Campaign Groups and Pairs

Three: Commander W. C. Taylor, Royal Indian Marine Naval General Service 1915-62, 1 clasp, Persian Gulf 1909-1914 (Commander W. C. Taylor, R.I.M.S. Palinurus.); British War and Victory Medals (Comdr. W. C. Taylor, R.I.M.) good very fine (3) (3) £300-£400 --- Walford Charles Taylor trained in H.M.S. Conway for 2 years 1885-87, and apprenticed to Williamson Milligan & Co., Liverpool, where he served 4 years 6 months in Sailing Ships and 7 months in Steam. He obtained a 2nd mate’s Certificate of Competency in Dublin on 18 December 1890; passed for Lieutenant at Bombay on 25 January 1895; obtained the Honorary Certificate, R.N. College, Greenwich, Session 1897-98; and passed for Commander’s Certificate at Bombay on 21 September 1900. Taylor joined the Royal Indian Marine as Lieutenant and Assistant Surveyor 3rd Class on 26 October 1906. He was appointed to the Marine Survey of India and was engaged in survey work in the Indian Marine Ships Investigator from October 1907, and in Palinurus from October 1909, having been promoted to Assistant Surveyor 1st Class. He was promoted to Commander 3rd Grade on 18 July 1911 and remained in Palinurus until the outbreak of war in 1914, when he was appointed Assistant Marine Transport Officer at Karachi. He was promoted to Commander 2nd Grade in January 1915 and appointed to the command of R.I.M.S. Investigator, but actually took command of R.I.M.S. Nearchus on 18 January, which command he held until 20 March 1915, when he was appointed for General Duty and Bombay Dockyard and Assistant Port Officer, Bombay. During the war, the Royal Indian Marine was assigned tasks such as marine survey, lighthouse maintenance, troop transport and minesweeping, e.g. it kept Bombay and Aden harbours open through intensive sweeping efforts. In March 1918 he was appointed Senior Marine Transport Officer at Marmagou and, on 25 June, he took over as S.M.T.O. at Bushire where he died on 29 July 1918. He is buried in Tehran War Cemetery.