TOPIC:

2715 Private Charles Bertam Taylor, Coldstream Guards is one of four men residing in my Smethwickian Database who forfeited their right to the Queen’s South Africa Medal. The other three committed their misdemeanours whilst serving in South Africa and were never issued with their QSAM. However, Charles’s service in South Africa was free of disciplinary issues and he was subsequently issued with his QSAM. At the end of the Anglo-Boer War he still had time to serve to complete the 12 years he had signed up for in July 1899. As time went on his disciplinary misdemeanours started and increased in intensity until he was “Discharged for Misconduct” in 1909, at this stage his right to both an army pension and the QSAM were forfeited and he duly returned the medal the following year. Note, his story has a tragic & painful end.

Charles Bertram Taylor was born in Smethwick on 8 March 1879. Both his parents were born in Smethwick. The 1881 Census found 2 year old Charles and his mother, Mercy living with his maternal grandparents, Charles & Elizabeth Adkins at 45 Harding Street, Smethwick.

The next record for Charles is found in the 1886 admission register for Smethwick Central Board School which shows he was admitted on 8 November and his mother, still living at 45 Harding Street, was listed as his parent/guardian. The register shows that in 1890 he was temporarily transferred to another school denoted as “O.B.” (Oldbury Boys?) but returned to finish his schooling in Smethwick, finally leaving on 14 October 1891 by when he was twelve and a half years old. He seemed to do quite well at school rising from Grade II at the end of his first year to Grade V when he left.

In the meantime the 5 April 1891 Census found Charles living in a back to back in Rolfe Street, Smethwick with his mother Mercy and three younger sisters ranging in age from 1 to 9. His two oldest sisters were born in Selly Oak (then in Worcestershire now in Birmingham), the youngest like Charles in Smethwick.

His father was absent from home in both 1881 & 1891 and in 1891 can be found on a return for George Street, Smethwick where he was living as a “Boarder” and working as a “General Labourer”.

This short report in the Smethwick Telephone of 18 March 1893 explains what had been going on:

A WIFE DESERTER SENT TO GAOL

William Edward Taylor, a striker [as in Blacksmith’s Striker], of George Street, West Smethwick, was summoned at the instance of the King’s Norton Union, for neglecting to maintain his wife and five children, who were now chargeable to the Union – William Fisher, relieving officer, stated that the defendant married Mercy Taylor (his wife) at Smethwick Old Church about October 1875. They had had eight children, five of whom had been born in the Workhouse. Since the marriage, the defendant had ill-treated his wife in a brutal manner, and she had been frequently admitted to the Workhouse. Defendant had twice been sentenced to terms of imprisonment for assaulting her. – The Bench sentenced prisoner to three month’s imprisonment with hard labour.

The Workhouse in question was the Kings Norton Workhouse run by the Kings Norton Board of Guardians who had responsibility for administering the Poor Laws in the Kings Norton Union which included parts of Worcestershire (Kings Norton, Selly Oak, Harborne & Quinton), Warwickshire (Edgbaston & Balsall Heath) & Staffordshire (Smethwick). With the exception of Smethwick all these areas are now suburbs of the City of Birmingham. In 1893 the Chairman of the Board of Guardians was Smethwick’s most senior clergyman, Canon Astley.

On 6 June 1899, Charles attested in Birmingham to join the army for 12 years of which 7 would be active service and 5 in reserve, with the usual provisos if the country was at war at the end of either of these periods. His medical showed he was well above average height at the time at 5 ft 10¼ inches and weighed 10 stone 2 lbs. He gave his age as 20 years and 1 month, which being pedantic one could say was light of a couple of months. It was also noted he had a scar on his right cheek, the cause of which might well lie in the above Smethwick Telephone report. He gave his father as his next of kin with address as “The Workhouse, Selly Oak” – the Workhouse lay on the border between Kings Norton and Selly Oak and was often referred to incorrectly as the Selly Oak Workhouse, but Selly Oak won out in the end as the Workhouse Infirmary (new in 1897) eventually became Selly Oak Hospital which is still operating (pun intentional) today. His father passed away in 1902 and Charles’s service records were updated to give his mother, Mercy Taylor living in Victoria Park Road, Smethwick as his next of kin.

Charles was assigned to the Coldstream Guards, probably because of his height, and a week later joined them at their barracks in Chelsea, London. Four months later he was posted to the 3rd Battalion and spent the next 10 months on home service. On 9 August 1900 he was transferred to the 2nd Battalion and sailed for South Africa as a draft, the 2nd Battalion had been posted to South Africa in late October 1899.

One presumes Charles would have caught up with the 2nd Battalion by 1st October 1900 when they were involved in a train accident in Eastern Transvaal resulting in 5 of their men being killed, and 1 officer and 13 men wounded, Charles did not appear on the casualty list. Thereafter the battalion was spilt up between garrisoning three different towns.

During December 1901 Charles was invalided home arriving back in England on 5 January 1902 and on the following day he was transferred back to the 3rd Battalion. According to the Coldstream Medal Rolls he was awarded the Queen’s South Africa Medal with four clasps – Cape Colony, Orange Free State, Transvaal (Medal Roll dated 4 October 1901) & South Africa 1901 (Medal Roll dated 12 November 1902). The reason for Charles being invalided home is not given in the various records relating to him. There seem to have been no disciplinary issues whilst in South Africa and during his time there he was awarded his first Good Conduct Badge and associated pay rise on the second anniversary of his enlistment.

Then rather strangely his service records show that on 16 July 1902 Charles was transferred to the Army Reserve despite having completed only 3 years of active service. The stamped, rather than hand-written, reason given was “on expiration of period of army service”. His service records show, this time hand-written, that he “rejoined the Colours” on 7 April 1904 “to complete 12 years service”. So one could conclude Charles was released in error 4 years early from active service in 1902 and, realising the mistake, the army were after their “pound of flesh”. He was again assigned to the 3rd Battalion. Two days later the following article appeared in the Smethwick Telephone:

A DESERTER FROM THE COLDSTREAMS

Charles P. [sic] Taylor, of Bampton Road, was charged with being a deserter from the 3rd Coldstream Guards at Chelsea. Sergeant Adlem stated that he arrested the prisoner upon receiving an intimation from the headquarters. Prisoner said he did not believe he was really a deserter. He was an army reserve man, but he did not think he had really joined the Colours a second time. He further said that he had been waiting for the authorities to fetch him as he did go to the barracks, but returned to Smethwick, and had not the money for his fare. An escort of a sergeant and private from the regiment took charge of the prisoner, who was taken by train to Chelsea.

I think we can conclude that Charles was not too keen on rejoining the Colours and had attempted, rather ineffectively, to disappear from the view of the army. The army do seem to have taken a lenient view of the incident as it is not recorded in his service records.

In 1905 the red ink started to appear on his records, Charles forfeited his Good Conduct Badge and pay on 4th January but they were restored exactly a year later. Eight months later, on 20 September 1906, he was posted to Egypt. On 4 February 1907 he again forfeited his GC Badge & Pay and on 27 May 1907 his pay was further reduced owing to a “failure in Musketry”. On 4 February 1908 his GC Badge & Pay were again restored but at the end of the following month they were again forfeited. During May 1908 the battalion CO ordered him to spend 10 days “in detention” for “insubordination”. On 25 January 1909 the CO once again ordered him to spend 10 days “in detention”, this time for “breaking out of barracks”. On 2 October 1909 he was imprisoned awaiting trial by a District Court Martial. As a result he was sentenced on 10 October to detention for “drunkenness” but 3 days of the sentence was remitted for “good behaviour while in detention”, he returned to duty on 5 November 1909. On 10 December 1909 he was posted home and arrived in England on 22 December when, on the same day, he was “Discharged for Misconduct”.

It seems to me that Charles completed 7 years active service in April 1908, admittedly with nearly a two year break in the middle. It is noticeable that after this date his misdemeanours received harsher penalties, Was his May 1908 insubordination an argument with an officer about why he had not be transferred to the army reserve and civilian life.

Whether Charles had committed another offence in December 1909 is unclear or perhaps the army just considered him now to be more trouble than he was worth. If the latter, he does seem to have been treated very harshly as he forfeited all rights to an army pension and the Queens South Africa Medal – annotations on both medal rolls show that he returned the medal on 6 May 1910.

I could not find Charles on the 1911 Census but I could find his mother and all his siblings bar one, who I suspect had died. Mercy was living at 77 Reynolds Street, Smethwick with 5 of her 6 daughters – the eldest had married presenting her with a grandson (2 years old on the census return), 3 of the others were all gainfully employed - sticking labels on mineral water bottles, checking the quality of the pen nibs being produced by the British Pen Company who had a large factory in Smethwick or working as a “press hand” in a corset factory. The youngest was still at school. His brother Francis, eight years his junior, had married in 1909 and was living with his wife (Kate) and their 9 month old son at 13 Unett Terrace, Unett Street, Smethwick.

Mercy Taylor’s death was registered in Smethwick in the first quarter of 1914. She was only 57 years old at the time.

This article appeared in the Smethwick Telephone of Saturday 25 July 1914:

SIX WAYS MAN’S SUICIDE.

Mr Gerald C. Lewis (Coroner) held an inquest at the windmill Inn, Windmill Lane, on Monday morning concerning the death of Charles Bertram Taylor (£%) of Unett Terrace, Unett Street, whose death took place under painful circumstances on Sunday morning. – Mr Charles Cooper was foreman of the jury. – A sister-in-law said the deceased was an engineer’s labourer, employed at Messers. Tittleys. He returned home from work on Saturday, and at 5.45 she was going out when she met Taylor in the yard. He spoke to her about his brother, whom he was informed was at work. Soon afterwards Mrs. Taylor was informed by neighbours that something was wrong and she got a man to go to Taylor’s bedroom. He was found in a very critical state and Dr Kendal was sent for. Witness found a bottle which had contained spirits of salts. She explained that her brother had been a soldier in India [sic]. He had been very depressed since his mother’s death and had said that now that she was gone there was nothing for him to live for. He had been strange in his manner.

Dr Kendal said that he was called to the deceased about 6 p.m. on Saturday. He was very ill and groaning. In reply to the doctor the man said that he had taken poison.

The jury found that the defendant committed suicide and that he was insane when he committed the act.

Spirit of Salts is a strong solution of hydrochloric acid which can still be purchased for various cleaning purposes.

The epithet “More sinned against than sinning” comes to mind with regard to Charles Bertram Taylor of Smethwick.

Thank you for keeping his memory.