Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Four: Major W. O’Bryen Taylor, 18th Royal Irish Regiment, later Standard Bearer to the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms

India General Service 1854-95, 1 clasp, Pegu (Ensn. Wm. O’Bryen Taylor, 18th Royal Irish Regt.); Crimea 1854-56, 1 clasp, Sebastopol (Lieut., 18th Royal Irish Regt.) contemporary engraved naming; Turkish Crimea, Sardinian issue, unnamed; Order of the Medjidie, 5th class, silver, gold and enamels, edge bruising and contact marks, otherwise nearly very fine (4) £500-600

William O’Brien Taylor was first commissioned as an Ensign into the 18th Royal Irish Regiment on 14 September 1852, and immediately saw active service during the Burmese War of 1852-53. Promoted to Captain in June 1854, he served with the regiment in the Crimea from 30 December of that year, in the siege and fall of Sebastopol and assault of the 18th June 1855. In the latter action Taylor was slightly wounded and, clearly, was fortunate not to have been killed in an incident described in the regimental history:

‘As the grenadiers, led by Captain Armstrong, were pressing forward they found their way obstructed by one of the stone walls mentioned in General Eyre’s report. Two subalterns raced for the wall, and leapt it at the same moment: Lieutenant Taylor landed safely on the other side, but Lieutenant Meurant was shot dead as he rose at the jump.’

For his services in the Crimea, Taylor was awarded the 5th class of the Medjidie in addition to the British and Turkish medals. He was promoted to Captain in May 1856 and served in India during the latter part of the Mutiny of 1857-58 (no medal), and also for many months with a field force in the Deccan. He later transferred to the 22nd Regiment and retired with the rank of Major in November 1863. He was appointed to the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms on 6 May 1867, as Clerk of the Cheque and Adjutant, and became Standard Bearer in January 1876. Major Taylor died sometime towards the end of 1886.