TOPIC:

My Grandfather served in the Royal Artillery as sergeant, or possibly captain. His name was William Taylor. He is named on my fathers birth certificate of 1905. So far I have not found him. Can any one help, please

Maddy
Yours is a pretty general query and even with the best of help, you are going to have to do a lot of digging. I checked "Boer War Services of Officers, etc" and I could see no entry for a "Capt. W. Taylor" of the Royal Artillery. I had a look on my Royal Artillery CD roll (nominal roll, issue of medals) and one you might care to follow up is "89109 Sgt. W. Taylor, R.A." . However, no guarantee about him being your man can be expressed or implied! Whatever lead you choose to follow, you or a researcher would have to access any personal papers in the UK National Archives. These papers may give you a lead (such as address on enlistment, next-of-kin, etc).
Good luck in your quest.
IL.

maddy wrote: My Grandfather served in the Royal Artillery as sergeant, or possibly captain. His name was William Taylor. He is named on my fathers birth certificate of 1905. So far I have not found him. Can any one help, please

Hello Maddy

I take it this is the same "William Taylor" we spent time looking for about 7 years ago?

It is possible the digitisation of the service papers on FindmyPast could bring to light a set I missed doing manual searches - especially if it was in the post 1913, so called "WW1", papers. Have you checked FmP recently?

Regards
Meurig

Linneyl
Thankyou so much for your reply. I am most grateful. I would like to follow up "89109 Sgt. W Taylor, RA" You suggest I would have to contact the Nat. Archives. Is this because the info is not online ? Is it the Medal Rolls that I would have to look at?
You will be able to guess from the dates in my query that I am not too technically minded!
Maddy

Hello Meurig,
Thanks for making the connection. I do subscribe to Ancestry and FMP. I am in the process of revisiting my research in the hope that there will be something new.
One of the things I have discovered is that the Mauritius connection was a false trail. The photo I posted was of my grandmother`s brother in law who did indeed serve in Mauritius. Sadly I spent a long time searching with this as one of my criteria.
You will have seen the possibility that Linneyl has given to me. That could be a good lead
Best regards
Maddy

Maddy
The medal rolls are on line and you should be able to access them. The enlistment forms, etc are in the UKNA - if they still exist. Sometimes I have had research done and the answer comes back "burnt" or "destroyed during the blitz". Sometimes the trail is so cold it cannot be followed!
I located the "89109 W.Taylor of the RA" on a lengthy trawl through the nominal roll section on an Royal Artillery CD I purchased ages ago; unfortunately no Battery number was shown - or I could have looked it up for any further marginal info (if any). Again, I have to caution against getting your hopes too high! If the lead helps - Great If not, well ........ we had a go.
Best regards from a not-too-technically-minded IL.