Percy William TAYLOR

Regimental number1560
Place of birthWinshill, nr Burton-on-Trent, Staffordshire, Engla
SchoolBoard School, Winshill, Staffordshire, England
Age on arrival in Australia19
ReligionMethodist
OccupationPlumber
Address59 Jersey Street, Jolimont, Western Australia
Marital statusSingle
Age at embarkation21
Height5' 8"
Weight144 lbs
Next of kinMother, Mrs Eliz Taylor, 4 Lechfield Road, Tamworth, England
Previous military serviceNil
Enlistment date3 May 1915
Date of enlistment from Nominal Roll30 April 1915
Rank on enlistmentPrivate
Unit name28th Battalion, 1st Reinforcement
AWM Embarkation Roll number23/45/2
Embarkation detailsUnit embarked from Fremantle, Western Australia, on board HMAT A2 Geelong on 5 June 1915
Rank from Nominal RollPrivate
Unit from Nominal Roll28th Battalion
Other details from Roll of Honour CircularMigrated alone to Australia.
FateKilled in Action 20 September 1917
Place of death or woundingYpres, Belgium
Age at death24
Age at death from cemetery records23
Place of burialNo known grave
Commemoration detailsThe Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial (Panel 23), Belgium

The Menin Gate Memorial (so named because the road led to the town of Menin) was constructed on the site of a gateway in the eastern walls of the old Flemish town of Ypres, Belgium, where hundreds of thousands of allied troops passed on their way to the front, the Ypres salient, the site from April 1915 to the end of the war of some of the fiercest fighting of the war.

The Memorial was conceived as a monument to the 350,000 men of the British Empire who fought in the campaign. Inside the arch, on tablets of Portland stone, are inscribed the names of 56,000 men, including 6,178 Australians, who served in the Ypres campaign and who have no known grave.

The opening of the Menin Gate Memorial on 24 July 1927 so moved the Australian artist Will Longstaff that he painted 'The Menin Gate at Midnight', which portrays a ghostly army of the dead marching past the Menin Gate. The painting now hangs in the Australian War Memorial, Canberra, at the entrance of which are two medieval stone lions presented to the Memorial by the City of Ypres in 1936.

Since the 1930s, with the brief interval of the German occupation in the Second World War, the City of Ypres has conducted a ceremony at the Memorial at dusk each evening to commemorate those who died in the Ypres campaign.

Panel number, Roll of Honour,
  Australian War Memorial
114
Other details

War service: Egypt, Gallipoli, Western Front

Proceeded from Alexandria to join the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force, Gallipoli, 4 September 1915. Admitted to 16th Casualty Clearing Station, 16 September 1915 (crushed toes); transferred to Malta and admitted to Tigne Hospital, 21 September 1915; transferred to Ghain Tuffieha, 2 October 1915. Embarked for Gallipoli, 17 October 1915; admitted to Advance Base, Mudros, 18 October 1915; rejoined 28 Bn, Gallipoli, 5 November 1915. Disembarked Alexandria ex Mudros, 10 January 1916 (general Gallipoli evacuation).

Proceeded from Alexandria to join the British Expeditionary Force, 16 March 1916; disembarked Marseilles, 21 March 1916.

Found guilty, Field General Court Martial, 12 April 1916, of (1) when on Active Service, Drunkenness, in that he at Steenbacque on 30/3/16 was drunk; (2) conduct to the prejudice of good order and Military Discipline, in that he at Steenbacque on 30/3/16, did incite No. 695 Pte Sharpe to resist arrest; (3) when on Active Service, disobeying a lawful command given by his superior officer, in that he at Steenbacque on 30/3/16, when ordered by Sgt Dawson 1114, 28th Bn, to put out a candle burning in his billet, did not do so: sentenced to 3 years' penal servitude, and thereafter to be discharged with ignominy from His Majesty's Service. Sentenced confirmed by GOC, 7th Infantry Brigade, 18 April 1916; sentence commuted to 90 days' Field Punishment No. 2 by GOC, 2nd Australian Division, 30 May 1916.

Wounded in action, 29 July 1916 (gun shot wound, right foot); admitted to 23rd General Hospital, Etaples, 30 July 1916; transferred to England, 2 August 1916, and admitted to 3rd London General Hospital. Transferred to No. 2 Auxiliary Hospital, 1 November 1916; discharged to No. 4 Command Depot, Wareham, 4 November 1916. Found guilty, Wareham, of being absent without leave from Tattoo, 12 January, to 10 pm, 14 January 1917: awarded 3 days' confined to barracks, and forfeited 3 days' pay. Proceeded overseas to France, 28 June 1917; rejoined Bn, 18 July 1917.

Killed in action, Belgium, 20 September 1917. Court of Enquiry, held 27 September 1917, confirmed fate as 'killed in action'.

Medals: 1914-15 Star, British War Medal, Victory Medal