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He was subsequently employed as an instructor, being advanced to Staff Captain with command of an Officer Cadet unit and, in
August 1918, was appointed Brigade Major.
Returning to Cheltenham College after the War to resume his teaching career, he was a popular housemaster and member of staff in the
1920s and 1930s, prior to retiring in 1940, but quickly returned to duty with an appointment as a Flying Officer in the Royal Air Force
Volunteer Reserve. Resigning his commission in late 1942, he next served as Commandant of the National Fire Service’s Officers’
Training School in London, in which capacity he was awarded the O.B.E. He died in February 1960; sold with research, including
copied entries of his published wartime diary.
Bernard William Pigg, brother of Charles, originally entered the French theatre of war as a Sergeant in the Honourable Artillery
Company in September 1914, but was invalided home at the end of the year. Subsequently commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in his
brother’s battalion - the 10th - Worcestershire Regiment, in February 1915, he returned to active duty, and was killed in action leading
his company into action at La Boiselle on the Somme on 3 July 1916.
On that date, his unit launched an early morning attack in the face of formidable opposition, the regimental history noting that the
German dug-outs were ‘so deep and of such solid construction that even after the terrific bombardment of the previous week, many of
them were still undamaged; and the defenders, troops of the German 13th, 23rd and 110th Reserve Regiments, had fought to the last.
The 57th Brigade captured 153 prisoners, nearly all wounded. But their success had been dearly purchased. The Battalion had lost a
third of its fighting strength, including the C.O. and Adjutant’.
A moving glimpse of Pigg’s conduct and fate is to be found in his brother’s diary, which source also confirms, though only a 2nd
Lieutenant, that he commanded ‘B’ Company - the eye-witness account was written by the young subaltern’s Company Sergeant-Major,
F. Yeates, D.C.M., a veteran of Mons, who received a bayonet wound but survived:
‘It was during this period that the Company saw what a gentleman they had commanding them, for if ever a man proved himself a man
he did that night. He himself and Mr. Hadley, his dear chum, also killed, simply walked up and down the Company during the hail of
shrapnel, endeavouring to keep the men steady, which I am pleased to say they were successful in doing ... at 3.15 the signal came and
we were off just like a lot of schoolboys and quite as happy, for we were all eager to get to close quarters. We had got to the first
German line when a German officer jumped up and shouted in English, “Retire”. Mr. Pigg at once shot him dead and at almost the
same moment was shot himself. Mr. Hadley ran towards him but it was all over.’
After the assault, survivors of the Battalion were left out in No Man’s Land for the rest of the day, and were only able to withdraw after
dark - Private Turrall won the regiment a V.C. for his gallant deeds in attending to a mortally wounded officer.
Bernard Pigg has no known grave and is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial.
589
A Second World War O.B.E. group of eight awarded to Colonel Jack Hulme Taylor, 11th King Edward’s Own Lancers
(Probyn’s Horse)
THE MOST EXCELLENT ORDER OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE, O.B.E. (Military) Officer’s 2nd type breast badge, silver-gilt; THE ORDER OF ST.
JOHN OF JERUSALEM, Officer ‘s (Brother’s) breast badge, silver and enamel; BRITISH WAR AND VICTORY MEDALS (Capt.); GENERAL
SERVICE 1918-62, 2 clasps, Kurdistan, Iraq (Capt.); WAR AND INDIA SERVICE MEDALS; CORONATION 1953, these three unnamed,
mounted court style as worn, minor contact marks, very fine and better (8) £420-460
O.B.E. London Gazette 1 January 1946. ‘Colonel (temporary) Jack Hulme Taylor (I.A.83), Probyn’s Horse, Indian Armoured Corps’
Order of St. John, Officer London Gazette 26 June 1953. ‘Colonel Jack Hulme Taylor, O.B.E.’
Jack Hulme Taylor was born in Ceylon on 11 December 1894. Educated at Aldenham School and the Royal Military College,
Sandhurst. Commissioned on 14 January 1914 and gazetted to the 1st Battalion The Royal Sussex Regiment at Peshawar, India. Arriving
in India in February 1914, he transferred to the Indian Army in October 1914, being posted to the 11th King Edward’s Own Lancers
(Probyn’s Horse). Promoted to Lieutenant in September 1915 and Acting Captain in November 1917, he took part in the operations in
Mahsud, March-August 1917, and in Iraq, October 1917-October 1918. Taylor was promoted to Captain in January 1918 and took part
in the campaign in Kurdistan in 1919 and further operations in Iraq in 1919-20.
Taylor served as Aide-de-Camp to Sir William Riddell Birdwood, C-in-C. in India, 1925, and was Senior Aide-de-Camp to Lord Halifax,
Viceroy of India, 1926-28. Appointed Assistant Military Secretary to the C-in-C. Northern Command, 1930-34, he was promoted to
Major in January 1932. During the Second World War he raised, organised and was the first Commandant of the Indian Armoured
Corps Tank School. Taylor was promoted to Colonel and retired in 1946 and was awarded the O.B.E. for his wartime services.
Post-war, he was Marshal of the City of London, 1938-57; Common Cryer and Sergeant-at-Arms of the City of London, 1957-58; and
Swordbearer of the City of London, 1958-59. Colonel Hulme Taylor died on 3 November 1970. With copied gazette extracts and
service details.
www.dnw.co.uk
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