Obituary:
Harold Edward Taylor – Spud – who has died aged 94 was a Londoner, who came to marry and settle in Lamlash after the Second World War. He was a very well-regarded member of this island community and held in great affection by all who knew him.
Spud – a nickname he was given at school and kept because he preferred it to Harold – was born in Woolich in 1923, and was the middle boy of three sons. At the start of the war he was evacuated to Bakton in Suffolk, but stayed only one night. He got word of a job in London and next day began an apprenticeship as a carpenter. Among other things, he made wooden cabinets for the Post Office telephone exchanges.
At 19 years of age Spud joined the Royal Navy and served on HMS Rosemary and HMS Cleopatra. It was on the Rosemary that Spud witnessed the Milford Haven disaster, with the loss of 79 lives, when two topheavy landing craft capsized in a storm. Six of the dead were from Rosemary’s boat-crew who had attempted a rescue. Spud was a member of the graveside firing party. For the rest of his life, the disaster affected his feelings about the importance of remembering war-time service and sacrifice.
On the Cleopatra, Spud was to witness the Japanese surrender at Singapore. Cleopatra was the first Royal Navy ship into the Singapore channel after it had been swept by Indian minesweepers. Spud said: ‘Just in case they had missed any mines, we were led in by a Jap vessel, with high ranking Japanese officers aboard!’