PRIVATE 765739 FRANCIS LAURIE VINCENT TAYLOR, 2/28th BATTALION COUNTY OF LONDON REGIMENT (ARTISTS RIFLES).

PRIVATE 765739 FRANCIS LAURIE VINCENT TAYLOR, 2/28th BATTALION COUNTY OF LONDON REGIMENT (ARTISTS RIFLES). DIED 10th NOVEMBER 1917 AGED 18.


Laurie Taylor was born in Ilkley in 1899 the son of Joseph and Frances Taylor. His father and grandfather had moved into the town in the 1870's and had opened a private preparatory school located in a large house called Burnside on Wheatley Road. It is probable that Laurie was born in the house, although, by the time of his birth the school appears to have closed.


The family, including his younger brother now moved to 1 Westville Avenue where Joseph Taylor became a private tutor and it is possible that Laurie was educated at home. At the age of 17 Laurie seems to have moved to the capital where he became a student at London University. However, it was on the 9th May 1917 that he went to the recruiting office in Whitehall and enlisted into the Artists Rifles battalion, a Territorial Army unit part of the London Regiment. The battalion was also part of the Officer Training Corps and men who enlisted were likely to be commissioned as officers.


By September 1917 Laurie was undergoing training in Kent that his health began to fail. At first he developed a cold and then measles. On the 29th October be was transferred to the No1 London General Hospital at Camberwell and placed into an isolation ward. Infection set in and he developed Bronco-pneumonia which before the advent of antibiotics was difficult to treat. On the 9th November he became delirious and his breathing laboured. By the following day his pulse was weak as his body began to fail and he died at 5.20pm in the afternoon.


The body of 19 year old Private Laurie Taylor was brought back to Ilkley where he was buried with full military honours in the town’s cemetery. He is also remembered with pride on the war memorial at St Margaret’s Church and on Ilkley war memorial.


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