Joseph was the son of Benjamin & Ann T aylor . He was born in 1883 at Church Eaton. In 1891 he was living at Goosemore, Gnosall with his brother Benjamin and widowed fa ther . In 1901 he was a serv ant (A gricultural Labourer), living at Bro okfield House, Haghton. The 191 1 Census shows him living at Audmore Cottage, Audmore, working as an Agricultural Labourer , living with presumable relatives William & Mary T aylor . Without any certainty , we believe Joseph’s army record is Service Num ber 241471, a Private in the 2/6th (T .F .) Battalion, South Staf fordshire Regiment , having signed up at T ipto n, Staf fs . If so, he died 30 th November 1917 and is commemorated on Cambrai Memorial, Louv erval, France, Panel 7.

Joseph T a ylor

Private 241471 - the 2/6 th (T .F .) Battalion, South Staffordshire Regiment Died 30 th Nov em ber 1917 – age 34 Commemor ated on Cambr ai Mem orial , Lou v erv al

Cam brai Memorial, Louverval

History informa tion The CAMBRAI MEMORIAL commemorates more than 7,000 servicemen of the United Kingdom and South Africa who died in the Battle of Cambrai in November and December 1917 and whose graves are not known. Sir Douglas Hai g described the object of the Cambrai oper ations as the gaining of a 'l ocal success by a sudden attack at a point where the enemy di d not ex pect it' and to some extent they succeeded. The proposed method of assault was new , with no prelimina ry artillery bombardment. Instead, tanks would be used to break thro ugh the Ger man wire, with the infantry followi ng under the cover of smoke barrages. The attack began early in the morning of 20 November 1917 and initi al adv ances w ere remarkable. However , by 22 November , a halt was called for rest and reorganisation, allowing the Germans to reinforce. From 23 to 28 November , the fighting was concentrated almost entirely around Bourlon Wood and by 29 November , it was clear that the Germans were ready for a major counter attack. During the fierce fighting of t he next five days , much of the ground gained in the initial days of the attack was lost. For the Allies, the results of the battle were ultimately disappointing but valuable lessons were learnt about new strategies and tactical approaches to fighti ng. The Germans had also discovered that their fixed lines of defence, no matter how well prepare d, were vulne rable. The Cambrai Memorial was designed by Harold Chalton Bradshaw w ith sculpture by Charles S. Jagger . It was unveiled by Lieut-General Sir Louis V aughan on 4 August 1930. The memorial stands on a terrace at one end of LOUVERV AL MILIT AR Y CEMETER Y . The chateau at Louverval, was taken by the 56th Australian Infantry Battalion at dawn on 2 April 1917. The hamlet stayed in Allied hands until the 51st (Highland) Division was driv en from it on 21 Marc h 1918 during the great German adv ance, and it was retaken in the fo llowing September . Parts of Rows B and C of the cemetery were made between April and December 1917 and in 1927, graves were brought in from Louverval Chateau Cemetery , which had been begun by Ger man troops in March 1918 and used by Commonwealth forces in September and October 1918. The cemetery now contains 124 First W orld W ar burials.