Biography of Joseph Parker Taylor (15019)
7th Battalion Lincolnshire Regiment
Died 26th September 1915

Mother

• Name: Emma Downs
• DOB: 1871
• Place Of Birth: Bourne, Lincolnshire, England
• Marriage: 1896 Bourne Distrist

Relatives in services

• Joseph Brother John Taylor also fought and was killed in WW1. John can be found on our page dedicated to the Morton War Memorial.

Marriage

• No marriage for Joseph has been found and because of his age we can assume that he never had the opportunity to marry.

Newspaper Mentions

• War Office Casualty List 18th October 1915
  N.C.O.’S and MEN
  Killed
  Lincolnshitre Regiment 7th  Battalion
  Taylor, 9/15019, Private, J.

• Grantham Journal – 23rd January 1915
  For King and Country – On Friday week, five more Morton youths joined the Army – Herbert Edward Leverington, Thomas Fowler, William Hubbard, Joseph Taylor, Jack Taylor. Six presented themselves but unfortunately, Foster Handford was rejected owing to a very slight foot trouble. This was a great disappointment to Foster who already has two brothers in Kitchener’s Army. Morton people might well be proud of these young men who have so nobly answered to the call of duty. We also understand that Mr. George Parker, youngest grandson of Mrs. Parker, who lately resided at Hanthorpe House, has joined the Public School Corps and will leave shortly for the front

• Grantham Journal 11th December 1915
  Sad news has been received at Morton within the past few days that two of her gallant youths have laid down their lives for their country. In a previous issue, we reported that a letter had been received from Pte C Ashton, who is in France, to the effect that he was afraid that his brother Arthur had been shot by a German sniper. Upon inquiry at the War Office, the news has been officially proved to be only too true. The Parents of Thomas Fowler received a communication last week stating that their son was killed by a gunshot wound in the shoulder. He was drafted with a Mediterranean Force and death took place at Sulva on the Gallipoli Peninsula. Real heart-felt sympathy is felt for the bereaved families. Our toll of the war is now seven and we share the unenviable distinction of figuring most conspicuously in the casualty lists which concern the villages in the Bourne district. On Sunday evening last, the Parish Church was packed with parishioners who came to pay their last tributes to the three brave lads – Arthur Ashton, Thomas Fowler, Joseph Taylor (who was recently killed by a trench mortar in France). The Vicar, the Rev J.H. Boldero, read the burial service only omitting the committal portion. The lesson for the day was singularly appropriate vis., St John xiv. “Let not your heart be troubled, ”which was read by the schoolmaster, Mr. J.W. Palmer. In the course of the sermon, the vicar made a touching reference to the three lads, mentioning that they were all members of the church, and had all been in the church choir, and how, when far away, their last thoughts had been of home and the old church. The rev. gentleman spoke words of great comfort to the bereaved. The sadness was on all; the congregation mourned with the parents of the dead soldiers. At the close of the service, the National Anthem was sung, and the “Dead March” in “Saul” was played by the organist (Miss Betson). It was a beautiful service, and one that will long be remembered and the vicar’s words were most uplifting.

Military Records

Medals

• The British Medal
• The Victory Medal
• The 15 Star

Memorials

• UK:
• Morton, Roll of Honour in St John the Baptist Church

• Commonwealth War Graves Commission:
• In memory of Private Joseph Taylor, 15019, 7th Bn., Lincolnshire Regiment who died on 26 September 1915
• Brother of Mr. S. Taylor, of Frank’s Yard, Morton, Bourne, Lincs.
• Remembered with honour, Voormezeele Enclosure No. 3
• Grave X. A. 11

© Family

© Picture taken by South Lincolnshire War Memorials

Military Service Timeline

• This is ongoing research and will be posted when completed

We are unable to trace Joseph’s war records, as with many from the Lincolnshire Regiment, these could be part of the burnt records that were destroyed in the blitz. 

The 7th (Service) Battalion of the Lincolnshire Regiment was Formed at Lincoln in September 1914 as part of Kitchener’s second army and came under command of 51st Brigade in 17th (Northern) Division.
On the 14th of July 1915 the battalion landed at Boulogne. 

The following extract from the History of The Lincolnshire Regiment 1914-1918 gives information about Joseph’s Battalion during his short time on active service on the western front. 

The 7th (Service) Battalion Lincolnshire Regiment were assigned to the 51st Brigade, 17th Division, disembarked at Boulogne from Folkestone on the 14th of July. On the 19th the battalion reached billets in Eecke, and two days later a party of five officers visited the trenches near Ypres for instruction. 

The Brigade to which the 7th Lincolnshire belonged was in Corps Reserve, but very soon began its apprenticeship in trench Warfare. On the 27th B Company went into the trenches of the 138th Brigade, 46th Division, and there met the Territorial battalions of the Regiment. The next day three men were killed and four wounded-first casualties. From the 28 th to the 31st (inclusive) four men were killed and sixteen wounded. 

On the 1st of August the 4th Battalion mention the departure of a company of 7th Lincolnshire which had been attached for instruction in trench warfare, 

On coming out of the trenches east of Ypres the battalion moved to bivouacs west of Kruisstraat, thence to huts on the Vlamertinghe-Ouderdom road. The battalion first took over a sub-sector of the front line on the 14th of August near Voormezeele. This tour appears to have been expensive, for when the Lincolnshire were relieved on the 26th and moved back to La Clytte and Reninghelst, they had lost nine other ranks killed and thirty-seven wounded. 

In another tour in the front line, in the same sub-sector, from the 3rd to the 11th September, Major W.L. Crawford was wounded on the 7th and 2nd Lieutenant J.K. Brice-Smith on the 9th : the latter died of wounds on the 10th. Another officer and Lieutenant H.A. Padley-was wounded on the 19th of September. Conditions in the front line on the 20th, 21st and 22nd are described as very quiet, until on the latter date our guns began a heavy bombardment of the German line, with the result that the enemy’s retaliation was violent. The 23rd and 24th were also noisy for all along the line the British artillery were engaged in shelling the enemy’s trenches, in order to deceive him as to the point of the attack to be launched on the 25th of September. 

In their trenches at Voormezeele, the 7th Lincolnshire on the 25th September fired “ fifteen rounds rapid ” in order to deceive the enemy that they were about to attack. 

According to the War Diaries, the casualties of the 7th Battalion from the 18th June to the 25th September : Died of wounds, 2nd Lieut. J.K. Brice-Smith ; wounded, Major W.L. Crawford, 2nd Lieut. H.A. Padley ; other ranks : eight killed, twenty-one, wounded, one hundred and eight. 

From the 25th September to the end of 1915, the 7th Lincolnshire remained in the neighbourhood of Ypres. Enemy action was more vigorous in this part of the line, though spasmodic, than farther south ; German trench-mortars and snipers causing constant annoyance and loss. 

The casualty records show that Joseph Taylor died on the 26th September 1915 

Joseph Taylor, 7th Battalion Lincolnshire Regiment, Regimental Number 15019 was eligible for the following medals:- 

Victory Medal 
British Medal 
The 1914-15 Star 

Sources

• WW1 Soldier’s Records (www.ancestry.co.uk)
• British Newspaper Archive.
• Fold 3
• Find My Past
• Genealogist
• Forces War Records
• British Army Service Numbers
• War Gratuity Calculator
• Commonwealth War Graves Commission
• National Archives – Battalion War Diaries
• General Registry Office