Lieut G.W. Tayler, NZEF

2nd Lieutenant George Washington TAYLER
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TAYLER
Lieutenant George Washington

No. 10/1681, 3rd Reinforcements, 11th (Taranaki) Coy., Wellington Battalion, New Zealand Expeditionary Force

Born 4th Feb 1890, in Eltham, Taranaki, New Zealand.
[Birth cert. 1895 259 (Whangarei Mar qtr) NZ]

Educated: Auckland Grammar School, NZ.

Married; Solicitor, of Syme & Weir, (Eltham), of Bridge Street, Eltham, Taranaki, New Zealand.

Next Of Kin: Wife; Ella de Sou Tayler (nee Riley), of Tayler Street[?] / Bridge Street, Eltham, Taranaki, New Zealand.

Photos of Lieutenant Tayler are known to exist in the following:
Auckland Weekly News 26 Aug 1915 p38


Killed in action
8th August 1915
on Chunuk Bair, northern Anzac sector
Aged 25





15 Nth Auckland badge
11th (Taranaki) Company, Wellington Battalion, NZEF

Primus in Armis
(First in Arms)


No Known Grave

Name commemorated on the Chunuk Bair memorial, Anzac



Notes:

Wife's address also given as: Cheshire, England, and Care of Bank of New Zealand, 1 Queen Victoria Street, London, England. Wedding certificate 1914: 4541, NZ.

Father; George Washington Tayler senior. Mother; Alice Maud Tayler.

'PIONEER PERSONALITIES
G.W.TAYLER
Born at Brooklyn, New York, in 1858, George Washington Tayler arrived at Timaru in 1863. In 1886 he established at Eltham the business of Adams on a site opposite Chew Chong's store. Business expansion eventually required a large two-storeyed premises which dominated the early business area. At a later period this concern became the firm of Tayler and Scrivener, eventually passing into his own hands. Keen on Eltham's progress, Mr Tayler devoted much time to projects associated with the town's advancement, being a prominent member on any organisation that had this end in view. He was Eltham's first Mayor, and was Mayor or Councillor for 28 years during the critical period of Eltham's growth.' (Andrews p23-24)

'Lieut. George Washington Tayler, killed in action, was formerly an officer in the First Taranaki Battalion, and received his commission on November 15, 1913. He was a son of Mr. George W. Tayler, a former Mayor of Eltham.' (The Dominion 18 Aug 1915 p6).

Killed in the attack on Chunuk Bair. The Wellington Battalion was holding a line on Rhododendron Ridge, just below the crest of Chunuk Bair, where it was waiting for reinforcement by the Auckland Mounted Rifles, also engaged in heavy fighting:

'While this reinforcement had been making its slow and difficult advance, the Wellington Battalion had for hours been engaged in one of the most desperate struggles ever fought by Anzac troops. The solitary machine-gun had been served until all its crew were dead or wounded. There were no bombs, and for rifle ammunition the troops had to rely on what each man had carried and what they could get from the dead. ...for all practical purposes Wellington had been cut off. The troops were weary almost to exhaustion ...shortly after the arrival of the Auckland Mounted Rifles there began a very violent bombardment of the slope by Turkish batteries firing from the south. ...It appears to have been followed by a succession of attacks - hand grenades coming over fifty at a time, the enemy getting out of their trenches and advancing with officers at their head, the New Zealanders shooting them as they rose. This effort of the enemy, like its predecessors, was beaten back. ...Of the 760 of the Wellington Battalion who had captured the height that morning, there came out only 70 unwounded or slightly wounded men. Throughout that day not one had dreamed of leaving his post. Their uniforms were torn, their knees broken. They had had no water since the morning; they could only talk in whispers; their eyes were sunken; their knees trembled; some broke down and cried like children.' (Bean V2 p677, 678, 679 quoted).


Lest We Forget

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