Perth Digger Posted 18 July , 2019 Share Posted 18 July , 2019 I am seeking information on what happened to Taylor on 24 August 1914 at Elouges. He is not mentioned in the War Diary and there is no surviving Personal File. His remains were exhumed from a German grave after the war and identified by a tobacco pouch. He is now buried in Romeries Com Cem Ext. He came from Bootle, the son of a wealthy timber merchant. Thanks Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
helpjpl Posted 18 July , 2019 Share Posted 18 July , 2019 18th Hussars Commanding Officer's ( Lt Col Burnett) report into the action: Map of Battle: https://www.britishbattles.com/first-world-war/battle-of-mons-2nd-day-elouges/ Charles Tyerman Taylor was originally reported MIA: https://grandeguerre.icrc.org/en/File/Details/5097639/3/2/ JP Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Perth Digger Posted 19 July , 2019 Author Share Posted 19 July , 2019 (edited) Thanks, JP. It is quite unusual for a Red Cross card on a missing soldier not to have some reference to outcomes (usually stamped Negatif). There is nothing on Taylor's card. Presumably no information was received about him at all. He was reported missing on GHQ's 4 September List, but on 3 December he was reported as an "officer previously reported missing now reported not missing". His unfortunate parents had to inform the local Liverpool newspaper the next day that there was no corroboration of this. His remains were not identified until late 1920. In 1921 his father, having had a stroke, founded the Charles Tyerman Taylor Memorial Scholarship to fund three university scholarships. In 2008 this trust fund was dissolved and combined with others to form a Sefton Education and Learning Fund. I wonder if his name has now disappeared or whether the local authority continues to recognise that the scholarship was a war memorial? An In Memoriam notice was placed in the local newspaper on the thirtieth anniversary of his death in 1944, presumably by one of his siblings. I still cannot find any information on exactly what happened to him. I've just downloaded Burnett's History of the 18th Hussars and it has a paragraph explaining Taylor's disappearance, so that answers my question. Burnett does write, however, that Taylor went missing on the 25th. Mike Edited 19 July , 2019 by Perth Digger New information Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
helpjpl Posted 19 July , 2019 Share Posted 19 July , 2019 (edited) 6 hours ago, Perth Digger said: I've just downloaded Burnett's History of the 18th Hussars and it has a paragraph explaining Taylor's disappearance, so that answers my question. Burnett does write, however, that Taylor went missing on the 25th. Mike Another couple of discrepancies over dates of death. Burnett states (August 24th - Chapter III, page 20): All the troops reached cover but Sergeant Sutherland, Corporal O'Melia and two others were wounded ....... Corporal O'Melia died that day and we learnt later -from the Germans- that Sergeant Sutherland had died on the 25th. CWGC: Lance Corporal A O'Melia 23 August Serjeant A N Sutherland 24 August https://www.cwgc.org/find/find-war-dead/results?regiment=18th%2B(Queen%2BMary%27s%2BOwn)%2BHussars&dateFrom=23-08-1914&dateTo=27-08-1914 PS I really should have carried on reading Burnett's Memoirs of the 18th Hussars yesterday and then I could have told you about Lt Taylor's disappearance, Chapter IV. JP Edited 19 July , 2019 by helpjpl Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Perth Digger Posted 19 July , 2019 Author Share Posted 19 July , 2019 No reason to blush, JP I should have remembered the book before starting this thread. When there was uncertainty over the date of death of a missing man, the decision was left to the MiIitary Secretary at the War Office. He usually chose the earlier date. Without an officer's file, as in Taylor's case, there is no way to check, apart, perhaps, from finding the 1st Casualty List he was on. I should have that somewhere. If GHQ said he was missing on the 24th, then that would be the official date. But as mentioned above, GHQ stuffed up later as well. Thanks for your help, JP. Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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