Pte 26151 Ernest Taylor

When he enlisted, Ernest Taylor was living in Prescot, Lancashire, and gave his birthplace as Sheffield, according to SDGW. However, it appears he was born in Cutthorpe, Derbyshire, about ten miles south of Sheffield in 1884.

 

We know, based on information from the pension card, that in 1901, Ernest, age given as 17, born in Cutthorpe, a railway messenger, was living at 5 Burrows Lane, Prescot, with his mother Sarah Ann and stepfather John Hunter, 52, a watch pinion maker.  His mother, 43, was born in Swayfield, Lincolnshire.  In the household are older Hunter step siblings Alice 24, and George, 19, and younger Hunter half siblings Joseph, 11, Martha 8, Lilly 6, Elizabeth, 5, and Ann, 3.

 

Sarah Ann Taylor had married widower John Hunter in Prescot in 1889.  His wife had died in 1884 after giving birth to six children.  Sarah Ann and John Hunter had five children.

 

Based on their children’s birth registrations, Sarah Ann’s maiden name was Allen.  Working backwards from this, her son Ernest Clulow Taylor was born in the June quarter of 1884 in Chesterfied district, Derbyshire (which includes Cutthorpe).  It has not been possible to ascertain where the Clulow name came from.  He was baptised on 24th February 1886, in St. Anne’s, Newton Heath, Lancashire, east of Manchester, and 40 miles from Cutthorpe.  The baptism record (Ernest Clulow Taylor) gives his birth date as 14th May 1885 (sic), and his mother as Sarah Ann Taylor, a widow, but no father’s name provided, and her abode as 75 Stanley Street.

 

The only marriage for a Sarah Ann Allen to a Taylor was in 1872 in Deptford, London.  The 1871 census shows Sarah Ann Allen, born in Swayfield, Lincolnshire, as a 17-year old servant in Deptford, so this is likely the right individual.  Her husband, Charles Mansfield Taylor, was about ten years older, and had a criminal record:  sentenced to nine months in Chester for fraud, as well as having done time in Wakefield and Pentonville Prisons.  He was known to use aliases, so it has not been possible to trace him.

 

They apparently had a son, John Charles Taylor, born on 2nd July, 1873 in Greenwich, mother’s maiden name Allen.  John joined the police in 1899 (having apparently served in the Army “bullet wound left cheek”), and served 25 years; when he married in 1913 he gave his father’s name as Charles Mansfield Taylor, deceased.

 

Sarah Ann has not been found on the 1881 census.  The story of when and why she left London for Derbyshire, and why she ended up in Lancashire, is not known.  

 

At the time of the 1891 census Ernest, listed as Hunter and birthplace Eccleston, is at 19 Burrows Lane, Eccleston, with his mother and stepfather, and older Hunter step siblings James, Alice, Thomas, and George.  Ernest is 6, and his half brother Joseph is 1.

The 1901 Census shows him aged 15 working as a Railway Messanger living at 5 Burrows Lane, Prescot. 

 

 

An Ernest Taylor, of the right age, 26, is boarding nearby with Frank and Elizabeth (née Saggerson )Taylor and their two young children in Stone Houses, Burrows Lane.  The relationship, if any, is unknown.  Ernest is employed as a general labourer at a cable works.  (E. Taylor is listed on the British Insulated & Helsby Cables Ltd., Prescot Works war memorial.)  However, on the census Ernest gives his birthplace as Ashbourne, Derbyshire, which is 24 miles south of Cutthorpe.  Confusingly, the Ernest Taylor born in Ashbourne in 1884 died in infancy.

 

Ernest enlisted in Liverpool joining the 21st Battalion of The King's Liverpool Regiment as Private 26151. The 21st Battalion was a reserve Battalion to the Liverpool Pals and they did not see active service overseas. 

Ernest died on 07th March 1916 aged 30 of pulmonary tuberculosis in Whiston Workhouse Infirmary, and was buried on the 11th in St. Mary’s churchyard. He was given a military funeral and now rests at St Mary's Church where his headstone bears the epitaph:

"GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN"

 

There are 25 First World War casualties in the Cemetery.

British Insulated & Helsby Cables Ltd., Prescot Works (?)

 

We currently have no further information on Ernest Taylor, If you have or know someone who may be able to add to the history of this soldier, please contact us.