Army Service Corps
Frederick William Taylor was born in Tewkesbury in 1898 to Frederick William Taylor and Theresa Taylor (also formerly Taylor and whose forename was registered as Thirza at her birth and Thursa when she married in 1895). Both Frederick William (senior) and Theresa were born in Walton, Cardiff and she was the daughter of the parish clerk; Frederick William (junior) was their only child.
From the time they were built in 1899, the family lived in a cottage made of ‘iron and galvanised iron’ in modern Newtown Lane (10 Newtown, Ashchurch Road); not surprisingly the area was dubbed ‘tin town’. At the time, Frederick William (senior) was working as a general labourer. Frederick William (junior) was still at school in 1911 but subsequently worked for Mr A Edwards, a coal merchant of Tewkesbury, before he joined the Army. In 1911, Frederick William (senior) was a domestic gardener in the employ of Nathaniel P Milne, owner of Ashchurch House. Indeed such was his relationship that he and the chauffeur were tasked with standing vigil over the coffin of their employer in 1933.
Frederick was conscripted into the Army and enlisted initially in Tewkesbury in the Worcestershire Regiment. He was posted to the 10th (Service) Battalion which had been formed at Worcester in September 1914 as part of Kitchener’s Army. The battalion was part of the 57th Infantry Brigade in the 19th (Western) Division and landed in France 18 July 1915. However, there is no evidence that Frederick served overseas with the battalion and he was transferred instead to the Army Service Corps (ASC) on 27 February 1917. The prefix to his army service number suggests that he was posted to the Remounts Service of the ASC which was responsible for the provisioning of horses and mules to all other army units; the nearest depot was Shirehampton, near Bristol which dealt with horses received at Avonmouth.
Unfortunately he soon caught a chill which developed into pneumonia and Private Frederick William Taylor died from influenza on 11 April 1917, a year before the main pandemic, at Foye House Hospital, Clifton, Bristol; he was 18 years old.
Frederick was buried in Tewkesbury Cemetery and, in his case, family and friends were able to attend his funeral. He is commemorated in Tewkesbury at the Cross and in the Abbey.
Researched by Malcolm Waldron 9 November 2015