LIVES OF THE LIGHT BRIGADE
The E.J. Boys Archive

405, Corporal George TAYLOR - 17th Lancers

Birth & early life

Enlistment

Enlisted at Hounslow on the 14th of January 1835 for "unlimited service".

Age: 20.

Height: 5' 9".

Trade: None shown.

Service

From Private to Corporal: 9th of August 1836.

Reduced to Private by a Regimental Court-martial on the 9th of September 1836.

From Private to Corporal: 19th of January 1839.

Corporal to Sergeant 27th of February 1844.

Appointed to Troop Sergeant Major on the 15th of April 1846.

Tried by a District Court-martial held at Newbridge Barracks, Ireland, on the 7th of February 1850. and reduced to Private for being "Drunk in Barracks, and held in confinement as a Regimental prisoner from the 8 to the 14th of February.

From Private to Corporal: 25th of May 1853.

Wounded in action at Balaclava, where he rode with No. 4 Troop. (T.S.M. O'Hara.) See copy of the Troop muster roll in the 17th Lancer "Scrapbook."

Sent to Scutari on the 26th of October 1854, where he died on the 16th of January 1855.

Medals & commemorations

Entitled to the Crimean medal with clasps for Alma, Balaclava and Sebastopol.

Awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal, having been recommended for it on the 19th of January 1855, with a gratuity of £5, but it is not known under what circumstances.

Further detailed medal information archived.

Death & burial

Died, "in the General Hospital", at Scutari on the 16th of January 1855.

His next-of-kin was his wife, Rebecca, living in Leeds, Yorkshire.

He left no will, and had £6/18/6 in his "credits."

Further information

Crimea medal at Spink auction, 28/29 November 2018

An important 'Light Brigade' casualty's Crimea Medal awarded to Corporal G. Taylor, D.C.M., 17th Lancers, who was severely wounded during the charge and died at Scutari in January 1855, just three days before being recommended for his well-earned D.C.M.

George Taylor's Crimea medal at a Spink auction November 2018.

(Click on image to enlarge)

Crimea 1854-56, 3 clasps, Alma, Balaklava, Sebastopol (Corpl. G. Taylor. 17th Lancers.), officially impressed naming, minuscule old repair to reverse of first clasp, otherwise nearly extremely fine

Provenance:

Ex-H.Y. Usher Collection. Acquired Baldwins, circa 1952.

D.C.M. recommendation dated 19 January 1855.

George Taylor was born in 1813 and enlisted in the 17th Lancers in January 1833. Having served as a Troop Sergeant Major for eight years, he was reduced to Private by District Court Martial in February 1851, for drunkeness in Barracks. Taylor was subsequently promoted Corporal in May 1854.

He is confirmed upon all the rolls as having ridden in Troop Sergeant-Major D. O'Hara's No. 4 Troop for the Charge of the Light Brigade, 25 October 1854. On that famous occasion, Taylor was severly wounded and sent to Scutari on 26 October 1854. Taylor died on 16 January 1855, his death being recorded as a result of diarrhoea (London Evening Standard, 1 February 1855, refers) before knowing of his recommendation for the D.C.M. which would be made three days later. He left a wife, Rebecca, living in Leeds, Yorkshire and £6/18/6. This the only Medal issued is respect of his service.

Sold with research compiled by A. L. T. Mullen, original correspondance to Usher from A. H. Baldwin & Sons, 3 Robert Street, London, dated February 1953 and a fascinating original letter from The Adjutant, 17th Lancers to a Mr. B. Brown of North Street, Leeds, dated September 1899, relating to the recipient and this medal.

[Source: Orders, Decorations and Medals, Spink, Catalogue pdf 28029 November, 2018]