Harold Barrett TAYLOR (1892–1918)
(Taylor is also remembered on the St Andrew’s Church Roll of Honour and thus appears twice in the “tour”)
Harold Barrett Taylor was born in Headington on 26 September 1892. He was the son of William Taylor (born in Headington in 1862 and baptised at St Andrew’s Church on 28 September) and Elizabeth Mary Ann Barrett (born in Osney in 1864 and baptised at St Thomas’s Church on 31 July).
His parents were married at St Andrew’s Church in Headington on 21 October 1888 and had three children:
- Daisy May Taylor (born in Headington on 2 September 1889 and baptised at St Andrew’s Church on 29 September)
- Edgar William Taylor (born in Headington on 16 December 1890 and baptised at St Andrew’s Church on 18 January 1891)
- Harold Barrett Taylor (born in Headington on 26 September 1892 and baptised at St Andrew’s Church on 6 November).
At the time of the 1891 census Harold's parents were living at the present 56 Lime Walk (then numbered 63) with their first two children. Harold was born the following year.
Harold’s father was a carpenter, and by the time of the 1901 census he and his family had moved to 2 Sandmere Villas (now the Acropolis Greek Taverna at 146 London Road, left). Although on the south side of the London Road, it was in St Andrew’s parish, as it still it today.
The family was still at this house in 1911. Harold (18) was now a picture framer, his brother Edgar (20) was a clothier’s shop assistant, and his sister Daisy (21) was a milliner. Also living in the house were his father’s two sisters-in-law, who were both milliners: Mrs Ann Tabitha Adams (44) and Mrs Louisa Payne (41).
By 1916 Harold had moved to the Iffley Road.
♥ On 24 December 1916 at Cowley St John Church, Harold Barrett Taylor, described as a picture framer of Iffley Road, married Kate Elizabeth Stanton, a housemaid at Frewin Hall in Oxford. They settled in Stapleton Road in All Saints’ parish and had one child:
- Ronald Barrett Taylor (born at Stapleton Road on 19 March 1918 and baptised at St Andrew’s Church on 28 April).
Harold Taylor served in the First World War as a Private in the Army Service Corps (Motorized Transport Reserve) (Service No. M/338257) and then transferred to the Labour Corps (470108).
It appears that he never went overseas, but served in the “Home” theatre of war; and when his son was baptised in Headington in April 1918 he was described as a picture framer rather than a soldier.
Harold Taylor died of influenza followed by pneumonia at the Fovant Camp Hospital at Compton Chamberlayne in Wiltshire at the age of 26 on 3 November 1918, and was buried in Headington Cemetery five days later. On his death certificate he was described as a Private in the Southern Command Labour Centre.
He is remembered on the roll of honour of both All Saints’ Church in Highfield (the parish where he lived) and of St Andrew’s Church in Old Headington (the parish where he grew up and had his daughter baptised).
Left: Photograph of Harold Taylor’s grave in Headington Cemetery, taken in 2009. The inscription reads:
[Emblem of Royal Army Service Corps,
with motto “Honi soi qui mal y pense”]
M/338257 PRIVATE
H. B. TAYLOR
ROYAL ARMY SERVICE CORPS
3RD NOVEMBER 1918 AGE 26
†
Postscript
Harold’s widow
- Mrs Kate Elizabeth Taylor married her second husband George W. Narroway in the last quarter of 1923. They lived at 34 Holyoake Road (whose address was then 23 Western Road). George Narroway died there in 1956, and Mrs Narroway continued to be listed there until 1964. Kate Narroway died in Witney in 1964, possibly at the home of her son Ronald Barrett Taylor.
Harold’s son
- Ronald Barrett Taylor (born 1918) does not appear to have married, and died in West Oxfordshire in 2000.
Harold’s sister
- Daisy May Taylor (born 1889) married Alan Stewart Rogers, a jeweller of 37 High Street, Oxford, at St Andrew’s Church on 10 April 1917. Their shop in the High Street survived into the 1990s.
See also
- CWGC: Taylor, H B
- Oxford Journal Illustrated, 26 February 1919: Heroes of the War: H. B. Taylor (photograph shown above)
- The ASC Mechanical Transport Companies