A COMMEMORATIVE beer being released as part of a brewery’s centenary celebrations will feature Graham Jones’ great-grandfather.

A picture of the Labour MP’s veteran ancestor, Edwin Taylor, will be printed on the label of Irwell Works Brewery’s latest ale.

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The beverage, called Gallantry at Gallipoli, will now be served up cold at the Accrington Food Festival on Saturday, June 6.

Mr Jones said: “I’m over the moon, it’s very special. I’m glad the Accrington Pals Committee is recognising not just the Pals, but other people from the area who served in the armed forces.”

Private Taylor served in the Royal Army Medical Corps for four years when his ship, HMT Royal Edward, was torpedoed by a German submarine in August 1915. It had been transporting troops from Britain to Gallipoli, a peninsular in Turkey, then the Ottoman Empire, went down in less than six minutes.

Pvt Taylor was one of the 400 who survived, while 800 others perished in a botched military operation that cost Winston Churchill his job as First Lord of the Admiralty. However, he went on to face the horrors of the Western Front, being forced to dodge machine gun fire with a stretcher as he went over the top in a bid to save Allied lives on the front line.

Mr Jones said: “I only knew him for the first few years of my life and he had dementia, but my grandmother said he was badly affected by it all. His comrades were screaming for their lives and were badly injured. It was very harrowing for him and he didn’t speak about it.”

Pvt Taylor’s moved from his home in Grange Street, Accrington, where the Wellington Court flats are now, to Ashworth Street in Baxenden. He went on to work as a driver at Accrington Train Station.

His story was learned by local historian Walter Holmes, who worked with Mr Jones’ grandfather at Howard and Bullough’s Cotton Mill.

Mr Jones said: “ Walter helped me get a picture and then he and the committee asked if they could put his story on a bottle of beer. I was delighted.”

The beer will also be available at the Great Harwood Farmers’ Market, held on the first Sunday of every month.