PRIVATE CHRISTOPHER GEORGE TAYLOR
SOMERSET LIGHT INFANTRY
9TH APRIL 1917 AGE 20
BURIED: TILLOY BRITISH CEMETERY, TILLOY-LES-MOFFLAINES, FRANCE
Private Taylor was one of nineteen men from the 6th Battalion the Somerset Light Infantry to have been killed on 9 April 1917, the opening day of the Battle of Arras, in the attack on Wancourt. A farmer's son from Suffolk, the 1911 census shows that at the age of 14 he was working on his father's farm.
It was his father, John Taylor, who chose his inscription - In Freedom's Cause. This was a phrase that regularly appeared on patriotic postcards - The flags that fight in freedom's cause - this one showing the flags of Britain, France, Belgium and Russia. The phrase also featured on mugs and plates, also with an assortment of allied flags. The Australians used the phrase on war loan posters, but perhaps the most influential use of the phrase was on the front page of the Daily Mail on 21 July 1919 when reporting on the Victory Parade that had taken place through the streets of London the previous Saturday, 19 July. The headline read: "Hail, ye heroes, who fought in Freedom's cause".
