Taylor, Sidney (Oral history)

British soldier served with C Bty, 250 Brigade, Royal Field Artillery on Western Front, 1916; served with Royal Artillery in Southern Ireland, GB, 1917-1918

REEL 1 Recollections of background in Wheatley Hill, 1898-1915: family circumstances; education; work at Wheatley Hill Colliery, 1912-1915, duties as lamp carrier, conditions underground, duties as pony driver, care of pit ponies, duties operating brake on jigger and importance of trade union; recreations; opinion of Peter Lee; outbreak of war, 4/8/1914; brother's initial failed attempts to enlist. Background to enlistment underage into Royal Artillery in Durham, 6/1915: ruse to pass eyesight test; orders to report to Newcastle upon Tyne; parents' reactions. REEL 2 Recollections of period at Fenham Barracks, Newcastle upon Tyne, 6/1915-7/1915: reception; food rations; bed; training; dispute over theft of bed; question of underage status and starting shaving; vaccinations; question of attending church parades as Methodists; relationship with recruits, officers and instructors. Period at Leighton Buzzard, 7/1915-6/1916: billets; contacts with local Methodists; assisting in stables; gun drill on 15 pdr gun; route marches; rifle training; relationship with civilians; passing out as gunner; failure to secure position on same draft as brother; embarkation leave. Journey out to Le Havre, France, 7/1916. REEL 3 Posting to C Bty, 250 Brigade, Royal Field Artillery in Ypres area, 6/1916-7/1916: reception at wagon line; nature of 18 pdr gun positions; journey to Somme area. Aspects of of period in Somme area, 7/1916-12/1917: German shellfire and use of deep German dugout; muddy conditions; personal morale; wearing gas mask during gas attack; firing guns; carrying steel mock tree trunk up to establish forward observation post; German POWs; food rations; muddy conditions; story of taking first rum ration; lice problem; absence of rats. REEL 4 Continues: view of tank attack in Flers sector, 15/9/1916; rest periods including polishing buttons, VD problem, pay and allotments to parents; noise of 18pdrs; special friends; parcels from GB; smoking cigarettes; winter conditions; effects of German shell direct hit on gun pit; casualties; story of being wounded in neck and face by shrapnel, 20/12/1916; medical treatment and evacuation to GB, 12/1916. Period in GB, 12/1916-3/1917: period in hospital in Oxford; story illustrating initial fears of facial disfigurement; period in convalescent home in Abingdon; question of return to active service; period at Ripon Camp; mother's action in revealing underage status to authorities; effects of mustard gas on brother, 1918; journey with draft of underage soldiers to Ireland. Recollections of period with Royal Artillery, at Buttermarket, Limerick and Phoenix Park, Dublin, Southern Ireland, 3/1917-12/1918: security precautions and policy of non-retaliation when going out due to frequent attacks on British soldiers; briefing as to situation and attitude of Irish civilians; duties as limber gunner; use of limbers in military funerals; guard duty in Phoenix Park and British soldiers returning who had been thrown into River Liffey. REEL 5 Continues: guard duty in Phoenix Park and British soldiers returning who had been thrown into River Liffey; story of being spat at by Irish women; relationship with Irish population; story of arrest for refusing to attend church parade as Methodist; Armistice Day, 11/11/1918. Demobilisation, 12/1918. Post-war career: injury grant; return to work in Wheatley Hill Colliery, 1919-1926; work as insurance agent; role in charge of magazines at ICI ordnance factory, Haswell, 1944-1945; stories of securing work and promotion as clerk in National Health Service.