George Taylor

War Service

George Taylor was enrolled in the Royal Artillery – service number 812793. At present exact details of when George enlisted and of his movements within the Royal Artillery are not publicly available. However, from Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) records we can ascertain that he served with the 30th Battery of the 11th Heavy Anti-aircraft Artillery (HAA) Regiment of the Indian Artillery and attained the rank of Lance-Sergeant.
The HAA units were raised for static role against High Altitude Bombers and the LAA units were raised for mobile role against low flying fighter aircraft.
With the rapidly encroaching advancement of the Japanese forces the strengthening of the Indian Army became absolutely necessary. Consequently, from 1941 onwards, the AA units and training establishments began to be raised in India with Indian Officers and men being posted into these establishments from the Regiment of Artillery and infantry units and later through fresh commission and enrolment. Most regiments contained some English officers and men.
George survived his service in India and was probably dispatched for home sometime after the war in the Pacific was brought to an end by the surrender of the Japanese on August 15th 1945. This date became known as VJ Day.
George made it back to England but never saw Brotherton again. One of George’s grand-daughters states
- ‘... he died when mum was very young and he was on his way home from the war to be demobbed and he never made it home as he contracted dysentery from which he died. My dad has told me he worked at the Golden Lion in Ferrybridge, this could be where he met my granny as she worked there too.”
George died in a military hospital in Oxford on October 19th and was buried in Brotherton cemetery on October 24th.

Family Life

George Taylor (2) was born in Sheffield in 1909. His parents were George (1) born in Rotherham in 1869 and Emma (nee Stafford) born in Sheffield in 1870.They were married in Sheffield in 1889 and the family can be seen in two instances of census data.
In 1901 they were living at 28 Pyebank, Brightside Bierlow, Sheffield. At the time George (1) was a ‘Silversmith working in gold’. It is likely he was a highly skilled craftsman as Sheffield was one of the main centres for this kind of work, having its own assay office. The children at that date were Jessie (born 1893) and Joe (1899).
By 1911 2 more children had been added with Emma (1906) and George (2) in 1909. However the family dynamics had undergone a change as Emma died sometime between the birth of George (2) and the census (1909 to 1911). Consequently George (1) and his younger children were sharing residence with eldest daughter Jessie who had married George Hartley who was a ‘Cooper’ by trade. They lived at 73, Thistle Street, Sheffield.
George (2) married Lottie Shepherd in 1936 in Pontefract. Lottie was born in Brotherton but the Shepherd Family can be traced to Sherburn.
Although Shepherds were in Sherburn earlier, the first positive tracing is of James (1) who was born in 1791. His son James (2) was born in 1820 at Milford Junction. He married Mary and produced several children - William (1846), James (3) (1848), Thomas (1852) and Benjamin (1855). James (2) was employed as a ‘Railway Labourer - Platelayer’.
The family moved around somewhat with the eldest two born in Milford, Thomas in Fryston and the latter 2 in Brotherton. This puts their arrival in Brotherton between 1852 and 1855.
In 1861 they were living in the Punch Bowl Yard. And with the family was 70 year old James (1). By 1871 James (3), a ‘Railway Platelayer’ had married Emma and had a 1 year old daughter Lucy Ann. Their family grew over the years with Lucy (1878), Emma (1884), James (4) (1886), Fred (1889) and Tom (1899).
By 1901 they were living at No 4 Railway Houses which were sited just under the railway bridge on the church side. This area was also known as the Town Side. At that time James (3) was employed as a ‘Miner - below ground’ whilst 15 year old James (4) was also employed underground as a ‘Holder Up’.
By 1910 James (4) was married to Lily Harriet Pennington and had a daughter Lottie.
Brotherton Penningtons can be traced back to the birth of William (1) Pennington about 1786. Amongst his children was James born about 1820. He had several children with wife Mary including William (2) in 1846.
In 1851 James was described as a ‘Farmer’ at Manor House Farm with a number of employees. However, sometime after the birth of their youngest child, Joseph, in 1855 James died. Subsequently Mary Ann remarried as in 1861 she was still at Manor House farm with new husband Mathew Jolliffe. With them were the children of James and also several Jolliffe children indicating that Mathew was widowed.
William (2) married Harriet and went on to have 7 children including Lily Harriet born in 1886. She married James Shepherd and in 1910 Lottie Shepherd was born. At the time Lottie’s parents were living with William (2) Pennington who at the time was landlord of the Anchor Inn on Low Street just below the church.
After the War George’s widow Lottie continued to live in Brotherton and moved to 20, Marsh Croft where she brought up her two daughters. Living next door at 21 was her brother Jack and wife Zelda (nee Dean) and Lilly Harriet, her mother who died in November 1964.
Lottie died in December 1972 aged 62 years and was buried in Brotherton cemetery.

Brotherton Cemetery