Started out as teacher at Cobden
THROUGHOUT the centenary of the First World War, we have been remembering the soldiers from the Loughborough area who lost their lives while serving their country.
Here, with the help of Marigold Cleeve and a small number of researchers from the Loughborough Carillon Tower and War Memorial Museum, we look back at more of those who made the ultimate sacrifice in June 1917.
George William Marchant Taylor was born in 1882 in Loughborough, the son of George Taylor and Mary Emma (née Marchant).
He was baptised on 21st March 1886 at St.Thomas’ Church, Derby.
George William’s parents were married in Loughborough in 1880 and his father was a hosiery warehouseman. George William had one brother Hubert.
In 1891 George William was living with his parents and brother at the home of his widowed grandfather William Marchant at 45 Cobden Street, Loughborough.
By 1901 he was no longer at home. He had started out as a teacher in the Cobden Street School but left to enlist in the Army at Coventry sometime between January 1899 and January 1900.
He joined the 1st Battalion of the Scottish Rifles and in 1902 was sent to Allahabad, India. While he was there at the age of 20 he gained his First Class Certificate. Between December 1903 and September 1904 he took part in the British Expedition to Tibet, a temporary invasion by British Indian forces under the auspices of the Tibet Frontier Commission to resolve the dispute over the border between Tibet and Sikkim. In the Tibet Expedition he had several narrow escapes.
By 1907 he was back in Loughborough to marry Martha Wilhelmina Hough, known as ‘Patty’, a draper’s daughter from Churchgate.
Patty went with George when he returned to India with the military and their first daughter Mary was born in Bareilly, Bengal, in 1908, the same year that George was promoted to Sergeant.
Their second daughter Florence was born in Rangoon in 1910. George was then posted to Pretoria, South Africa, and George and Patty’s third daughter Maud was born there in 1912.
Their fourth daughter Elizabeth was born in Alverstoke, Hampshire, in 1914. After this George’s wife returned with the children to live in Loughborough, at 41 Cumberland Road,
When war broke out in August 1914 the 1st Battalion was in Gosport as part of the 9th Brigade, 3rd Division. The battalion proceeded to France with the British Expeditionary Force, landing at Le Havre on 14th August 1914.
They saw action in the Battle of Mons where George was one of the 15 to return out of 300, his top coat riddled by bullets but not a scratch on himself.
He saw further action at Solesmes, the Battle of Le Cateau, the Battle of the Marne, the Battle of the Aisne, at La Bassee, Messines and the First Battle of Ypres.
He returned home at Christmas 1914 with frozen feet. He had been in the trenches for three weeks without having his boots off and the water had turned to ice in them.
Back in France George’s battalion, took part in the Winter Operations of 1914-15, and in the first attack on Bellewaarde on 16th June 1915.
At Bellewaarde, a week after his father died, George was badly injured and picked up for dead.
He had a bullet through his stomach without touching a vital spot, one in his knee, which came out at the ankle, one broke the bone of the middle finger on his right hand, which remained stiff, and another through the palm of his hand.
Shrapnel also took away a large part of his thigh.
He was in hospital at Malling in Kent for 10 weeks, where the doctor told him after all that, he thought he was destined to die in his bed.
After George recovered he went to Seaford in Sussex in December 1915, to drill some soldiers who came from overseas.
It seems likely that it was at this point he was transferred to the 8th (Service) Battalion of the Royal Scots Fusiliers and promoted to Company Sergeant Major 6368 but the timing of his transfer and promotion cannot be confirmed as his service papers have not survived,
The weather in Seaford, however, was to cold the Army decided to take the overseas group to Egypt. George volunteered to go with them in preference to returning to France, two other officers whom he had been with before also going with the group.
From Egypt George was sent to Salonika in April 1916, where on 5th May he witnessed the Zeppelin brought down in the Vardar Marshes near Salonika and obtained a piece from it to bring home.
The Salonika Force, having constructed a defensive line arount the city itself, dug-in from late spring until the summer of 1916, by which time the international force had been reinforced and joined by Serbian, Russian and Italian units.
The Bulgarian attempt at invasion of Greece in July was repulsed near Lake Doiran.
At the beginning of October 1916, the British in co-operation with her allies on other parts of the front, began operations on the River Struma towards Serres.
The campaign was successful with the capture of the Rupell Pass and advances to within a few miles of Serres. At the end of the year George was in hospital for eight weeks with fever, but said he felt quite fit again and was soon out in the wilds again, miles away from everywhere.
During 1917 there was comparatively little activity on the British part of the front in Macedonia, due in part to complex political changes in Greece throughout the year.
The main fighting took place around Lake Doiran, where the line was adjusted several times by each side early in the year.
In April 1917, the British attacked, gained a considerable amount of ground and resisted strong counter-attacks.
In May, the Bulgarians attacked the British positions, but were firmly repulsed.
George was killed in action in Macedonia on 10th June 1917, aged 34 or 35. He was buried in Karasouli Military Cemetery, on the edge of the town of Polykastro (formerly Karasouli), Grave B. 314.
He is commemorated on the memorial at All Saints Church, Loughborough, and on the memorial in the former St. Peter’s church building as well as on the Carillon.
George’s brother Hubert served with the Royal Engineers. He survived the war and was awarded the French Medaille d’Honneur. Edwin Palmer
Edwin Palmer was born on the 29th May 1883 at 15 High Street, Loughborough and baptised on 29th June 1883 at All Saints Parish Church, Loughborough.
He was the fifth son of Dr. William Grimes Palmer and his wife Eliza (née Tyler) who were married on 2nd August 1871 at All Saints Church by Archdeacon Henry Fearon.
Dr. Palmer was a surgeon and medical officer for the Loughborough District and Workhouse and later for the Rural Sanitary Authority of the Loughborough Union.
Eliza was the niece and adopted daughter of John Tyler Esq., of Thorpe Villa, Loughborough. Dr. and Mrs. Palmer had 12 children: Lucy, William, Henry, Ethel, John, Edith, Arthur Frederick, Gertrude, Edwin, Sybil, Kathleen, and Margaret.
Between 1881 and 1891 the family moved from High Street, Loughborough, to Thorpe Cottage, Derby Road, Knightthorpe.
Dr. Palmer died there from peritonitis and other complications on the 15th November 1889, aged 45, leaving Eliza a widow.
Edwin attended Loughborough Grammar School.
In 1901 he was working as a bank clerk and living with his mother and six of his siblings at Thorpe Cottage.
He was still living there with her and his brother Arthur Frederick in 1911.
After Edwin’s mother Eliza died on 5th May 1914 it seems that Edwin may have moved to London.
What is certain is that he became a cashier at the London, City and Midland Bank and in August 1915 joined the Inns of Court O.T.C. as Private 8537.
The Inns of Court O.T.C. provided basic and officer training at Berkhamsted Common, Hertfordshire.
The subjects covered were drill, musketry (although limited by a shortage of suitable ranges), entrenching (but little in the way of trench warfare, apart from bombing), map reading, field exercises in open warfare (designed to instil leadership and initiative), and lectures, which covered a whole range of subjects from sanitation, through tactics, to the history of the war.
Edwin subsequently joined the 2/2nd (City of London) Battalion (Royal Fusiliers) as Private 233858.
This was a ‘home’ unit of the London Regiment, an all-Territorial Force regiment, which was affiliated to the Royal Fusiliers. Initially a second line reserve unit it suffered from lack of equipment of all sorts which greatly affected training.
After the passing of the Military Service Act in early 1916 the Battalion could be sent overseas, once trained.
Edwin’s service record has unfortunately not survived. Precise details regarding his military service are therefore unavailable. At some point, however, he was promoted to Corporal.
After being based in the Ipswich area, the battalion had a role in the East Coast defences in spring 1916. It moved again, to Sutton Veny, in July 1916.
The Battalion received a warning order on 1st January 1917 that it would soon depart for France. The men crossed the Channel to Boulogne from 20th January and completed concentration at Lucheux on 8th February.
The battalion took part in the pursuit of the German retreat to the Hindenburg Line from 14th March to 5th April, the Battle of Bullecourt from 4th-17th May and the actions of the Hindenburg Line from 20th May -16th June.
On 15th June 1917 the 2/2 Londons were in the area of Bullecourt and engaged in a prolonged attack to take the Hindenburg Line to the northwest of the village.
Edwin was reported missing on 15th June and was presumed to have been killed in action on or after that date. He was aged 34.
A local newspaper noted that Corporal Palmer ‘had many friends in the town whose esteem he had won by his courtesy and consideration’.
Edwin is commemorated on the Arras Memorial bay 9, on the memorial at All Saints Church, Loughborough, and on the Loughborough Grammar School Roll of Honour as well as on the Carillon.
Edwin’s brother Arthur Frederick died of malaria in 1916 while serving with the Army Service Corps.