Name
James Wood Colin Taylor
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
09/08/1915
28
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Lieutenant
Sherwood Foresters (Notts and Derby Regiment)
2nd Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
1914 /15 Star, British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
YPRES (MENIN GATE) MEMORIAL
Panel 39 and 41.
Belgium
Headstone Inscription
Not Researched
UK & Other Memorials
Rickmansworth UDC Memorial
St Mary’s Church Roll of Honour, Rickmansworth
Lockers Park School Roll of Honour, Hemel Hempstead
Rugby School Roll of Honour
Pre War
James was born in Rickmansworth in 1888, the eldest son of Colin, a coal and corn merchant, and Anne E. Taylor, living at Bury Cottage in Bury Lane, Rickmansworth. They had 2 more daughters, Susan and Mary, but sadly, Anne died in 1894 when James was just 6 years old.
His father, Colin married Fanny Harrison just a year later. James attended Briary School in Northwood and then Lockers Park School in Hemel Hempstead. At the age of 14 he joined Rugby School which he left at the age of 17, later to join the family business. James was a devout, evangelical Christian. He was very active in Rickmansworth, starting the Rickmansworth Gymnastics Club and leading a Sunday afternoon Bible Class.
Wartime Service
Following a recruiting meeting in Rickmansworth in
September 1914, James announced that he had just been accepted into the
Honourable Artillery Company. Many of the Gymnastics Club as well as other
local men enlisted at the same time. In December 1914 he applied for a
commission and joined the Sherwood Foresters as a Second Lieutenant at their
training base in Plymouth. In May 1915 the battalion moved to Sunderland where
he was posted to the 2nd Battalion and promoted to First Lieutenant. In June
the Battalion landed at Le Havre in France and later that month left Rouen for
the Front.
Hooge, 2 miles east of Ypres along the Menin Road was
regarded as an important point in the line. An attack was planned to retake the
trenches north of Sanctuary Wood.The attack started at 1.45 am on 9 August and,
after fierce fighting in appalling conditions, they were relieved by the
Queen’s Westminsters at 9.30pm. James was wounded when a shell knocked in the
part of the trench where he was standing and killed him.
Additional Information
James is also commemorated on the family grave in Rickmansworth (Chorley Road) Cemetery. His part of the inscription reads:
ALSO OF LIEUT JAMES WOOD COLIN TAYLOR 2ND SHERWOOD FORESTERS ONLY SON OF THE ABOVE [Colin & Ann Elizabeth]
WHO FELL IN ACTION AT HOOGE. IN FLANDERS AUG. 9TH 1915. AGED 28 AND IS BURIED IN SANCTUARY WOOD NEARBY.
GREATLY BELOVED.
Acknowledgments
Pat Hamilton
Malcolm Lennox, Local Hero- James Taylor by Brian Thomson, A Life Well Lived by John Wood, Lockers Park School, Rugby School, Pat Hamilton
