DAVID GEORGE TAYLOR
27 November 1893 - 9 September 1916
At School 1904 - 1909
2nd Lieut 10th Manchester Regt attd 5th Lancashire Fusiliers
Second Lieutenant David George Taylor
10th Battalion Manchester Regiment attached to 2nd/5th Battalion Lancashire Fusiliers
Introduction
Second Lieutenant David George Taylor of the 10th Battalion Manchester Regiment (10/Manchester) was aged 22 when he was killed in action whilst attached to, and serving with, the 2nd/5th Battalion, The Lancashire Fusiliers (2/5 LF) during the Battle of the Somme on 9 September 1916.
Commonwealth War Graves Commission records
According to records held by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) the commemoration details are as follows:
Rank: Second Lieutenant
Date of Death: 09/09/1916
Regiment/Service: 10th Battalion Manchester Regiment, attached 5th Battalion Lancashire Fusiliers
Memorial: Thiepval Memorial
Panel Reference: Pier and Face 13A
Officers Died in the Great War database
Officers Died in the Great War 1914-1919 (ODGW) was published in one volume in 1919 by HMSO and compiled in the Officers Casualties branch of the War Office from reports to the notice of the Military Secretary. It lists details of officers who gave their lives in the First World War in two parts: Part I - Old and New Armies and Part II - Territorial Force. In Part I the names are tabulated alphabetically by regiments/corps, in some cases (but by no means all) the battalion is also given but there is no information as to the theatre of war or country where death occurred - simply name, rank and date of death, with any decorations. The exceptions to this are those who died as prisoners of war when that fact is noted with their other details. In Part II the names are arranged by battalions within regiments by ranks, but again there is no information as to place of death, except for PoW, as in Part I.The ODGW details are as follows:
Name: David George Taylor
Death Date: 9 September 1916
Rank: Second Lieutenant
Regiment: Manchester Regiment
Battalion: 10th Battalion (Territorial)
Official Records
Using the information in official records we can start to build up a picture of the life of David George Taylor.
Birth
David George Taylor was born to Scottish parents – father, George Taylor – born in Banff, mother – Jessie Taylor in Aberdeen - in the parish of Chorlton-cum-Hardy, Manchester on 27 November 1893. Research into his officer’s papers held in the National Archives (TNA) at Kew, London, (see below) reveals that an extract from his birth certificate records his father’s occupation as ‘bank clerk’ and his address as 32, Stockton Road, a semi-detached villa in Chorlton-cum-Hardy, Manchester.

1901 Census
Eight years later the family had moved ½ a mile to the other side of what is now the A5145. At the time of the 1901 Census, conducted on 1 April 1901 and registering people living at a particular address on the night of 31 March, David – recorded as aged 7 and the youngest of two children then at home - was living at 10, Oak Avenue, another comfortable brick built semi-detached villa in the Chorlton-cum-Hardy suburb.
The other members of his family registered were as follows:
George Taylor - (aged 39) – father – employed as a bank cashier.
Jessie Taylor – (35) – mother – not employed.
Ruth Hay Taylor – (8) – sister.
Jane Collie – (67) – maternal grandmother - (widowed).

School
David attended Hulme Grammar School – 1 ½ miles from David’s home in Oak Avenue – a 25 minute
walk - from April 1904 until July 1909.


The school was founded on 26 January 1887 as a Grammar School. The original part of the school (above right) was designed by A H Davies-Colley in 1886-1887 as a large, high (up to four storeys) building of red brick and yellow terracotta. There is a hall (above left, building on the right) built around 1910 in the same style. Both buildings are strictly symmetrical. The building lies on top of a large tunnel network.
In the original building, there is a ground floor hall surrounded by balconies on many levels. The main staircase is ornamented by large stained glass windows. The basement level was refurbished on one side in 2007 in order to allow lessons to be held in two small classrooms but the tunnels, archives and stores still remain.
1911 Census
By the time of the 1911 Census – conducted on 2 April 1911 – David was aged 17 and working as an insurance clerk at an unknown firm but probably on the staff of the London and Lancashire Fire Insurance Company as this was the company he was with prior to joining the Army.
His father had been promoted and the family had now moved 4 miles to the north to another suburb of Manchester and was recorded as living in eight rooms at ‘L&Y Bank House’ in Pendleton. This was the Lancashire and Yorkshire Bank branch in Pendleton at 82, Broad Street. A house connected to the bank was at 80 A, Broad Street.
Other members of the family were:
George Taylor - (aged 49) - father - employed as a 'bank branch manager'
Jessie Taylor - (45) - mother - not employed
Ruth Hay Taylor - (18) - sister - 'student'
Pauline Owens - (27) - 'general servant - domestic
This census return records that by 1911 the Taylors had had 2 children born alive, both of whom were still living.
Research in The Story of the Yorkshire and Lancashire Bank Limited 1872-1922 (J M McBernie, Sherrat & Hughes, Manchester: 1922) reveals that it evolved out of the Alliance Bank of London and Liverpool, an enterprise established in 1862 which was keen to expand into the provinces. A branch was opened in Manchester on 1 January 1864 at 73, King Street. In 1871, the board of the Alliance Bank decided to close the Manchester branch, but its manager, John Mills, drew up a scheme to form a new bank: the Lancashire and Yorkshire Bank Ltd. The new bank had capital of £1m, and most of the directors were prominent Manchester businessmen. In the first six months, nearly £4,000 profit was made. Over the next few years, there was a gradual extension of business throughout Lancashire and Yorkshire, with profits exceeding £53,000 in 1882. Some of the bank's deposits were used to finance the construction of the Manchester Ship Canal opened in 1894. The Bank went on to absorb various other northern banks including Bury Banking Co (1888), Adelphi Bank (1899), West Riding Union Bank (1902), and in 1904 the Mercantile Bank of Lancashire which had a presence on the Isle of Man. In 1928, the Lancashire and Yorkshire was acquired by the Bank of Liverpool and Martins Ltd.
It is speculation, but David’s father George Taylor had probably been a cashier at the Chorlton-cum-Hardy branch in 1901. What is certain, however, is that at some point during the next 10 years he had become the manager of the Pendleton branch – which had opened in 1873 - also with responsibility for the Swinton branch.
It is known that George Taylor the branch manager at Pendleton on the outbreak of war in August and was still in post at the time of his son’s death in 1916.



Above: the Lancashire and Yorkshire Bank building - behind the lamp post – in Broad Street, Pendleton (Salford) before major clearance/re-development. Many of the Victorian buildings have now disappeared.
Below: the site – door behind blue sign – of the heavily-redeveloped Lancashire and Yorkshire Bank building. It became Martin’s Bank (right) in 1928 and closed in 1971 sixteen months after the merger with Barclays.


War Service – medal index card, medal roll and officers’ service papers
Information from his Medal Index Card (MIC), which shows his service medal entitlement, reveals that David Taylor was eligible only for the British War and Victory Medals. This means that he entered a Theatre of War (ToW) after 31 December 1915. No date is recorded for when he first entered a ToW or what that ToW was.
We know the exact date David Taylor enlisted in the Army - 17 March 1913 - from his service papers in TNA.
Officers’ papers
Every one of the approximately 5 million men serving in the British Army in the First World War anddid not re-enlist in the Army prior to then Second World War had a service record held by the War
Office. In 1940 there was a bombing raid on the War Office in London where the records were held.
During this raid, a large portion (approximately 60 percent) of the 6.5 million records was destroyed
by fire. Although many of these records suffered water damage following the bombing raid, all
surviving service and pension records were microfilmed by The National Archives, where both
collections are held, as part of a major TNA conservation project. These service records became known
as the ‘Burnt Documents’ (WO 363) and the pension records, containing service records of non-commissioned officers and other ranks who were discharged from the Army and claimed disability pensions for service in the First World War, - became known as the ‘Unburnt Collection’ (WO 364).
Because David Taylor was commissioned as an officer, however, his papers would have been collected together and placed in the records of officers given a commission in the TF or a temporary commission. His papers exist in the TNA as noted above. Note, however, that many service files underwent a process of what the War Office called ‘weeding’ after the Second World War. David Taylor’s file was weeded in 1958 so whatever additional information was present then was destroyed!

The MIC (above) shows the unit David first enlisted in. This was the 6th Battalion of the Manchester Regiment (6/Manchester). 6/Manchester was a Territorial Force (TF) battalion which, prior to the Haldane army reforms of 1908, had been the 2nd Volunteer Battalion, the Manchester Regiment. David Taylor’s unit – 6/Manchester – was part of the Manchester Brigade of the East Lancashire Division, TF.
Further study of the MIC indicates that David Taylor had been commissioned as an officer. A commission was a formal document of authority from the monarch – in David’s case King George V - appointing a man as an officer in the British Army. David was commissioned as a second lieutenant - that being the most junior of commissioned ranks - into the 3rd/10th battalion of the Manchester Regiment (3/10 Manchester) which was also a TF unit.
Further research into the British War and Victory Medal Rolls roll confirms the information on the MIC. David appears on the roll of officers of the Manchester Regiment although no battalion is recorded.

David’s service papers record that on attestation with 6/Manchester he gave his age as 19 years 4 months, that his trade or calling was as a clerk with the London and Lancashire Fire Insurance Company, that he was single and that his next of kin was his father, George Taylor His address was given as 9, Stanley Road, Irlams o’ th’ Heights, Manchester. This is an area of Pendleton, in Salford, Greater Manchester close to Swinton and Pendlebury: entirely consistent with David’s father being the manager at both the Pendleton and Swinton branches of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Bank. It has been heavily redeveloped and Stanley Road no longer exists.
At his medical inspection held on 5 May 1913 in Manchester, David’s details were recorded as follows:
Height: 5 feet 7 ½ inches
Chest (when expanded): 32 ½ inches
Range of expansion: 2 inches
Vision: good
Physical development: good
The TF was the part-time, volunteer component of the British Army, created as a Home Defence Force during a national emergency, with recruits liable to serve anywhere in the UK. Under their terms of engagement – 4 years’ service in the United Kingdom in David’s case - TF men could not be compelled to serve overseas with a British Expeditionary Force (BEF).
Men joined the TF – known colloquially as ‘The Terriers’ – for any number of reasons. Young, single men often joined out of a sense of duty and a desire for a little adventure and the outdoor life. In addition one could earn a little extra money. The Terriers were sometimes known as the ‘Saturday Night Soldiers’ as they had to fulfil a certain programme of military training – drill and musketry - with their local companies at TF drill halls during some week nights and at the weekends. This had to be done voluntarily.
Every year, however, the various companies would come together as a battalion and would depart from their home base for an annual fortnight’s training camp – often by the sea - during which time they took part in battalion exercises for which private soldiers with no special skills were paid a shilling a day for every day of attendance prior to 1914, plus a ‘bounty’ of £1 if they spent the entire fortnight (not less than 15 days) in camp.
When war broke out in August 1914 many battalions of ‘The Terriers’ were already one week into their annual camp and although TF men were not obliged to serve overseas many volunteered to do so by signing the ‘Imperial Service Obligation’. These men were then issued with the ‘Imperial Service Brooch’ which they wore on the right breast of their tunic above the pocket. Men who did not sign – often older, married men with children - were separated off from those who had volunteered for overseas service and in many cases this was when ‘second-line’ battalions of the parent unit began to be raised. (See the raising of 2nd/5th Lancashire Fusiliers below.)
On 4 August 1914, 6/Manchester had its headquarters at 3, Stretford Road (Cavendish Street) Hulme. David would have known this building well. This area has now been completely redeveloped. The barracks were demolished and replaced with the University Barracks in 1995 and is located within the same area as the campus/student residential blocks of Manchester Metropolitan University, the Manchester School of Art and the Royal Northern College of Music amongst others.
After mobilisation, 6/Manchester sailed from Southampton for Egypt on 10 September 1914 as one of four battalions of the Manchester Brigade TF (later numbered 127 Brigade) of the 42nd Division. It arrived in Alexandria on 25 September 1914 and landed on Gallipoli on 6 May 1915 where it took part in the battles of Krithia in June 1915 and Achi Baba Nullah and Krithia Vineyards in August 1915. It withdrew from Gallipoli on 28 December 1915 and sailed for Egypt where it was involved in August in several actions before sailing for France on 2 March 1917 disembarking at Marseilles on 9 March.
There is no full record of service in David’s papers so there is no evidence of exactly which units he served with and where he was located after he joined 6/Manchester in March 1913 for the 2 years 9 months of service until early December 1915. We do know he was ‘embodied’ – mobilised – on 5 August 1914, the day after war was declared with the rest of the battalion but David Taylor did not go overseas with 1/6 Manchester. We do not know why but a reason is ventured below.
At some point prior to 2 December 1915 David, still with the 1/6 Manchester, was attached to ‘C’ Company of the 45th Provisional Battalion (45/PB). Initially these provisional battalions were formed locally for coastal defence in May 1915 from Home Service men of the TF not available for overseas service or of the lower medical categories. In June 1915 these provisional battalions were numbered and grouped into Provisional Brigades and although the battalions were ‘connected’ to regiments they had no distinctive regional ties in terms of location. 45/PB was part of 9 Provisional Brigade and was stationed in Margate at the end of 1915.
We know this because David recorded 45/PB as his unit on 2 December 1915 when he filled in a form for candidates wishing to be appointed to a commission as an officer in the TF. On that date he was still serving under his original army number – 1647 – and was still a private. To be granted a commission as an officer direct from private without having held any posts of responsibility, e.g. as an NCO - lance corporal, corporal, sergeant etc – was quite a large step. Even after the heavy officer casualties as a result of the Somme fighting in late 1916 and early 1917 any other rank who wished to seek a commission via the officer cadet route had had to have served as a NCO; preferably at sergeant’s rank. David must have been valued and thought to be able by his superiors.
Now aged 22, David recorded that he was still living at 9, Stanley Road, Irlams o’ th’ Height, that he was still an ‘insurance clerk’ but that his height had increased to 5 feet 10 inches.
His commanding officer, Lieutenant Colonel Norman Seddon Brown recommended David as a suitable candidate for a commission. (Seddon Brown was a TF officer – ex- 5/Manchester- and well-known industrialist in Preston, being CEO of Amalgamated Cotton Mills. A staunch Conservative he became a personal friend of Sir Winston Churchill and was knighted in 1936. His brother, Captain Frederick Seddon Brown, was killed at Gallipoli with 1/5 Manchester on 26 May 1915 while his son, Major Denis William Seddon Brown, was killed at Monte Cassino, Italy in 1944 aged 33).
The officer commanding 9 Provisional Brigade – Brigadier General H Martin – interviewed David and was of the opinion that he was ‘in every way eligible and suitable for a commission’.
Making his declaration David stated that he had never suffered serious illness, did not have any mental or physical infirmity or suffered from ‘fits’ but he did expand on the question regarding whether his vision was good in either eye without the aid of glasses. He wrote: ‘My sight is good without the aid of glasses, but I require them to prevent the eyes from tiring’. The visual acuity test confirmed a moderate visual impairment in the right eye (6/36) but he was passed ‘fit’ for military services.

David was discharged from 45/PB on 21 January 1916 having been ‘granted a commission in the 3/10th Manchester Regiment’ then stationed at Codford on Salisbury Plain, Wiltshire.
His description at the time of discharge was as follows:
Age: 22 years 2 months
Height: 5 feet 10 ½ inches
Chest measurement (expanded): 34 Inches
Range of expansion: 2 inches
Complexion: dark
Eyes: grey
Hair: dark brown
Trade: insurance clerk
His
military character was described as ‘very good’, whilst his character awarded
in accordance with King’s Regulations was that of a ‘reliable, sober and smart
man’. Up to that point he had served in the Army for 2 years and 311 days.
There is no evidence of what he did during that time but it is possible that a
man with David’s professional background as an insurance clerk and the skills
he had developed during his career was very useful to the army. Then – as now –
the British Army was fond of its paperwork and its systems – its ‘admin’. Of
course the army needed manpower in the front line - the ‘teeth’ – to fight the
war but it also needed a plethora of personnel in support – the ‘tail’ - and
part of that tail were the clerks and orderlies of reserve units at home. These
men too were fighting the war. It is speculation but David may well have been
employed in such a role.
employed in various administrative roles in the UK from October 1914 until September 1917
when he was shipped overseas as part of a draft and killed in action in Passchendaele village on 6 November.
Did David’s war service describe a similar route?
David was posted from Margate to the third-line battalion of the 10th Manchester Regiment - 3/10 Manchester - also TF. 3/10 Manchester had been formed in Oldham in March 1915. The third-line, or reserve, battalions were formed for the purpose of sending reinforcements to the first-line – 1/10 Manchester - and second-line – 2/10 Manchester - TF battalions serving overseas and relied heavily on sick and wounded officers and non-commissioned officers from the first-line battalions as they filtered back through these reserve battalions after treatment and convalescence.
This battalion could trace its lineage from the Oldham Volunteers of the volunteer movement in the 1860s. In the army reforms of the 1880s the Oldham volunteers became the 6th Volunteer Battalion of the Manchester Regiment. The Haldane reforms of 1908 led to the 6th Battalion changing its name again to become the 10th Battalion – later 1/10 - (TF) of the Manchester Regiment.
3/10 Manchester became David’s primary unit as far as the army was concerned and in early 1916 the battalion was stationed at Witley Camp near Godalming in Surrey before becoming the 10th (Reserve) Battalion on 8 April 1916.
David’s name appears on the Roll of Honour in the history of 10/Manchester as being attached the 2nd/5th Battalion Lancashire Fusiliers. There is no other mention of him in the history. This suggests that all of his service as an officer was with the LFs and indeed when studying the MIC more closely we find the following on the top line: ‘no R/S overseas’. This means no regimental service overseas, i.e. service with his primary unit 10/Manchester.
It is believed that David was posted overseas and attached to 2/5 LF sometime between 1 February and 30 April 1916.
2/5 Lancashire Fusiliers
As David Taylor had no regimental service overseas with his parent unit – 10/Manchester - and all his war service was with the Lancashire Fusiliers, for the purposes of the narrative the focus will be on the latter regiment.
At the outbreak of war the LF consisted of two regular – 1st and 2nd - two special reserve – 3rd (reserve) and 4th (extra reserve) - and four TF battalions.
The 2nd Battalion landed in France in August 1914 and, although it missed the opening battle at Mons on 23 August it was present for the battle of Le Cateau three days later and then took part in the early engagements and battles of the war.
The 1st Battalion landed on Gallipoli on 25 April 1915 – the day of the landings – and famously earned ‘6 VCs before breakfast’. Later the 1st/5th, 1st/6th, 1st/7th and 1st/8th battalions of the Territorial Force joined them and all five Lancashire Fusiliers battalions took part in the major battles on Gallipoli until the evacuation in December 1915/January 1916.
Four more second and third-line Territorial battalions and twelve Kitchener New Army (Service) battalions were also raised and altogether the regiment could count thirty battalions in service at some point during the First World War.
The 2/5 LF, which David Tylor joined in the spring of 1916, was the second line - i.e. the second battalion - to be created from the parent 5th Battalion of the Territorial Force. Thereafter the two battalions would be known as the 1/5 LF – first line - and 2/5 LF – second line. Although both having the number 5 in their titles, when fully constituted these units would operate as fully independent commands and would be structured as such.
The 2/5 LF had been raised in Bury on 9 September 1914 from a nucleus of soldiers left behind as ‘Home Service’ men when the parent 5th Battalion – afterwards to become the 1/5 Battalion - sailed for Egypt the same day. Initially the 2/5 was called the 5th (Home Service) Battalion.
Recruiting for the 2/5 began as soon as it became an independent unit and it was up to strength – albeit minus any weapons or uniforms - by the time it moved into camp near St Helens in early October 1914 and then to billets in Southport on 19 October.
By 21 January 1915 its title had changed to the 5th (Reserve) Battalion and it was on coastal defence duties and training on Birkdale golf course.
In March 1915 the battalion began preparing for active service even though technically it had to find drafts of reinforcements to send to the 1/5 Battalion which, by early May 1915 had landed on Gallipoli to take part in the campaign against the Ottoman Turks.
After several rumours of moves on 17 April the
battalion – now officially named the 2nd/5th with the terms ‘Home Service’ and
‘Reserve’ dropped – moved from 2nd/1st East Lancashire Division and joined what
would be designated – on 12 May 1915
- 154 Brigade of the 51st (Highland)
Division in Bedford.
2/5 LF crossed to France on 3 May 1915 and landed at Boulogne on 4 May so
earning the distinction of being the first, second-line Territorial Force
infantry battalion of any regiment to be sent overseas to join the BEF and the
first to go into action on any front. It was to be the only second-line TF
battalion to have three VC winners too.
Its time with the Highland Division was short lived: on 7 January 1916 it was transferred to 164 Brigade of the 55th (West Lancashire) Division when that division was formed on 3 January in France. The strength of the battalion was 28 officers and 653 other ranks (OR).
2/5 LF on active service
By the time David Taylor was attached to 2/5 LF in 1916 the battalion had undergone substantial reorganisation. At the beginning of the year it had been in the trenches in the valley of the River Ancre on the Somme sector – it undertook a trench raid on New Year’s Day as its last act with the 51st Division - and was in a parlous state. On joining the 55th Division the War Diary (WD) of the battalion states – quite candidly – that: ‘…after six months continuous work in the trenches, all parts of the battalion had become seriously disorganised. In most cases the sections had become so depleted that the men do not know who are (sic) their section commanders [and] in a few cases platoons were reduced to twelve and fifteen men and a corporal. The interior economy of the battalion was equally in a disorganised state – practically the whole of the headquarters staff had become casualties … and the greater part of the orderly room documents had been lost … The Adjutant and the Sergeant Major were the only two members of the headquarters staff who had held their positions for more than a few weeks.
The commanding officer set about re-organising the battalion in terms of its structure, training and administration. The battalion WD for February, March and April 1916 has been lost but looking at a number of entries from May 1916 it is clear that a number of officers were posted and attached to the battalion from a variety of other battalions of other regiments and corps such as the Army Service Corps, 1/10 Royal Scots, 6/Royal Iniskilling Dragoons and 3/10 Middlesex Regiment et al. All these officers are mentioned by name on the dates of their arrival but there is no mention of David Taylor prior to 9 September 1916. It is highly likely that he was posted to the battalion between the beginning of February and the end of April 1916.
By 1 May 1916 the battalion was on the Blaireville sector southwest of Arras, rotating in and out of the front line on this sector until the opening of the Somme offensive on 1 July 1916. The battalion was not involved on the opening day of the Somme on 1 July 1916 but it did see action just a few days before when 4 officers and 56 OR – one of six parties of six different units - raided the German trenches in six places at 5.35pm on 28 June accompanied by a gas discharge.
Dugouts were bombed, a machine-gun team was silenced but the raiders came under machine-gun and rifle fire and were bombed by the Germans. No prisoners were taken. The casualties amounted to 2 officers and 5 OR killed, 1 officer and 16 OR missing and 19 OR wounded. For his actions that day Private James Hutchinson was later awarded the Victoria Cross – the first to a man of a second–line TF unit.
The Somme - towards September 1916
Success on the southern sectors of the Somme battlefield on 1 July and then, again, on 14 July, had led the British to focus their efforts on the German line south of the Albert-Bapaume road. The fighting of late July, August and early September had the objective of capturing German held woods and villages in order to secure a position from which to launch another large scale, set piece assault on the German main third line position on 15 September – the Battle of Flers-Courclette.
By the end of July several woods – Mametz, Bernafay and Trones - had already been captured by the British but before the attack on the German main third line position could be made the last two of these – Delville and High Wood (Bois des Foureaux on older maps now Bois des Fourcaux) – had to be captured in addition to the German strongholds of Guillemont and Ginchy.
2/5 LF moved south to take part in the Somme fighting by 25 July and was in the front line near Arrow Head Copse, west of the village of Guillemont, by the end of the month.
On 1 August – between bouts of heavy shelling - the anniversary of the Battle of Minden 1759 - ‘Minden Day’ - was celebrated. A forerunner of the regiment had been involved in the battle and red and white roses were distributed and worn by the men recalling the story of the regiments picking wild roses from the hedgerows as they advanced towards the fight at Minden.
The battalion rotated in and out of the front line, having several officers and men killed by snipers near Arrow Head Copse, until involved on 8 and 9 August during attacks on Guillemont when it suffered further casualties. It then moved back and came out of the trenches on 14 August for a period of rest and reorganisation well behind the line.
Although Guillemont had fallen a day earlier and the Germans had been driven from all but a small area of Delville Wood, they still held Ginchy. A mass of shattered masonry and shell-holes by early September 1916 Ginchy had been a key objective of the 7th Division in the main assault of 3 September 1916 but the attacks had failed. It was not taken and in the days immediately following repeatedly defied British assaults. It was clear that capture of Ginchy was essential in order to exploit recent hard-won gains.
David George Taylor lost his life in the fight for Ginchy.
The Battle of Ginchy and its aftermath
David’s battalion ended its period of rest and moved into the line again on 7 September 1916 taking over a tangle of unconnected and shallow trenches facing north and east between Delville Wood and Trones Wood and Ginchy. Some of these trenches had been part of the German system of ‘alcohol’ trenches and ‘alleys’ (Stout, Porter, Ale, Beer, Hop, Pilsen, Bitter, Vat etc) east and southeast of Delville Wood and defending the village of Ginchy. On 8 September ‘Y’ Company had moved into ‘Stout Trench’, ‘X’ Company to ‘Z Z Alley’ and ‘Z’ Company to ‘Diagonal Trench’.
On 9 September 164 Brigade, to which 2/5 LF belonged, was ordered to co-operate in an attack on Ginchy by the 16th (Irish) Division on the right and the 1st Division (see also narrative for another ‘Shiplake Pin’ soldier, David George Layton, 1/Royal Welsh Fusiliers) on the left. The objective of the attack was to push the Germans out of Delville Wood and capture the trenches to the northwest and north of Ginchy while the Irish Division took Ginchy itself.
2/5 LF was to follow up the attack of the 1st/4th Battalion Loyal North Lancashire Regiment and capture ‘Ale Alley’ to its junction with ‘Pint Trench’ and then on to ‘Lager Lane’ as part of the second objective. 2/5 LF was to have two companies in both the second and third waves of the assault.

Original ‘barrage map’ showing successive artillery targets for the attack of 9 September 1916.
Red arrow is the attack of 2/5 LF
After an intense bombardment up to ‘zero’ hour at 4.45pm, the 2/5 LF attack was finally launched at 5.30pm. The Loyal North Lancs had been slow leaving ‘Pilsen Trench’ to attack and suffered heavily as it moved forward. The leading companies of 2/5 LF were hit by heavy shellfire as soon as they left the cover of ‘Stout Trench’ and had to deploy behind ‘Pilsen Trench’. As they moved forward the leading waves mistook a trench called ‘Haymarket’ – by now just a series of shell holes - for another called ‘Hop Alley’ and went to ground there. The rest of ‘X’ and ‘Y’ companies – or what remained of them as they had been flayed by heavy machine-gun fire from a machine gun on the left on the eastern fringe of Delville Wood and another in Pint Trench to the right - now began to collect here.
At 6.06pm a liaison officer reported that men were lying in shell holes and at 6.35pm the Loyal North Lancs reported that all their officers of its assaulting company had become casualties and the rest of the men were in shell holes like the 2/5 LF.
Further to the right ‘W’ and ‘X’ companies had also been held up but at least had got in touch with troops with 16th (Irish) Division on the right flank with the help of the 8th Battalion King’s Liverpool Regiment (the Liverpool Irish).
Despite reports that the British had got into Ale Alley no further progress was made by 2/5 LF and by sunset the men had withdrawn back to ‘Pilsen Lane’- ‘mixed up’ - where they began to consolidate and reorganise. The whole battalion held on to Pilsen Lane – from the edge of Ginchy to a point 200m east of Delville Wood. At 3.40am in the early hours of 10 September it was reported that the Germans were ‘apparently still holding Ale Alley and corner of wood at western end of Ale Alley … Troops holding Pilsen lane and Stout Trench’. They were back where they had started even though the Irish Division had succeeded in capturing Ginchy. But by then David Taylor had been lost.
For the next four days the battalion held on in Pilsen Lane, being shelled at intervals and suffering further casualties, until pulled out at midnight on 13 September.
According to The History of the Lancashire Fusiliers 1914-1918, the ‘loss of 16 officers (all but three of those who went over the top) and 334 other ranks…was the price which the Regiment paid for [earning] the battle honour ‘Ginchy’.
2/5 LF casualties for 9 September 1916, according to the WD, corroborates the officer and OR casualties above but breaks officers casualties down further: 6 killed, 7 wounded and 3 missing. Other ranks were 334 killed wounded and missing. David Taylor is recorded as being ‘killed’ as opposed to ‘missing’ or ‘missing believed killed’ so someone must have witnessed his death. His body was never found, or if it was, it was not identified. His death was later accepted as having taken place on 9 September during the Battle of Ginchy.
CWGC records today indicate that 97 officers and men of 2/5 LF died on 9/10 September 1916: 27 of them are buried today in Delville Wood Cemetery near where they fell and a few in other cemeteries on the Somme.
The names of another 66 men of 2/5 LF who, like David
Taylor, were killed on 9/10 September 1916 and have no known grave, are also
inscribed on the Thiepval Memorial to the Missing.
like David Taylor – they are recorded under their parent regiment – Donald Petrie, for example, was
originally with the 10th Battalion, The Royal Scots. If one adds the officers who were killed and went
missing to the 97 men recorded by CWGC then the total exceeds 100 men.

Above: extract from 2/5 Lancashire Fusiliers battalion war diary listing casualties of the Battle of Ginchy 9 September 1916. Below: extract from the 164 Brigade war diary showing officer casualties for September 1916. Discrepancies often exist and are as a result of the difficulties of compiling meaningful casualty returns in the aftermath of a major battle when so many men go ‘missing’ in the ‘fog of war’.


Extract from Somme body density map – Ginchy area
Between December 1918 and July 1919 Lieutenant Colonel Arthur Messer, Assistant Director of Graves Registration and Enquiries in France, undertook to conduct a survey of all known crosses and burials on the battlefields which lay beyond known cemeteries. To assist the Labour Companies in their grisly task of finding, disinterring and reburying these outlying remains, Messer developed large scale maps on which the crosses or burials were noted in blue pencil for each numbered square measuring 1000x1000 yards, further sub divided into four squares of 500x500 yards. These were called ‘body density maps’.
The extract above visually and starkly illustrates the severity of the fighting around Ginchy between July and September 1916. Square 13 as a whole shows a total of 674 burials but note the figure in the top left sub-square – the area where David Taylor went over and was lost, accounting for 414 of the 674 burials in the whole square!
It is entirely possible that David’s remains were recovered but unidentified and buried as such. Alternatively he may – quite literally – have been blown to pieces by a high explosive shell.
Soldiers’ effects, war gratuity and pension entitlement if any
David Taylor appears on the Register of Soldiers’ Effects which was created to account for the settlement of a man’s estate upon his death. They detail the money owed to soldiers of the British Army who died in service from 1901 to 1929. These registers show settlement of a man’s wages but more importantly they show the amount of war gratuity which was paid.The inclusion of the next of kin (NOK) makes these records particularly valuable to historians. Payments went first to widows, or, if the soldier wasn’t married, to a parent (often a mother) or siblings. In David’s case his father George Taylor was listed as NOK.
The sum of £41 – 0 shillings and 3d was authorised to be paid to his father on 31 July 1917. (This sum is roughly equivalent to £3,277.00 in 2017).
David was also entitled to a War Gratuity – introduced in December 1918 - an amount based on both the rank of the man who had served in the First World War and the length of his service (home and/or overseas) for a period of 6 months or more home service or for any length of service if a man had served overseas up to a maximum of 60 months between 4 August 1914 and 3 August 1919.
Details of gratuities paid to deceased soldiers are shown in the soldiers’ effects registers. These indicate that a war gratuity of £8.00 was authorised to be paid to his father on 11 October 1919 (Due to post-war inflation this sum is roughly equivalent to £639.00 in 2017).


There are no further pension records relating to David George Taylor held by the Western Front Association.
Memorialisation
In the weeks following the Battle of Ginchy, news filtered back to Britain of David Taylor’s death.
A notice, probably placed by his parents given the family information, appeared in the Manchester Evening News on 15 September 1916, less than a week later.

On 19 September another family notice appeared in the Aberdeen Press and Journal and hinting at his
Scottish roots.

David Taylor’s name appears today on the Hulme Grammar School War Memorial.
David Taylor’s name also appears inscribed on the 10/Manchester Battalion Silver Drums. The drums - and bugles - were purchased from funds largely raised by public subscription by the Ladies of Oldham, on behalf of the Mayor of Oldham, as the town’s memorial to the members of the three battalions of 10/Manchester Regiment who had fallen in the Great War.
The drums are inscribed with the names of 617 members of the regiment then known to have been killed. (Subsequent research has revealed that the total number was probably just over 631.)

They were presented at Oldham Town Hall in June 1924 to the Oldham Detachment 10th Battalion Manchester Regiment by Major General Solly Flood, the former General Officer Commanding the 42nd (East Lancashire) Division.
The instruments were used regularly for ceremonial parades by the 2/10 Manchester and later by the 41st Royal Tank Regiment and 40/41 Royal Tank Regiment. Since 1967, they have been used as a Drum Head Alter for presentation of new Colours to various Royal Tank Regiments by the Queen, the last time at Buckingham Palace in June 2008.

Today they are on permanent display at Oldham Civic Centre with other items from the Officers’ Mess.
(The above information with thanks to Nicola Windle, Mayoralty Manager, Oldham Metropolitan Borough Council)
Canadian claim
There is an interesting coda to the story of David George Taylor in his service papers which could either be a simple and innocent case of mistaken identity or a feeble attempt at fraud!
On 17 March 1939, G R Middleton, acting for the overseas representative of the Canadian Department of Pensions and National Health based at 2, Cockspur Street, London, wrote to the War Office Records Branch at Arnside Street. A veteran of the Canadian Expeditionary Force – 475348 Sergeant J E Irwin – had applied to them for additional allowances on behalf of his wife who had described herself to be a widow when they married. She had been unable to produce satisfactory evidence of the death of her first husband.
In a statement she stated that she had been married on 13 July 1907 to a George David Taylor, aged 21 and gave an address as 7, Russell Street, Preston, Lancashire, his father Richard Taylor being a general labourer. Further she said that her first husband’s relatives had been advised of his death serving with a Lancashire regiment in late 1916.
The Canadian authorities wrote that: ‘There is a record of the death of a Second Lieutenant David George Taylor, 2/5th Bn. Lancashire Fusiliers, attached 10th Bn. Manchester regiment (sic), killed in action in September 1916’ and asked if the War Office could advise whether there were any ‘particulars regarding this man, that is, name and next of kin, place of birth, etc, which might enable me to identify him as being the female pensioner’s former husband.’
The War Office replied on 24 April 1939, G P Hampshire providing all the information David Taylor had supplied on his attestation with 6/Manchesters in March 1913 and in his final paragraph he quashed any questions which might still have lingered as to whether he might be the widow’s first and late husband: ‘I am to state that on this officer’s death his next of kin ( Father) declared, in connection with the administration of the estate, that his son was not married and that his only near relations were father, mother and Sister.’
With grateful thanks to Great War researcher Tom Tulloch Marshall for photographing David Taylor's service record.
