Service Details:

9 June	1915                      Embarked from Australia
23 June	1915                      Sworn in on board Ascanius (A11)
August	1915                      Embarked Egypt
22 Oct. – 12 Dec.	1915                      Gallipoli
21 March	1916                      France
6/7 June	1916                      Trench Raid
29 July	1916                      Wounded, Pozieres (Sausage Valley)
26 August	1916                      Rejoined Battalion, Pozieres
6 September	1916                      Belgium
October	1916                      Ypres and Dernacourt
3 November	1916                      Battle of Ancres Heights & Fricourt
14 November	1916                      Wounded
20 March	1918                      Returned to Battalion
16 April	1918                      Wounded
11 November	1918                      Armistice
9 March	1919                      Returned to Australia

 

 

Biographical Details:

Arthur Taylor was born to Robert and Rose Taylor in Bristol, England in 1894.
It is uncertain when James arrived in Australia. On his attestation papers he listed his father as Next of Kin although he still resided in Bristol. He gave his calling as Hairdresser.  He also claimed three years with the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve.
Arthur’s date of enlistment is recorded as 23rd June 1915 on board the Ascanius.  The Ascanius left Brisbane on 23rd May, 1915.  Either Arthur was one of the seven stowaways found on the Ascanius or his attempt to enlist was so late that he was instructed to board first and complete the paper work later. His attestation was completed two weeks after the Ascanius left Fremantle.
Arthur’s training would have commenced on board the Ascanius, as it did for many other new enlistments, and continued in Egypt.  He was with the 26th Battalion when it arrived at Gallipoli in September 1915.
On the June Trench Raid Arthur was part of the Left Parapet Party. He is thought to be soldier number 23 in the group photograph.
On 29th July Arthur received a GSW to a leg at Pozieres.  He was wounded again just three months later and also in August 1918. These, and treatment for VD, all led to Arthur being hospitalised in England where he succumbed to the temptation to be totally independent.  He was charged with twelve offences during his stay in Europe.  These were mainly AWL charges which resulted in Field Punishment and Forfeiture of Pay and on one occasion two weeks confinement to barracks. In all he was fined 96 days pay, about £50, a considerable sum then.
Arthur was returned to Australia in March 1919 and discharged in July.
It appears that he married Florence Mitchell in 1926 and fathered several children. Arthur also purchased and operated a dairy farm. He died in 1959.

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