Not Forgotten, 8006 Sergeant Edmund Youlden TAYLOR, 3 Tunnelling Company, World War 1

Edmund Taylor is listed on the Dowerin War Memorial, an indication that he was killed in action or as a result of the Great War. However, this is not the case for Edmund Taylor. Private Edmund Taylor, the son of Swanson and Elsie Taylor, was born in Kilmore, Victoria. He was a
famer in Booralaming, a Mercantile Commission Agent in Dowerin between 1912 and 1916 and the Secretary of the Dowerin Road Board in 1913 and 1914.

After serving in the 25th Light Horse and as leader of the local D Troop Edmund Taylor enlisted at Dowerin on 4 March 1916 at the age of 45 and joined the 10th Light Horse Regiment. He and eight other local men were given a farewell at the Agricultural Hall in Dowerin on 27 March 1916, including Caleb Lawrence, R McQueen, Jim Thompson, J.J. Ecclestone from Booralaming, Clem Frearson, Tom Holmes from Koomberkine, A. Lillywhite from Cowcowing and Lionel Thompson. A. Moore, W.G. Shankland and W. Leonard were unable to attend.

On 15 September 1916 Edmund Taylor was on parade at Claremont Camp when his horse reared up and threw him, he struck his right shoulder against a post and he fell and he was taken to the No 8 Australian General Hospital in Fremantle the same day where he remained for 3 months, having sustained a fractured scapula or clavicle. He was discharged as permanently unfit on 19 February 1917, having
limitation of movement and stiffness in his arm and shoulder and considered to be not suitable for active service.

After briefly returning to Dowerin, Edmund Taylor reenlisted on 18 June 1917 at Perth and was placed in the 3rd Tunnelling Company. He was sent to Seymour, Victoria for training and promoted to corporal on 7 July 1917 and to sergeant in November of 1917. On 21 November 1917
Sergeant Taylor embarked from Melbourne on the Transport ship A71 Nestor arriving in England on 24 January 1918. From there he headed to France and was taken on strength with the 3rd Tunnelling Company on 10 February 1918. Taylor’s service record has no detail regarding his time in France in the Tunnelling Company. The 3rd Tunnelling Company was engaged near Loos in tunnel construction. Edmund Taylor returned to Australia, leaving London on 28 March 1919 on the City of Poona, arriving in Melbourne in May of 1919. Private Taylor was awarded the British War Medal and the Victory Medal.

After returning to Australia Edmund Taylor returned briefly to Dowerin but then worked as an Immigration Agent for the Western Australian government in London. He became unhappy with the treatment of migrants and returned to Western Australia and took up a Soldier Settlement farm at Yandanooka Estate at Mingenew and in March 1926 he was appointed a Justice of the Peace for the Victoria Magisterial District, serving on cases that came before the Mingenew Police Court, and serving as Secretary of the Gala Day in Yandanooka in 1930. Edmund Taylor was also a member of the Yandanooka Farmers’ Association and the Yandanooka Sub-Branch of the Returned Soldiers’ League among other organizations. He resided and farmed in Yandanooka in the Mingenew Shire until his death at the age of 80 in 1950. Edmund Taylor died a bachelor on 29 December 1950 and is buried in Mingenew Cemetery. He left bequests to schools and organizations in the Mingenew district.