Jon Saunders and Brian Budge have provided this snapshot of an Able-Bodied Seaman in the Royal Navy: Alfred Taylor. Taylor was presumably one of the 200 volunteers from the Grand Fleet that formed the naval storming party at Zeebrugge, died from his wounds the day after. I found an excellent site on the Zeebrugge raid at www.mckenzie.uk.com/zeebrugge, which explains that four sailors were selected by the crews of the Vindictive, Iris II and Daffodil for a ballot to be awarded the Victoria Cross. A.B. Albert McKenzie, who had been critically wounded on the mole, was selected to receive the award (although sadly caught the Spanish flu while still recovering and died of pneumonia at Chatham hospital on 3rd November, a week before the Armistice). NB: Taylor was one of the ones designated to vote on this ballot for the VC (ie not one of the candidates to win the award), but there is no information if indeed he did indeed vote.
A scan of the typed-up ballot sheet can be found here.
ALFRED TAYLOR
Service No.: Chatham S.S. 4751
Born: Kirkwall, Orkney
Date of birth: 22/5/1894
Date of enrolment: 10/2/14
SERVICE
| Ship etc. | Detail | Rating | From | To |
| Pembroke I | Shore base, Chatham | Ord. Seaman | 10 Feb 14 | 23 Mar 14 |
| Queen | Pre-Dreadnought Battleship | " | 24 Mar 14 | 24 May 14 |
| Lord Nelson | Pre-Dreadnought Battleship | " | 25 May 14 | 24 Jul 14 |
| Pembroke I | Shore base, Chatham | " | 25 Jul 14 | 2 Aug 14 |
| Actaeon | Shore base, ??? | " | 3 Aug 14 | 5 Oct 14 |
| Pembroke I | Shore base, Chatham | " | 6 Oct 14 | 6 Oct 14 |
| Benbow | Dreadnought Battleship | " | 7 Oct 14 | |
| A.B. | 10 Feb 16 | 28 Feb 18 | ||
| Hindustan | Pre-Dreadnought Battleship | " | 1 Mar 18 | 23 Apr 18 |
Died 24th April 1918 in R.N. Hospital, Chatham, from wounds sustained in action off Belgian coast.
Participated in ballot for V.C. granted for operations against Zeebrugge & Ostend, 22-23 April 1918 (London Gazette 23.7.18).
Note: Not stated (directly) in his service record, but Alfred Taylor's Commonwealth War Graves Commission record states that he was one of (the all volunteer) naval crew of the old cruiser HMS "Vindictive", which came alongside the mole at Zeebrugge at a minute after midnight on 23rd April (St. George's Day) 1918. The landing force of 200 naval volunteers and 700 men of the 4th Battalion, Royal Marines took heavy casualties while still on deck, as the covering smoke cleared during the last 300 yards of the run in, then many more were cut down as they struggled onto the mole and into the storm of fire that met them there. British casualties at Zeebrugge included 161 killed, 411 wounded, 16 missing and 13 taken prisoner, from a total force of about 1,300. Able Seaman Alfred Taylor was one of the 28 wounded men who died of their wounds. He is buried, with many of the other raid casualties, in Gillingham (Woodlands) Cemetery.
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