgary he entrained for Quebec as part of the Canadian Expeditionary Force on 12.5.1915. He sailed for England on 17.5.1915 on the SS Carpathia and reached England on 29.5.1915. His battalion arrived in France on 18.9.1915. On 11.1.1917 Gerry was transferred to the Canadian Division at Shorncliffe, Kent, and proceeded to England to train for a commission. On 16.1.1917 he was transferred from the 31st Battalion to the 8th Officer Cadet Battalion at Whittington Barracks, Lichfield. On 27.6.1917 he was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in The Leicestershire Regiment and discharged from the Canadian Expeditionary Force. In early December 1917 Gerry was granted leave to visit his farm in Canada for three months. He sailed on the SS Missanabie and arrived at St. John's, Newfoundland, on 10.12.1917.
On 19.9.1918 Gerry returned to France, this time as an Officer. He joined D Coy 11th (Service) Battalion (Midland Pioneers) The Leicestershire Regiment at Tertry, Somme. On 23.9.1918 he was attached to 9th Battalion The Durham Light Infantry near St. Quentin where preparations were being made for an attack on 24.9.1918. That Battalion had applied to his regiment for three officers to go over the top with them next day. Gerry was one of the three selected, and had scarcely crossed the parapet when he was instantaneously killed by machine gun fire, aged 32.
Gerry was buried in Trefcon British Cemetery, Caulaincourt, Aisne, Grave D. 29.
His brother Pte John William Taylor serving with 31st Bn Canadian Infantry was killed in September 1916 and another brother 2Lt Arnold Bradley Taylor of the Regiment was KIA on 12.7.1916. Another brother Lt Pryce Taylor, who served with The Royal Fusiliers, The Leicesters, The Machine Gun Corps and The Royal Engineers, survived the war but was killed as a result of a motorcar accident in 1927. Their sister Josephine served with the Red Cross in France during the war. Their father died in 1919.
The largest bell in the Carillon Tower, Loughborough, was given by the Taylor family in memory of the three Taylor brothers lost in the war. A bell was also cast to commemorate all three brothers for the church the Taylor family attended, Holy Trinity Church, Trinity Street, Loughborough. When the church closed in 1998 the bell was given to Palayamcottai Cathedral, Tamil Nadu, India. Taylor's Bellfoundry also cast a bell in Gerry's brother Arnold's memory which is now at The Royal Anglian Regiment's Army Reserve Centre in Leicester.

For more information visit: http://www.carillontower.org.uk/tigers

This page was last edited on 31.9.2019.

Date of Birth : 12.5.1886

Place of Birth : Loughborough, Leics

Date of Death : 24.9.1918

Place of Death : St Quentin Canal, France

Civil Occupation : farmer in Canada

Period of Service : 1914-18

Conflicts : WW1

Places Served : Canada, England, France and Flanders