TAYLOR, Thomas
(Service number 51451)
| First Rank | Rifleman | Last Rank | Rifleman |
|---|
Birth
| Date | 27 February 1876 | Place of Birth | Waimate |
|---|
Enlistment Information
| Date | Age | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Address at Enlistment | Hyde | ||
| Occupation | Miner | ||
| Previous Military Experience | Hyde Rifle Club - still serving | ||
| Marital Status | Single | ||
| Next of Kin | F. TYLOR (brother), Junction Road, Waimate, South Canterbury | ||
Military Service
| Served with | NZ Armed Forces | Served in | Army |
|---|
Embarkation Information
| Body on Embarkation | New Zealand Expeditionary Force | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Unit, Squadron, or Ship | 26th Reinforcements, G Company (part) | ||
| Date | 9 June 1917 | ||
| Transport | Willochra | ||
| Embarked From | Destination | ||
| Other Units Served With | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Last Unit Served With | Rifle Brigade | ||
Military Awards
| Campaigns | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Service Medals | |||
Award Circumstances and Date
No information
Prisoner of War Information
| Date of Capture | |
|---|---|
| Where Captured and by Whom | |
| Actions Prior to Capture | |
| PoW Serial Number | |
| PoW Camps | |
| Days Interned | |
| Liberation Date |
Death
| Date | 7 May 1955 | Age | 79 years |
|---|---|---|---|
| Place of Death | Dunedin | ||
| Cause | |||
| Memorial or Cemetery | Andersons Bay Crematorium & Cemetery, Dunedin | ||
| New Zealand Memorials | |||
Biographical Notes
Thomas Taylor was born27 February 1876 at Waimate, the youngest son of Frederick and Judith (née Davis) Taylor, and the only one of their family to be born in New Zealand. His mother died in 1904 at Waimate and his father in 1917. When Thomas enlisted he named his brother Frederick Taylor, junior, as his next-of-kin. Thomas was a miner at Hyde, Central Otago, an occupation he had pursued for some time. He was still serving with the Hyde Rifle Club.
Rifleman T. Taylor embarked with the 26th Reinforcements per the “Willochra” on 9 June 1917. T. Taylor, 51451, of Waimate, returned to New Zealand for demobilization, one of 1128 soldiers aboard the “Maunganui”, leaving on 17 May 1919 and arriving at Wellington on 24 June 1919.
He returned to mining at Hyde. In 1926 he married Clara Fitt of Wakatipu. Thomas and Clara settled at Waikouaiti in the 1940s. Thomas died on 7 May 1955 at Dunedin. He was cremated at Andersons Bay Crematorium, Dunedin, and his ashes interred in the cemetery, the plot marked by a services plaque. Clara died just 8 weeks later. By his will dated 1936, Thomas bequeathed all his estate to his wife Clara.
Sources
Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph Database [31 July 2021]; NZ BDM Indexes (Department of Internal Affairs) [30 July 2021]; NZ Times, 14 June 1919 (Papers Past) [July 2021]; Andersons Bay cremation & burial records & headstone image (Dunedin City Council) [31 July 2021]; NZ Electoral Rolls (ancestry.com.au) [31 July 2021]
External Links
Related Documents
No documents available.
Researched and Written by
Teresa Scott, SC branch NZSG
Currently Assigned to
Not assigned.
Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License unless otherwise stated.
Tell us more
Do you have information that could be added to this story? Or related images that you are happy to share? Submit them here!