Peterborough & The Great War

Biography

Livesey Taylor was born in Oldham on 4 Oct 1893, to parents John and Sarah Jane.  For some reason it appears that he was raised by his aunt and uncle, Harriet and William Brotherton, living at 4 Falcons View, Hollinwood, Oldham.

He attested to the 24^th (Oldham) Battalion, Manchester Regiment in November 1914, joining B Company.  In April 1916, he transferred to the Royal Defence Corps (RDC) with No 6 Observer Company as a Lance Corporal and finished his service in March 1919 with No 6 Observer Company at River, near Dover.  On discharge he had a 30% disability pension as a result of valvular disease of the heart, we assume this was the cause of his move from the Manchester Regiment to the RDC.  His service records reveal two blemishes, the first in 1915 when he was confined to barracks for three days after going on parade with a dirty rifle.  The second, a reprimand when based at Holbeach for losing a secret document entrusted to his care!

He married Rose Allen in 1921, and the couple probably settled in Oldham at 32 Yates Street with Rose’s mother Sarah, where they were recorded in the 1939 Register.  Livesey was a general labourer at Lebron Mill and Rose was a calico weaver.  The heart condition identified by the army appears not to have hindered him as he lived to the age of 81 when he died in Oldham in 1975.