Presentation 16th (St. Pancras) Battalion Sword – Major Taylor D.S.O M.C

Presentation 16th (St. Pancras) Battalion Sword – Major Taylor D.S.O M.C by Wilkinson sword No 56816 regulation rifle Brigade sword with engraved blade including Kings crown regimental badge and slung bugle. The Presentation reads PRO HONORE PRESENTED BY THE COMMITTEE OF THE 16TH BATTN RIFLE BRIGADE ( ST PANCRAS ) TO MAJOR G TAYLOR M.C 24TH MAY 1919 complete with leather scabbard Notes:
D.S.O. London Gazette 3 June 1919. O.B.E. London Gazette 2 June 1923. M.C. London Gazette 1 January 1918.
George Vere Taylor, who was born in August 1887, served in the ranks of the mobilised Territorial Force until June 1915, when he was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Rifle Brigade.
Posted to the 16th (St. Pancras) Battalion, he first went out to France in early 1916, and remained actively employed until the end of hostilities, including a stint as Adjutant of the unit from September 1916 until February 1918. In that period the Battalion was heavily engaged on the Somme in 1916, in addition to later participation in the battle of Passchendaele. Latterly an Acting Lieutenant-Colonel, Taylor was awarded the D.S.O. and M.C., and was twice mentioned in despatches (London Gazettes 4 January 1917 and 9 July 1919, refer).
Having then relinquished his commission, Taylor rejoined the Army as a Captain in the Norfolk Regiment in early 1922, and went out to Iraq as a G.S.O. III later in the same year. And he remained actively employed in the same theatre of operations until September 1926, latterly as D.A.A. & Q.M.G.. He was awarded the O.B.E.
Little is currently known in terms of Taylor’s subsequent career, although he is known to have taken up appointment as a Captain & Adjutant in the Malay States Volunteer Regiment in November 1928