Royal Artillery badge belonging to Ernest Taylor.
The Curatorial team at the museum have been busy preparing for the opening of our new exhibition “Arms to Armistice” which explores the impact of the First World War on Britain’s tramways from 1916 until the end of the war. The exhibition will show how women were employed on the tramways and what happened to them when the war ended, and look at how the men who went off to war were affected. It also includes some of the rolls of honour commemorating those who served and our own memorial wall showing the names of the tramway men who died.
We have been researching the names of those who took part in the war and have been lucky to find some fascinating artefacts belonging to soldiers connected to the trams. We were recently given a donation of items belonging to Ernest Taylor who worked on the Leeds trams and served in the Royal Artillery during the war. His family very kindly donated a collection of his Leeds tramway badges as well as some of his army badges and items of uniform so that we are able to show how one individual made the transition from civilian to military life.
The “Arms to Armistice” exhibition opens on March 18th.
Royal artillery identification tag belonging to Ernest Taylor
Leeds Corporation Tramways badge with staff number belonging to Ernest Taylor
Leeds Corporation Tramways badge belonging to Ernest Taylor