8th Battalion, Gloucestershire Regiment
William George Taylor was born in Stow-on-theWold in 1888, the son of George Taylor and Sarah Palmer Clifford. His siblings were Maud Winifred (1889-1973), Florence Maria (1891-1980), Rhoda Violet (1894-1896), Daisy Hannah (1896-1896), Reginald Percival (1898-1959), Norman Victor (1901), Lucy Mayellen (1903).
In 1891, he was living with parents and sibling Maud Winifred at Enoch’s Row, Stow-on-the-Wold. In 1901 the Taylor family were again resident in Enoch’s Row on the night of the Census, and William was staying with a neighbour and listed as a visitor.
In 1911, he worked as a Groom for Frederick Cripps, the owner of Waterton House at Ampney Crucis.
William married Constance Daisy Herbert in November 1911, and it would appear there was no issue. Nonetheless, according to his Pension Record Card his mother Sarah was his dependent.
He served in the Gloucestershire Regiment. In 1915, he saw action with the 7th Battalion at Gallipoli where he was wounded and sent back to the UK. On his recovery, he was transferred to the 12th Battalion on the Somme where he may have been a casualty in early September in the attack on the heavily fortified village of Guillemont. He was transferred to the 8th Battalion where he served until the end of the war.
He died on 24 May 1919, aged 31 years, and was buried at Stow-on-the-Wold Cemetery (Grave Number Uncons 12). A standard CWGC headstone marks his grave.
William is commemorated in St Edward’s Church, Foss Way, Stow-on-the-Wold. The memorial, which is cut directly onto the church wall, shows the casualties, their ages, and dates of death. He was one of 45 men from Stow who died in WW1.
Researched by Baden Russell 7 June 2021