Edmund Youlden TAYLOR
Born 21 October 1870 in Kilmore, Victoria, Australia [30]
Son of Swanson TAYLOR and Elsie TOLMIE [15]
Shifted to Western Australia in 1896 and opened a produce agency in Perth [39: 22-Oct-1919]
Farmer in Booralaming, Western Australia [50]
He was one of the first four settlers at Booralaming in the Dowerin district in about 1908 [39: 22-Oct-1919]
By 1910 he'd rung 200 acres of trees and was clearing to have 200 acres of crop in 1911 and 400 acres in 1912 [81: 9-Oct-1910]
Member of the Dowerin Progress Association in 1910 [369: 8-Nov-1910]
Mercantile Commission Agent in Dowerin, Western Australia 1912-1916 [6] [30: item 1929248]
Local agent for a number of firms relating to livestock, agricultural machinery and wheat buying [39: 22-Oct-1919]
He was also the Secretary of the Dowerin Road Board in 1913 and 1914 [6]
Member of the Dowerin Race Club - was Secretary in 1913 and 1916 [39: 14-Feb-1913] [370: 21-Mar-1916]
He acted as confidential adviser to the Industries Assistance Board [39: 22-Oct-1919]
Assisted with the distribution of seed and fodder after the disastrous drought in 1914 [39: 22-Oct-1919]
Leader of the local D Troop of the 25th Light Horse prior to and up until joining the Australian Imperial Force [30] [370: 31-Mar-1916]
Enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force in Dowerin on 4 March 1916 at the age of 45 years [30: item 1929248]
He and eight other local men were given a farewell at the Agricultural Hall in Dowerin on Monday 27 March 1916 [370: 31-Mar-1916]
Two of the other men were "Jim" S. James THOMPSON and Lionel F. S. THOMPSON who'd previously lived in Coorow [19] [370]
At the farewell he encouraged men to enlist but not if their duty was to supporting family at home, such as a widowed mother [370]
Upon enlistment he was 5 feet 8 inches tall, weighed 142 pounds and had grey eyes, fair hair and a fair complexion [30]
While on parade in Claremont on 15 September 1916 his horse reared and in falling he struck his right shoulder against a post [30]
He was hospitalised with a fractured scapula and discharged as permanently unfit in Perth on 19 February 1917 [30]
Briefly returned to Dowerin before re-enlisting in the Australian Imperial Force in Perth on 11 June 1917 [30: item 1929248]
He was of the same height and complexion as before however his weight was 148 pounds and his eyes were noted as blue [30]
His next of kin was his elder brother George Swanson TAYLOR of 103 & 106 Russell Street in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia [30]
After training at Seymour in Victoria he was appointed to the May Reinforcements of the Tunnelling Company on 7 July 1917 [30]
Embarked from Melbourne, Victoria, Australia for active service abroad on the H.M.A.T. 171 Nestor on 21 November 1917 [30]
After further training in Egypt and England proceeded to France on 2 March 1918 [30]
Sapper 8006 in the Australian Imperial Force's 3rd Tunnelling Company in France during the First World War [30]
Embarked from England on the steamship City of Poona and disembarked in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia on 14 May 1919 [30]
Discharged from the Australian Imperial Force on 6 June 1919; received the British War Medal and the Victory Medal [30]
He left his farm at Dowerin in 1919 to become an Immigration Agent for the Western Australian Government in London [225: 17-Oct-1924]
He was selected as he had "a thorough knowledge of the state generally, and of the farming industry in particular" [39: 22-Oct-1919]
Departed Fremantle, Western Australia on the steamship Osterley and arrived in London, England on 6 January 1920 [204]
He worked for the Western Australian Government until August 1921 and then for the Commonwealth Government [225: 17-Oct-1924]
Initially he was based at Savoy House in London and following his transfer he worked from Australia House in London [225]
He received very little briefing and almost no updates on changing conditions and circumstances back in Australia [225]
In October 1922 he resigned after reading in a newspaper that migrants to Western Australia could not be housed [225]
He departed from Toulon, France on the steamship Orsova and arrived in Fremantle, Western Australia on 11 January 1923 [338]
Farmer of Wattle Springs Farm in Yandanooka, Western Australia 1923-1950 [19] [176]
His farm comprised of Lots 4 and 26 of the Yandanooka Estate, which was a Solider Settlement Estate [61]
Helped secure a £130,000 reduction from the Government in valuations and interest for the estate's settlers in 1936 [4: 29-Aug-1936]
He and Henry CURTIS, another Yandanooka Estate settler, had met in France in 1918, during the First World War [30: item 3479681]
In March 1926 he was appointed a Justice of the Peace for the Victoria Magisterial District [86: 30-Mar-1926]
As a local Justice of the Peace, or JP, he served as a magistrate on cases that went before the Mingenew Police Court [39: 14-May-1947]
Secretary of the Gala Day held in Yandanooka on 9 September 1930 [9: 17-Sep-1926]
The Gala Day was similar to an agricultural show, was attended by over 400 people and raised almost £100 for a local hall [9]
He won 1st prize for Old Season's Hay and two 2nd prizes for New Season's Hay and Merino Ewe Fleece [9]
Member of the Yandanooka Farmers' Association - was Secretary in 1930 [86: 22-Nov-1930]
Attended a large meeting in Three Springs to form a North Midlands Chamber of Commerce on 18 November 1932 [4: 26-Nov-1932]
Member of the Yandanooka sub-branch of the Returned Soldiers' League (R.S.L.) [4] [5]
He was the sub-branch's Secretary in 1932 and its President in 1936 [4: 26-Nov-1932] [5: 30-Oct-1936]
One of 77 ex-servicemen who attended the Sailors & Soldiers Reunion Dinner in Carnamah on 22 October 1932 [86: 29-Oct-1932]
Attended the Fourth Annual North Midlands R.S.L. Reunion Dinner in Three Springs on Saturday 19 October 1935 [5: 25-Oct-1935]
Attended the Fifth Annual North Midlands R.S.L. Reunion Dinner in Dongara on Saturday evening 24 October 1936 [5: 30-Oct-1936]
Member of the Yandanooka branch of the Wheatgrowers Union in 1937 [5: 16-Apr-1937]
Attended a North Midlands Zone Council meeting of the Wheatgrowers Union in Three Springs on 11 April 1937 [5: 16-Apr-1937]
He travelled from Yandanooka to Perth by train on Tuesday evening 18 October 1938 [4: 22-Oct-1938]
Committee Member of the Mingenew-Yandanooka Amateur Turf Club in 1944 [86: 11-Oct-1944]
Resided and farmed in Yandanooka until his death at the age of 80 years in 1950 [176]
Died 29 December 1950 in Yandanooka; buried Mingenew Cemetery, Mingenew [176]
He died a bachelor and left most of his estate, valued for probate at £12,853/3/8, to his widowed sister-in-law in Victoria [39: 28-Feb-1951]
In his will left £500 to "the youngest child I ever saw" which was the first daughter of Mrs H. Mary BICKELL of Yandanooka [39]
Left £100 each for school books to the Yandanooka State School, Mingenew State School and Mingenew Convent School [39]
He left £200 to the Geraldton branch of the Salvation Army, £100 to the Mingenew-Yandanooka Amateur Turf Club, [39]
£100 to the Yandanooka Presbyterian Church, £100 to the Mingenew-Yandanooka R.S.L., and a number of bequests to friends [39]
His headstone at the Mingenew Cemetery includes the quote: "Respected In Life, In Death He Is Not Forgotten." [133]
| Reference: Carnamah Historical Society & Museum and North Midlands Project, 'Edmund Youlden Taylor' in Biographical Dictionary of Coorow, Carnamah and Three Springs, retrieved 19 April 2024 from www.carnamah.com.au/bio/edmund-youlden-taylor [reference list] |
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