Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Pair: Private T. Taylor, Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry and Auxiliary Military Pioneer Corps

General Service 1918-62, 1 clasp, Iraq (01566 Pte. T. Taylor. D.C.L.I.); War Medal 1939-45, edge bruising to first, nearly very fine (2) £70-£90

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, A Collection of Medals to the 46th Foot and its Successor Units.

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Theophilus Taylor was born in Madron, near Penzance, on 4 March 1900, the son of domestic servant Mary Taylor. A hotel porter by occupation, he attested at Catterick for the Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry on 5 June 1919 and served with the 2nd Battalion in Iraq. Discharged at Exeter on 16 May 1921, Taylor returned to Penzance and later joined the Royal Regiment of Artillery in his home town on 2 July 1924. Appointed Gunner to No. 203 Battery, 51st Brigade, he served four years without incident before being recorded absent without leave from annual training in 1929.

Discharged services no longer required, he spent the next decade working as a dustman in Redruth before applying to join the Auxiliary Military Pioneer Corps on 18 January 1940. Likely looked upon favourably as a serving member of the local Salvation Army, he was accepted and posted to No. 1 A.M.P.C. Centre at Westenhanger in Kent, but his service was cut short due to anxiety and he returned home to Cornwall on 30 December 1941.

Sold with a comprehensive file of copied research including the recipient’s Army Service Record.