TOPIC:

ST. MARY THE VIRGIN CHURCH,
CHURCH STREET,
SHAWBURY,
NORTH SHROPSHIRE,
SHROPSHIRE,
SY4 4NH,
ENGLAND.

OS GRID REFERENCE: SJ55914 21174


St. Mary the Virgin Church, SHAWBURY


Remembrance area within the church


Memorial tablet to casualties of the Great War and Boer War


Close up of the naming for John Eaton Tagg

The memorial tablet is of grey granite with a grey granite border with red lettering. Listed first are the fallen of the Great War followed by the single casualty of the war in South Africa, Trooper John E. Tagg SIY.

BIOGRAPHY OF JOHN EATON TAGG

John Eaton Tagg was born in Wem District some time in the first quarter of 1878. His mother's maiden name is recorded as Eaton, hence his full name bearing this.

The Census of 1881 finds John as a three year old living at Northwood, Wem, Shropshire along with his father, a farmer of 52 acres employing one labourer, his mother Clara and siblings Arthur G (4), Mary E (1) and aunt Justina J and a servant named Thomas Tinsley.

Census 1891 expands on the family address more impressively as Northwood Grange, Greenfields, Wem, Shropshire. The family were blessed with another daughter Clara E. The home help had changed with the addition of 19 year old Mary Brayne as a domestic servant and no sign of Thomas Tinsley.

The family home of Northwood Grange is still standing, though is now a cattery set in 16 acres.

At the appeal by the government to raise a desperately needed mounted infantry element to counter the highly mobile Boer commandos, John would have offered his services for Queen and Empire, attesting to the 13th (Shropshire) Company 5th Battalion Imperial Yeomanry as Private 21573. His background was typical of the county recruits for the Imperial Yeomanry. With the absence of an attestation document, it is not possible to say when John actually enlisted in the Imperial Yeomanry for service in South Africa.
John is recorded as being dangerously wounded and prisoner of war near Buffelshoek on 4th June 1901 and was released on the same day (Hayward 1982).
Sadly, John never recovered from his wounds received in the action at Buffelshoek and succumbed on 31st August 1901 at Kimberley (Hayward 1982; Watt 2000).
He is interred in Kimberley West End Cemetery and commemorated on monument 30.

John was entitled to the Queen's South Africa medal with clasps Cape Colony/Orange Free State/Transvaal and South Africa 1901.

Visitors to the church will find ample free parking next to the church at the public car park by the playing fields. The church has open doors between 10 and 4.

From Find A Grave

21573 Private John Eaton Tagg, 13th Company, 5th Battalion, Imperial Yeomanry. Son of George (a farmer) and Clara C Tagg. Baptised on 31 Mar 1878 at King Charles the Martyr Church, Newtown, Wem, Shropshire. From Shawbury, Shropshire, England. Wounded (gunshot wound to lower jaw) in action on 4 Jun 1901. Died of his wounds at No 11 General Hospital, Kimberley aged 23 years.

Thank you Smethwick.
That sounds like an awful wound. Poor John must have suffered greatly for nearly three months before he died.

Tagg's service papers are on Ancestry, and FmP.

He is also commemorated by a window in Newtown, Shropshire - what appears to be his home church.

SWB,
Many thanks for the lead.
Once I locate the church i will visit to take photos of the stained glass window and perhaps find out more about him.
Cheers,
Steve

Two more from Find A Grave which I had trouble downsizing before. The cross on his grave implies it is a triple grave. Duration of last illness being 5 days suggests he was in and out of hospital during the last few months of his life.



.