John Paterson TAYLOR

John Taylor joined the Queensland Police in 1909 at the age of 32. In 1917 at the age of 40 he joined the Australian Field Artillery and embarked to England. On arrival Taylor sustained an injury to his already injured back and was declared unfit for artillery duty. He was assigned as a driver to the 38th Company which supported the Australian Mounted Division fighting in Palestine. About four weeks after hostilities ended in Palestine, John Taylor became ill with dysentery on 31 October. He was hospitalised when the Armistice on the Western Front was declared on 11 November. On 14 November, John Taylor’s condition deteriorated; he died a week later on 21 November 1918 in the 87th General Hospital at Alexandria and was buried at the Nedra War Cemetery. He was survived by his widow Vera and young child. John Taylor was 41 years old, the oldest and the last of the 30 Queensland policemen to die in the First World War.