Orders, Decorations and Medals

Family group:

Four: Lieutenant-Colonel W. J. Taylor, Royal Army Medical Corps

India General Service 1895-1902, 2 clasps, Punjab Frontier 1897-98, Tirah 1897-98 (Captn. W. J. Taylor, R.A.M.C.); 1914 Star (Major W. J. Taylor, R.A.M.C.); British War and Victory Medals, M.I.D. oak leaf (Lt. Col. W. J. Taylor), mounted as worn, good very fine and better

Three: Flying Officer J. W. J. Taylor, Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, who was killed in action in North Africa in February 1941 while serving as a pilot in No. 237 (Rhodesia) Squadron

1939-45 Star; Africa Star; War Medal 1939-45, all privately inscribed, ‘F./O. J. W. J. Taylor, 237 Sqdn. R.A.F.’, good very fine (7) £400-500

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, The Keith Holshausen Collection.

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William James Taylor was born at Ballymoney, Ireland in August 1865 and qualified in medicine at Dublin prior to being appointed a Surgeon Lieutenant in the Army Medical Department in January 1893. Advanced to Surgeon Captain in January 1896, he volunteered for plague duty as District Plague Officer in Bombay in the following year, in addition to serving in the Tirah Expeditionary Force on the North West Frontier 1897-98 (Medal & 2 clasps). A Major by the outbreak of hostilities in August 1914, he was quickly embarked for France, and was mentioned in despatches for his subsequent services (London Gazette 15 June 1916). The Colonel afterwards settled in Rhodesia.

John William James Taylor, the son of Lieutenant-Colonel W. J. Taylor of Avondale, Salisbury, Rhodesia, was killed in action on 7 February 1941, when his Hawker Hardy K-4314 was shot down by an Italian CR. 42 east of Agordat in Eritrea - his Air Gunner, Sergeant G. C. D. Stowe, was also killed. Formerly of Ndola, Northern Rhodesia, Taylor was 32 years of age and is commemorated on the El Alamein Memorial.