William Davison Taylor, commonly known as Bill, was born on November 20, 1895 in Wales. On October 14, 1914, he joined the British Army and served with the 13th Field Ambulance, Royal Army Medical Corps. His older brother, James Irvine Taylor, was killed in France on April 28, 1917 while serving as a 2nd Lieutenant with the Lincolnshire Regiment. In 1917, while serving in France, Taylor was recommended for commission and returned to England to acquire his qualifications. After receiving his commission, he served with the 2/125th Napier Rifles, Indian Army from 1918 to 1919, participating in the Afghanistan and Waziristan campaigns. He returned to England in 1919 and began attending the University of Manchester but left to come to Canada. Through the Soldier Settlement Board he set up a farm at Moyerton, Alberta where he worked until 1929. He moved to Edmonton, Alberta and started W.D. Taylor Ltd., a business that exported frozen fish.
During the Second World War Taylor served with the Second (Reserve) Battalion, Edmonton Regiment in Canada from 1939 to 1940 and received a commission as a lieutenant. In order to serve overseas he resigned his commission and joined the Royal Canadian Artillery as a private. Before he could leave Canada with his unit he was recalled to Alberta, granted a commission as a lieutenant, and stationed at the Camrose training center. He was promoted to captain and in 1943 attended the Royal Military College in Kingston, Ontario for a course on civil affairs and military government. Due to a need for officers with this training he was called overseas to England in 1944 and promoted to major. He eventually went into Normandy with the headquarters of General Patton’s U.S. 3rd Army as part of the 328 Civil Affairs Detachment, British Liberation Army. Taylor continued his civil administration work as the Allied Forces made their way to Germany. He was eventually called on by the British Army to serve as a military government labour officer overseeing coal-mining operations in the Ruhr, Germany in 1945. He spent over six months in the position before returning to Edmonton on December 3, 1945. Taylor joined the Royal Canadian Legion and remained an active member until his death. He passed away in Nanaimo, B.C. on December 5, 1976 and was survived by two sons, Jim and David.