Cpl 49041 Lee Taylor

• Age: 27
• From: Brinscall, Lancs
• Regiment: The King's (Liverpool Regiment) 17th Btn
• K.I.A Sunday 28th April 1918
• Commemorated at: Tyne Cot Memorial
  Panel Ref: Panel 31-34

Lee Taylor was born in early 1891 in Brinscall, a village between Chorley and Blackburn,  the son of John Thomas Taylor and his wife Hannah Mary Ann (Nee Morris) who were married in Chorley in 1883. His father was from Chorley, and his mother from Dorset.  When they married in 1883, his father was a 23-year old widower.  They had nine children, three of whom died young. Children found on censuses are:  older siblings Amy, born in 1884, Sam 1885, and May 1890, and younger sisters Ivy 1895, and Eva 1901. The birthplace for all the children on censuses is Withnell, a village neighbouring Brinscall.

Lee is shown on the 1891 census which was taken on 5th April. The family is living in School Lane, Withnell, with Amy, Sam, May, and Lee, who is one month old. His sister May died at age 5 in 1895.

In 1901 they are living at 68 School Lane, Withnell.  His father is a general labourer in a print works, Amy, 17, is a cotton weaver, Sam, 15, is a grocer’s apprentice, Lee is 10, and Ivy 6.

They are still in School Lane in 1911, at no.97.   Both parents are 51, his father and Lee, 20, are labourers in a calico printing works, Amy, 27, is still a cotton weaver as is Ivy, 16.  Sam, 25, is a shopman with the Cooperative Society grocery, and Eva is 9.

In July 1914 Lee Taylor of Brinscall won the prize for first man home in the two mile Harriers steeplechase at a sports event in Blackburn.

He enlisted in Grantham, Lincolnshire and was originally Private 3792, of the 9th Battalion Lancashire Fusiliers. 

The 9th (Service) Battalion was formed at Bury on 31st August 1914 as part of Kitchener’s New Army.  They moved to Belton Park near Grantham and in April 1915 moved to Witley Camp in Surrey.  The battalion sailed from Liverpool on 5th July 1915, via Mudros to Suvla Bay (Gallipoli).  They waded ashore in deep water and darkness on the night of 6th-7th August 1915, as part of 34th Brigade, 11th (Northern) Division, and were pinned down on the beach, losing their commanding officer and a number of other casualties (about 60 KIA). 

His name (rank Lance Corporal) appeared in the list of Lancashire Fusiliers Wounded at Gallipoli, published on 9th September 1915. (The 9th Lancashire Fusiliers were evacuated from Gallipoli in December 1915, moved to Egypt and were then transferred to France in July 1916 for service on the Western Front.)

Lee was transferred to the 17^th Battalion, The King’s Liverpool Regiment as Corporal No 49041. It is possible that Lee was transferred to the 17th Battalion of The King’s Liverpool Regiment after recuperating from his wounds. His regimental number, 49041, is among a number of former Lancashire Fusiliers drafted to the 17th Battalion.

He was killed in action on the 28^th April 1918, aged 27, during the German Spring Offensive. Details of the events are described in the battalion diary:

By the 25^th April the battalion had taken up positions of readiness in the Voormezeele sector. According to the battalion War Diary, on the night of the 27^th, at 8.30 p.m. they moved to the line to relieve 4^th Bn, relief completed about 1 a.m.

28^th – At about 1 p.m. a company of composite battalion gave way on the left of our line and the Bosche penetrated from the Canal Bank to the left of my battalion front, which position he maintained despite 5 hours fighting. My reserve company was ordered to counter-attack and restore the position at 7.45 p.m. but enemy laid down a barrage at 7.43 a.m. and the counter attack was unable to proceed. The enemy bombardment lasted until 10.30 p.m. and I then organised a defensive flank.

Lee's body was not recovered or was subsequently lost as he has no known grave. His name is recorded on the Tyne Cot Memorial in Belgium.

Those United Kingdom and New Zealand servicemen who died after August 16th 1917 are named on the Tyne Cot Memorial, a site which marks the furthest point reached by Commonwealth forces in Belgium until nearly the end of the war.

The Tyne Cot Memorial now bears the names of almost 35,000 officers and men whose graves are not known. The memorial, designed by Sir Herbert Baker with sculpture by Joseph Armitage and F.V. Blundstone, was unveiled by Sir Gilbert Dyett on 20 June 1927.

The memorial forms the north-eastern boundary of Tyne Cot Cemetery, which was established around a captured German blockhouse or pill-box used as an advanced dressing station.

His medal roll shows rank of Corporal with the Lancashire Fusiliers.

His Army effects and a War Gratuity of £18-10s went to his father John. The pension card in the name of his mother, at 97 (later 101) School Lane, Brinscall, shows she was awarded a pension of 12/6d a week from November 1918.

His personal effects were sent to his father whilst his mother received a pension.
 
Lee is commemorated on the Brinscall Wesleyan Church memorial, now called Hillside Methodist Church.