Friends of the Somme - Mid Ulster Branch  
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Updates for Private Hugh Taylor
Date Information
01/05/2020 02295
03/02/2019 TAYLOR – In loving memory of my dear brother, No 27688. Private Hugh Taylor, Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, who was killed in action on 1st July 1916.
03/02/2019
03/02/2019 TAYLOR – In fond remembrance of our dear son, No 27688. Private Hugh Taylor, Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, who was killed in action on 1st July 1916.
03/02/2019 ‘He fell at his post like a soldier brave,
03/02/2019 He answered his Master’s call,
03/02/2019 He sleeps far away in a hero’s grave,
03/02/2019 For his country’s cause he did fall.
03/02/2019 But the hardest part is yet to come,
03/02/2019 When the heroes do return,
03/02/2019 And we miss among the cheering crowd,
03/02/2019 The face of our dear son.’
03/02/2019 Deeply regretted by his father, mother, brothers and sisters, Millburn Street, Cookstown.
03/02/2019
03/02/2019 From the Mid Ulster Mail dated 6th July 1918:
03/02/2019 ‘When we last saw his smiling face,
03/02/2019 He looked so strong and brave,
03/02/2019 We little thought how soon we would,
03/02/2019 Be laid in a soldier’s grave.
03/02/2019 A lonely grave in a foreign land,
03/02/2019 A grave we may never see,
03/02/2019 But so long as life and memory lasts,
03/02/2019 We will remember thee.’
03/02/2019 Forever remembered by his sister Annie; also his brother and sister-in-law, Thomas and Annie Taylor, Waterloo Crescent, Cookstown.
03/02/2019 From the Mid Ulster Mail dated 6th July 1918:
20/11/2018
20/11/2018
06/07/2017
29/01/2017 Hugh Taylor was born in Cookstown on 4th June 1895. He was one of 10 children, nine surviving.
29/01/2017 Hugh Taylor was the son of James and Elizabeth Taylor. James Taylor married Elizabeth Neill on 6th July 1887 in the district of Cookstown.
29/01/2017 The 1901 census lists Hugh as age 5, living with the family at house 29 in Millburn Street, Cookstown. His father was a labourer, possibly born in Scotland.
29/01/2017 Known family: James Taylor, Elizabeth Taylor, Thomas James Taylor (born 27th May 1888), Anabella Annie Taylor (born 20th May 1890), Emma Jane Taylor (born 19th July 1892), Hugh Taylor (born 4th June 1895), Margaret Taylor (born 21st March 1898), Mabel Taylor (born 31st July 1900), William Taylor (born 27th October 1901), Oliver Taylor (born 6th June 1904), Kelly / Isabella Taylor (born 6th August 1906, died 4th June 1907),Samuel Taylor (born 14th December 1907).
29/01/2017 The 1911 census lists Hugh as age 16, living with the family at house 30 in Gortalowry, Cookstown. Hugh was, like his two older sisters, a mill worker. His father was described as a skilled labourer.
29/01/2017 Hugh Taylor worked at Gunning’s Factory, Milburn.
29/01/2017 Private Hugh Taylor was serving with 9th Battalion of the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers when he was killed in action on the first day of the Battle of the Somme on Saturday 1st July 1916. He was for some time reported missing.
29/01/2017 Hugh’s sister Annie Taylor, who was living at Milburn Street, enquired as to his fate. She received a letter from Major Peacock of the 9th Inniskillings.
29/01/2017 Hugh’s older brother, Private Thomas Taylor, whose wife lived at Waterloo Terrace, Cookstown, was injured at the Somme (most likely on that day). Thomas survived the war.
29/01/2017 Private Hugh Taylor is one of the few Cookstown men killed on that day to have a known grave. He is buried at Mill Road Cemetery, Thiepval, France.
29/01/2017 Private Hugh Taylor is commemorated on Cookstown Cenotaph, Gunning’s Factory Memorial (Royal British Legion Cookstown) and St. Luran’s Church of Ireland Roll of Honour, Derryloran, Cookstown.
29/01/2017 Hugh enlisted with 9th Battalion Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers in Cookstown.
18/12/2016
18/12/2016 From the Belfast Newsletter dated 12th July 1916:
18/12/2016 Private Thomas Taylor, Waterloo Terrace, Cookstown, wounded. Private Hugh Taylor, missing, believed killed, brother of above. Private J Taylor, wounded in the leg is a relative of the above.
30/12/2015 ‘I regret to inform you that your brother, Private H Taylor, of my battalion, is missing since the 1st July. He took part in the gallant attack made by the Ulster Division on that date. Every enquiry has been made regarding his fate, but without result. I cannot ask you to entertain any forlorn hopes of his turning up alive as I am afraid he fell on that occasion. He was a good soldier and a loyal comrade. Please accept the sincere sympathy of all ranks in the battalion in your great loss.’
30/12/2015
30/12/2015 Private Thomas Taylor, Waterloo Terrace, writes to his wife that he is wounded and in hospital.
30/12/2015 Private Hugh Taylor, missing, believed killed, is a brother of the above.
30/12/2015 From the Mid Ulster Mail dated Saturday 15th July 1916: Private Thomas Taylor (Brother of Hugh Taylor)
30/12/2015
30/12/2015 Private Thomas Taylor, whose wife resides at Waterloo Terrace, Cookstown, writes that he is in hospital, but getting on all right. He was sorry to say that the cost of the advance on July 1st was terrible. There were only four left in his platoon. His brother Hugh, he fears, was killed. He was wounded in the first of the German trenches and had not been seen or heard of since. All the captains got killed and there were hardly 100 men in his battalion. He saw Joe Taylor in hospital wounded through the leg, but getting on well. The Germans suffered severely. Their trenches were piled with dead and they suffered in hundreds. Nat Thom was killed too, shot through the head and never spoke. Indeed, nearly all his chums are knocked out and he is thankful to be in a condition to write home.
30/12/2015 From the Mid Ulster Mail dated Saturday 12th August 1916:
30/12/2015 Miss Annie Taylor, Milburn Street, Cookstown, in reply to an enquiry regarding her brother, Private H Taylor, had received the following letter from Major Peacock of the 9th Inniskillings:
30/12/2015 From the Mid Ulster Mail dated Saturday 15th July 1916: Private Thomas Taylor (Brother of Hugh Taylor)
30/12/2015
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