Taylor, Thomas Corps: Royal Engineers Regiment No: 203306 - who is this man? What happened to him?

[WingCo]

Amongst the bric-a-brac handed down from grandparents is a single British War Medal inscribed around the rim with the above individual's details.

We have no known individuals or branches within the family with that surname. The man is a complete mystery to us.

 

His medal card seems curiously light on detail and I have not succeeded in turning him up on the medal rolls.

 

Can any of you more expert researchers throw some light on who he is, his service record and why the medal came into our possession? (Were there many errors in sending out medals to wrong addresses?)

 

 

[tootrock]

Should that be 203306?

Martin

[Matlock1418]

38 minutes ago, WingCo said:

His medal card seems curiously light on detail and I have not succeeded in turning him up on the medal rolls.

Medal Roll for 203306

Image courtesy of Ancestry

:-) M

Edited 29 November , 2020 by Matlock1418
acknowledgement of image

[WingCo]

18 minutes ago, tootrock said:

Should that be 203306?

Martin

Sorry, yes. My error.

[WingCo]

3 minutes ago, Matlock1418 said:

Medal Roll for 203306

Image courtesy of Ancestry

:-) M

Curious. Like the medal card, very light on detail. Is that 'NK' (not known?). Was he just employed on the Home front, maybe recruited just before the war's end.

[Matlock1418]

2 minutes ago, WingCo said:

Was he just employed on the Home front, maybe recruited just before the war's end.

He must have served overseas in a ToW to get a BWM & VM - on or after 1/1/1916

:-) M

[WingCo]

Just now, Matlock1418 said:

He must have served overseas in a ToW to get a BWM & VM - on or after 1/1/1916

:-) M

Ok thanks.

[brianmorris547]

Wingco

Sidney French, the name below him on the Roll, was awarded his MM in 1918 serving with 470 (North Midland) FC. This is confirmed in the WD of 59 Div A&QMG Routine Order dated 28/04/1918. This does not mean that Thomas Taylor or the other names on the page served in 470 FC. The Unit WD does not name names. Neither Sidney French or Thomas Taylor have a 1914 - 15 Star. Were your grandparents from the North Midlands by any chance.

Brian

EDIT: The North Midland Field Companies of the Territorial Force were allocated new 6 figure numbers in 1917 which began with 4. These 203xxx numbers were not TF numbers. I have seen other cases where non TF Sappers were sent to TF Divisions as re inforcements but not often.  

Edited 30 November , 2020 by brianmorris547
additional info

[WingCo]

Brian, Hi. Thanks for your interesting post. As I said in my opening remarks, the man and why we have his BWM are a complete mystery. I tried searching for his Record of Service whilst in the TNA (before lockdown) but failed to find anything (possibly one of the missing ones?). My GPs lived in S Wales all their lives, hence why I wondered whether Taylor's medal had been mis-posted. When he was alive I asked my GF why we had that particular medal, who Taylor was etc (I had found it together with my GF's 15-15 Star, BWM, VM - Somme area & Salonika, 11th Welsh) and he said he had no idea, Having done a lot of research regarding Great War soldiers in my own family, I felt that I should try to shed some light on this man's story. Peter