Albert Victor Partridge was born in the spring of 1885, in the north Somerset village of Abbots Leigh. The younger of two children, his parents were agricultural labourer James and his laundress wife, Elizabeth.
The family don’t appear on any surviving 1891 census records, but by the next return in 1901, James had been widowed and was living with his two children in Wraxall, near Nailsea. James was working as a carter on a farm, while Albert was employed as a domestic gardener.
Ten years later, and James had also passed away. Albert was now head of the household, and was working as a carter as his father had. Emily was sharing the home, and was employed, in the terminology of the day, as her brother’s housekeeper.
When war broke out, Albert was called upon to play his part. Details of his service are scant, but he joined up as a Driver in the Royal Army Service Corps and was attached to one of the Horsed Transport units. It is unclear whether he served on the home front or overseas, but what records remain suggested that he had enlisted by November 1917.
Driver Partridge was admitted to a hospital in London in May 1918. The only suggestion as to why comes through his Pension Ledger Card, which simply says ‘disease’. The condition was severe enough for him to pass away: Albert died on 24th May 1918, at the age of 32 years old.
Albert Victor Partridge was brought back to Somerset for burial. He was laid to rest in the peaceful grounds of All Saints’ Church in Wraxall.
Emily disappears from records at this point. She was 38 years old when her brother died, and it is unclear what became of her.
Reginald Cuthbert Langford was born in Frome, Somerset, in the spring of 1899, the youngest of thirteen children to Albert and Charlotte Langford. Albert was a chalk seller turned jobbing gardener, who, by the time of the 1911 census, had moved the family to Bath.
Reginald appears to have helped his father with his work when he finished his schooling, but, during the First World War, he enlisted in the Royal Engineers as a Driver. His service records no longer remain, but a later newspaper report shed some light onto his time in the army: “[He] enlisted when he was just over 16, and went to the Wessex Engineers to Salonica. He returned to England and then went to France with the Glamorgan Engineers.” [Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette: Saturday 16th October 1920]
All did not fare well for Driver Langford: he contracted malaria and dysentery, and a combination of the conditions led to his ultimate discharge from the army. He left the Royal Engineers on 24th June 1919, and returned home to Somerset.
When he had recovered his health, Reginald took up employment as a gardener once more. On September 1920, he was in the employ of a Mr J Milburn, in Bath, when he felt a nail drive through his boot, scratching his foot. The following Tuesday, he visited his doctor – a Mr John Jarvis – complaining that his malaria had returned. According to a later inquest:
[He] did not make any mention of a wound in the foot. On Thursday, at about 10 o’clock, [Jarvis] was asked to go and see Langford, who was in bed. He was covered with a cold sweat, he could speak only with difficulty, and complained that he could not swallow anything, especially the medicine… His limbs were rigid, but he had not all the symptoms of tetanus. [Jarvis] decided to send Langford to the hospital at once, suspecting that he was suffering from tetanus. He did not know till later that there was an injury to [Reginald’s] foot.
Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette: Saturday 16th October 1920
Reginald’s landlady, Amelia Baily, also gave evidence at the inquest:
Langford had lodged with her for about nine months. His inly complaint was of his head when he had malaria… He came home saying his foot was sore and that he had thought it was gathering. He had hot water to soak it, and he did the same the next night, an afterwards sad it was alright… he went to work, but returned at dinner time again complaining of his head and perspiring terribly. He was ill and witness looked after him during the night. He complained of pains in the stomach and aid they were going up to the throat. Next morning [Amelia] sent for the doctor.
Questioned as to the injury to Langford’s foot, [she] said he told her he had a nail enter the toe while he was in the army, and that it was festering again. He wad worn the army boots up to just before he became ill, when he bought new ones.
Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette: Saturday 16th October 1920
Admitted to the Pensions Hospital, Bath, Reginald was to be there only one day. He passed away on 8th October 1920, aged just 21 years old. Medical evidence at the inquest diagnosed tetanus as the cause of his death, but Reginald’s older brother, George, contested this.
George’s challenge was that, having some medical background, he felt that his brother’s death was caused not by tetanus, but by malaria. He was a sufferer himself, and he knew the symptoms. He had examined Reginald’s body, and could not see how the small scratch on his foot could have induced tetanus to the extent of causing his brother’s passing.
The Coroner at the inquest, a Mr F Shum, declined George’s assertion, on the basis that separate medics had determined tetanus as the cause:
“It may not have been from the foot, but the evidence is clear. Dr Jarvis said he formed the opinion before any suggestion was made to him, that the man was suffering from tetanus. He saw the symptoms, and the man was brought here [to the Pensioner’s Hospital]. Two doctors saw him here and came to the same conclusion, and a medical specialist confirmed the diagnosis. Therefore, it is quite clear to me, and my verdict will be that he died from tetanus. It is a very unfortunate thing, and I am sorry for you.
Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette: Saturday 16th October 1920
George’s challenge was as much about the financial aspect as it was his late brother’s wellbeing. Had Reginald’s death been the result of malaria, it could have been attributable to his military service, and therefore any funeral costs – or at least a proportion of them – would have been paid for by the army. As the inquest had identified tetanus as the cause of his passing, however, the family would have to pay for the burial themselves.
Following the inquest, Reginald’s funeral was held: he was laid to rest in the sweeping Locksbrook Cemetery, Bath, not far from where his bereaved family still lived.
There are two other intriguing aspects of Reginald’s case.
The first is that of his being awarded a war grave. Amongst other criteria, which can be seen here, the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) are responsible for the commemoration of personal who died after they were discharged from a Commonwealth military force, if their death was caused by their wartime service.
Based on the inquest, Reginald’s passing was clearly not – the tetanus having come on after his medical discharge for malaria and dysentery. Technically, therefore, his should not be designated a war grave.
The second confusing thing is that of the date on Reginald’s headstone. The CWGC headstone gives the date of his death as 13th October 1920, as do his grave registration documents. While newspaper reports are not always a reliable source of information, the first media report of the inquest came on Tuesday 12th October.
The Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette article confirms that Dr Jarvis’ visit to Reginald was on Thursday 7th October. He was admitted to hospital straight away, “where he died the following day” [Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette: Saturday 16th October 1920]. This would suggest that Reginald died on Friday 8th October.
While the newspapers do not confirm the date of the inquest, it is likely to have been held soon after Reginald’s passing. The date provided by the CWGC, therefore, looks to be either that of the conclusion of the inquest, or of Reginald’s burial.
The life of Albert Edward Hall is a challenging one to unpick. His headstone, in Bath’s Locksbrook Cemetery, confirms that he was a Driver in the Royal Army Service Corps, and passed away on 15th January 1920.
Driver Hall’s service records confirm that he enlisted in Gloucester on 21th September 1914, at which point he was 45 years of age. He was born in Bristol, stood 5ft 6.5ins (1.69m) tall and weighed 172lbs (78kg). He had blue eyes and brown hair. The only next of kin that Albert recorded were two brothers, Arthur and Alfred, although their addresses were not known.
Driver Hall was sent to France within a couple of weeks of enlisting. He became attached to the 23rd Field Ambulance Unit, and, barring leave, remained on the Western Front for the next four-and-half years. His service appears to have been impeccable, although in August 1918, he docked a week’s pay when he returned back to the unit a day late following a period of leave.
In June 1919, having been back on home soil for a month, Albert was discharged from the army. This seems to have been partially on medical grounds, as his records suggest he was suffering from heart disease.
At this point, Albert’s trail goes cold. He may well have returned to Bristol, but by the start of 1920 it is likely that his health was failing. He was admitted to the Pensioner’s Hospital in Bath, Somerset, and it was here that he breathed his last. He was 50 years of age.
Albert Edward Hall was laid to rest in the sweeping visa on the city’s Locksbrook Cemetery.
The early life of Charles Shipp is a challenge to unpick. Born Charles Morgan in Bath, Somerset, in 1872, his father was also called Charles. He found work as a labourer when he finished school.
Charles sought a life of adventure, however, and on 7th January 1890, he enlisted in the army, joining the South Wales Borderers. Private Morgan’s service records show that he was 5ft 5.5ins (1.66m) tall and weighed 116lbs (52.6kg). He had brown hair, grey eyes and a fresh complexion, with tattoos of crossed flags, a crown and VR on his left forearm.
Private Morgan spent three years on home soil, and is recorded as being based in North Camp Barracks in Farnborough, Hampshire, in the 1891 census. His battalion was sent to Egypt in December 1892 and spent the next three years overseas, moving to Gibraltar in the spring of 1895. The only details available for his time abroad relate to a couple of hospital admissions – for a fever in Cairo in August 1894, and for gonorrhoea in Gibraltar in the autumn of 1895. He returned to Britain at the end of November that year.
Charles appears to have been based in South Wales when he returned home and, on 20th December 1896, he married Lottie Walters in Llandough Parish Church. Interestingly, while the new bride’s father’s details are recorded – naval pensioner James Walters – Charles’ have been intentionally left blank. This is also the first document on which his surname is recorded as Shipp, so there seems to have been a deliberate distancing from his family at this point.
Charles was still committed to his military career. He served on home soil until January 1897, when he was placed on reserve, having completed seven years’ service. This respite was not to be for long, however, as he was recalled on three years later, and sent to South Africa, to fight in the Second Boer War.
Private Shipp, as he was now known, served in South Africa for more than two years, and was awarded the Johannesburg, Cape Colony, 1901 and 1902 clasps. In August 1902, he returned to Britain, and was formally stood down from army service.
Charles and Lottie moved to Bath, and set up home in a small cottage in Locksbrook Road. They went on to have seven children, all of them girls and, by the time of the 1911 census, Charles was working as a carter for the local gas works. His heart seems always to have been with his military career, however, and, when war broke out in 1915, he saw this as an opportunity to play his part once more.
On 25th October 1915, Charles enlisted in the Royal Army Service Corps as a Driver. His was not to be a war fought on home turf, and within a month, he was in the Mediterranean, potentially back in Egypt again. In April 1916, his battalion moved to Salonika, and he spent the next three years in Northern Greece.
Charles contracted malaria in the autumn of 1917, and this resulted in a hospital admission for just over two months. He returned to his unit, but spent another couple of months in a Macedonian hospital the following year when the condition recurred.
Driver Shipp survived the war, and returned to Britain in April 1919. His health was again suffering, and he was formally discharged from the army on medical grounds on 29th April.
At this point, Charles’ trail goes cold. He returned home to Lottie and their daughters, but there is nothing to account for the the last eight months of his life. He passed away on 12th December 1919, at the age of 47 years of age.
Charles Shipp was laid to rest in Bath’s majestic Locksbrook Cemetery, not far from where his family lived.
Zebulon Priddle was born in the autumn of 1876 in Curry Mallet, Somerset. One of ten children, who included Meliam, Cornelius, Absalom, Ebenezer, Lancelot and Jabez, his parents were Robert and Mary Priddle.
Robert was a farm labourer, and his son followed suit at first, but a career away from home beckoned and, on 16th January 1894, he enlisted in the Royal Artillery. Aged just 18 years and 2 months, Zebulon had volunteered in the Somerset Light Infantry, a militia group at that point. His service records confirm that he was 5ft 5ins (1.65m) tall and weighed 122lbs (55.3kg).
Driver Priddle was based on home soil for eighteen months before his wish for a life of adventure was realised. On 16th September 1894, his battalion set sail for India, and he was to remain there for more than six years. Zebulon returned to Britain in February 1902, where he was placed on reserve status. He completed his twelve years’ service in January 1906, and stepped down from the army.
Britain’s shores could not contain Zebulon, however, and at some point he emigrated to Canada. Little information of his life in North America is available, other than that the move seemed to have provided him with an opportunity to change his name, as in documents from this point on he is known as Robert Priddle.
The next record for Robert is that of his re-enlistment when war broke out. He was living in Winnipeg by this point, and, as he gives his mother, Mary, as his next-of-kin, it seems that he did not marry or have children.
Robert joined up again on 16th December 1914, and was attached to the 9th Battalion of the Canadian Infantry. Promoted to the rank of Sergeant, he arrived back in England in March the following year. His time there was to be brief, however, and within a matter of weeks, Robert arrived on the Western Front.
Over the next six months, Sergeant Priddle’s health suffered significantly, and he had several periods in hospital. Initially suffering from bronchitis, in July 1915 he was medically evacuated to Britain with cardiac angina. He remained in England and, when rheumatism set in in October, he was transferred to reserve status.
Sadly, this was not to be the last time Sergeant Priddle’s health suffered: he was admitted to hospital in Shorncliffe, Kent, with a ruptured aortic aneurysm. He succumbed quickly, passing away on 25th January 1916, at the age of 39 years old.
The body of Robert Priddle was brought back to Somerset for burial. He was laid to rest under his assumed name, in the peaceful graveyard of St James’ Church in his home village of Curry Mallet.
William Ephraim Stitch was born in Biddisham, Somerset, on 6th August 1879. The oldest of seven children, his parents were James and Mary Stitch. James was a farmer, and this was a trade into which William followed.
The 1901 census found William boarding with a farmer in nearby Badgworth. His employer was George Burrow, who had a live-in housekeeper, Ellen Norris. Ten years later, William was boarding with another family in the village – Benjamin and Bertha Wall and their two children – and, at 32 years old, he was still employed as a farm labourer.
When war came to Europe, William stepped up to play his part for King and Country. He enlisted in the Royal Army Service Corps on 3rd December 1915, and was assigned to the 530th Horse Transport Company. His service records note that he was 5ft 4ins (1.63m) tall and weighed 126lbs (57.2kg).
Driver Stitch was based in Northumberland, and remained on home soil throughout his time in the army. He returned to Somerset a couple of times, most noticeably in September 1917, when he married Bertha Wall, who he had been boarding with according to the 1911 census. There is no evidence of the passing of Bertha’s husband, Benjamin, but William’s service records note that he classed Bertha’s two children as his own.
Driver Stitch went back to Somerset on leave over Christmas 1917, arriving back in Blyth, Northumberland, on 28th December. He was billeted at Link View Villa in the town, and looked after the horses stabled there.
William was last seen in the Orderly Room that evening, by a Corporal John Kearton, his senior officer who was based in the same digs. He disappeared, and, despite a lengthy search, it was only on 1st February 1918 that his body was found in the brickyard pond, close to where the horses were stabled.
At the subsequent inquest, the doctor who carried out the postmortem confirmed that there was no sign of violence. Corporal Kearton suggested that, as William was getting water from the pond, he might have slipped into the water accidentally. With no evidence of any deliberate intention to end his life, the jury returned a verdict of drowning, but that there was no evidence to show how Driver Stitch had gotten into the water. William was recorded as having died on 28th December 1918, at the age of 39 years of age.
The body of William Ephraim Stitch was brought back to Somerset for burial. He was laid to rest in the quiet graveyard of St Congar’s Church in Badgworth.
Frederick Chilcott was born in Bridgwater, Somerset, early in 1867. He was the fifth of thirteen children to labourer and kiln worker Henry Chilcott and his wife, Ellen.
When he finished his schooling, Frederick also found labouring work. He wanted bigger and better things, however, and the opportunity for a career in the army offered him just that. On 14th January 1888 he enlisted in the Royal Artillery. His service records confirm he was 5ft 6ins (1.68m) tall, and weighed 119lbs (54kg). He was noted as having dark brown hair, dark hazel eyes and a fresh complexion. He also had a scar on his forehead and a tattooed dot on his right forearm.
Frederick was initially given the rank of Driver and was assigned to the regiment’s 3rd Brigade Depot. He was sent to India in February 1889, and remained there until November the following year, when his troop returned to Britain.
Back on home soil Frederick’s role changed and he was given the rank of Gunner. On 1st January 1892, he was promoted to Acting Bombardier, but, on his own request, he reverted to his previous rank just three months later. On 15th January 1895, Gunner Chilcott was stood down to reserve status, having completed seven years’ service.
On 16th April 1895, Frederick married Eliza Stockham. She was a labourer’s daughter from the village of Puriton, to the north of Bridgwater, and it was here that the couple settled. Living in a small cottage, they went on to have six children between 1898 and 1911.
Frederick’s time in the army, however, wasn’t quite done. With the Second Boer War breaking out, he was recalled to the now Royal Field Artillery in January 1900. Sent to South Africa, Gunner Chilcott remained overseas for a year and was recognised for his commitment in the campaign.
Frederick returned to Britain on 3rd January 1901, and was finally stood down from the army in March that year, having fulfilled his twelve years’ contract. He returned home to Puriton, his service records noting that his character was ‘very good’.
The 1911 census found Frederick employed as a labourer in the local cement works. He and Eliza living in a small cottage in Puriton with four of the children (their oldest son was with Eliza’s parents, while she was pregnant with their youngest).
Conflict was knocking on England’s shore by this point, and when conflict broke out, Frederick appears to have stepped up to play his part once more. He was 47 years old when war was declared and, as such, would not have been required to enlist. Full details of his service are no longer available, but he had certainly joined the Army Veterinary Corps by the summer of 1917.
Private Chilcott is likely to have remained on home soil, but towards the end of his service was based in Curragh, County Kildare, Ireland. It was while here, on 23rd December 1917, that he suffered an aneurysm, passing away in the town’s military hospital as a result. He was 50 years of age.
Frederick Chilcott’s body was brought back to Somerset for burial. He was laid to rest in the quiet graveyard of St Michael’s Church in his home village, Puriton.
Frederick Walter Coombes was born in 5th July 1891 in Chard, Somerset. He was the oldest of eight children and his parents were mason’s labourer Walter Coombes and his wife, Sarah.
The family moved to nearby Crewkerne and, when he left school, Frederick found work as a weaver. He quickly realised, however, that he needed a career, and the the military could offer one. On 18th October 1909, he enlisted in the the Royal Field Artillery, signing up for three years with the regiment, followed by nine years on reserve.
Frederick’s service record confirms the man he had become. His medical examination gave his height as 5ft 6ins (1.68m) and his weight as 139lbs (63kg). He was noted as having brown hair, hazel eyes and a fresh complexion. He was also recorded as having a tattoo of a man’s head on the back of his right wrist and a small scar on his left hip.
After a year on home soil, Driver Coombes was sent to South Africa. He was to spend a little over two years in the country, the 1911 census recording him at the Roberts Heights Barracks in Transvaal, as part of the 98th Battery.
When his initial three year contract came to an end, Frederick was placed on reserve status and returned home. His trail goes cold for a couple of years, but when war was declared in 1914, he was immediately brought back into active service.
By the middle of August 1914, Driver Coombes was on the Western Front in France. Within a matter of weeks he was caught up in the Retreat from Mons, and was gassed in the process.
He soon recovered and, in December 1915 his troop was moved to Mesopotamia, modern-day Iraq. Within a month, Frederick fell ill again, having contracted malaria. He was treated at the base and, eventually remained in the Middle East for a year.
By December 1916 Frederick was on the move again, this time to India. His lungs had had a battering by this point, however, and he fell ill once more, this time having developed tuberculosis. Initially treated in India, by February 1917 he had been medically evacuated back to Britain. The condition was seen as unlikely to improve, and he was eventually discharged from the army as being no longer fit enough to serve.
Driver Coombes’ medical report confirmed that the condition was fully the result of his army service, and treatment at a sanatorium was recommended. His last day with the Royal Field Artillery was 7th May 1917: his career had lasted 7 years 202 days.
Again, Frederick’s trail goes cold at this point. It seems likely that he would have returned to Somerset and would possibly had been admitted to a medical facility for treatment and recuperation. The next record for him is that of his death, which happened at home on 26th March 1919. He was just 27 years of age.
Frederick Walter Coombes was laid to rest in Crewkerne’s Townsend Cemetery.
Henry – or Harry – Sweet was born on 31st July 1887 in the Somerset village of Merriott. He was the fourth of seven children to Edward and Emma Sweet. Emma had married Edward after her first husband, John, had died, and so Harry also had three half-siblings.
Edward was an agricultural labourer by trade, but by the time of the 1901 census he had turned his hand to brewing, and listed his trade as a maltster. Harry’s older brother John, was also recorded as a maltster, while he had left school and was noted as being a brewery hand.
The next census, in 1911, found Emma and Edward heading up the family in Crewkerne, brewing for, and working at, the Volunteer Inn. Harry was working with his father, while two of his sisters – Prudence and Beatrice – were still living at home and working as shirt and collar machinists. Making up the household were Harry’s other sister, Ellen, who was a shirt ironer, and her husband George, who was recorded as a web weaver. In all there were seven wages coming into the household, meagre salaries though they may have been.
On 26th December 1911, Harry married Rosina Woodland in the parish church in Crewkerne. She was the daughter of Walter Woodland, a local labourer, although there is little further information on her family.
When war came to Europe, Harry wanted to play his part. Full details of his military service are lost to time, although he had certainly enlisted in the Royal Army Service Corps by the start of 1917. Driver Sweet served in the Eastern Mediterranean, and was ensconced in Salonika, in Northern Greece, for nearly two years.
Harry suffered on and off with dysentery, and was moved to the 4th Scottish General Hospital in Glasgow in January 1919 for treatment. This was initially successful, but while was was admitted he contracted a combination of bronchitis and pneumonia, and these were ultimately to take his life. Driver Sweet passed away on 13th February 1919, at the age of 31 years old.
Henry Sweet’s body was brought back to Somerset for burial. He was laid to rest in the Townsend Cemetery in his home town of Crewkerne.
Albert Edward Taylor was born in the autumn of 1887 and was the fifth of eight children to John and Mary Taylor. John was a mason and both he and Mary came from Crewkerne, Somerset, which is where they raised their family.
Albert worked as an errand boy when he left school, but he sought a career and, enlisted in the Army Service Corps in July 1904. He lied about his age to join up, suggesting he was nearly 22, where he was actually just 17 years of age.
Driver Taylor’s service records confirm that he was 5ft 3ins (1.6m) tall and weighed 115lbs (52.2kg). He was noted as having brown hair, blue eyes and a fresh complexion. He had a mole between his shoulder and the back of his neck, and his religion was recorded as Baptist.
Albert’s contract was for two years’ service, followed by ten years in the Army Reserve. While a military career was what he sought, he seems to have had a disregard for rules, and regularly had run ins with authority, as his Regimental Defaulter Sheet testifies.
On 19th December 1904, while based in Woolwich, Surrey, he was absent without a pass from 6am until 12:15am on 30th December. He was confined to barracks for eight days.
The following year, Driver Taylor had moved to Bordon in Hampshire. On 28th November 1905, he was absent without a pass, from midnight until 8:30am on 1st December. He was again confined to barracks, this time for ten days.
A third offence came on 29th May 1906, by which time Albert had moved to Aldershot, Hampshire. He was found in neglect of duty ‘in allowing dirty pudding cloths to be deposited in the cupboards of the cookhouse’ and being ‘absent from work from 1:30pm till found in his barrack room at 9:20pm.’ For these, he was confined to barracks again, this time for eight days.
Within a matter of weeks, he was found in neglect of duty again, having broken out ‘of barracks after tattoo and remaining absent till apprehended by the Military Police at about 10:50pm’ and being ‘drunk and improperly dressed.’ This time the punishment was more severe and he was detained in prison for 96 hours.
Unsurprisingly, Albert’s military career didn’t go much further than this. When his two-year contract came to an end, he returned to Somerset and found employment as a mason.
In July 1910, Albert married Mabel Wallbridge, the daughter of a carman, also from Crewkerne. The couple set up home on the outskirts of the town, and went on to have a son, Frederick, who was born later that year.
The 1911 census found the young family living in a cottage in Lye Water, with Albert listing himself as a ‘mason (army pensioner)’. While the military reference may have been added with a sense of pride, irony or bloody mindedness, Albert was not to fully leave his army career behind. When war came to Europe in 1914, he was still within his reserve status, and was called up to play his part.
Private Taylor was to leave his family behind: son Frederick had now been joined by daughters Kathleen and Joyce, and Mabel pregnant with another daughter, Rosaline, who was born in January 1915. Albert was assigned to the 1st Battalion of the Somerset Light Infantry and, in contrast to his previous tenure on the Home Front, he soon found himself in the thick of things.
Albert’s regiment was involved in some of the fiercest opening skirmishes of the First World War, and he would have been caught up on the Battles of Le Cateau, the Marne, the Aisne and Armentières. By the spring of 1915, the battalion was entrenched at Ypres, and it was here during the Battle of St. Julien that Private Taylor was injured.
Albert has received a gun shot wound to the left side of his skull and was medically evacuated to Britain for treatment. He was admitted to the Beechfield House Hospital in Southampton, but his wounds proved too severe, and he passed away on 14th May 1915, at the age of 27 years old.
The funeral of Private Albert Edward Taylor, of the Somerset Light Infantry… who died from wounds received at the Front, took place with military honours at the Cemetery [in Crewkerne] on Tuesday afternoon, and attracted a large attendance. As a mark of respect to the memory of the deceased soldier blinds were drawn at the private and business houses en route to the Cemetery, while the flag erected outside the Victoria Hall for the children’s Empire-day celebration was lowered to half-mast.
Rev. J Street (Unitarian Minister)… spoke of the painful circumstances and the heroic conduct of the deceased, who had sacrificed his life for others. Although death was attended with pain and sorrow, yet in after years deceased’s children would look back with pride to the part their father took in the present war.
Taunton Courier and Western Advertiser: Wednesday 26th May 1915
Albert Edward Taylor was laid to rest in the cemetery of his home town, Crewkerne.
Private Albert Taylor (from findagrave.com)
Albert’s headstone gives his initials as AC Taylor. They should be AE Taylor.
Death and Service 