Honest Bill’s Mill
An article from 'Lancashire Life', June 1976
"Unable to get on with the boss, at fifty-five most managers might put security before pride and soldier on to retirement. But one man didn't. The result was Honest Bill's Mill.
"Go along Chorley New Road, Bolton, continuing some way into Horwich, and you will come to a monument to the courage of one man. It is not the usual sort of monument. It is a pleasant office block of pale red brick and Portland stone, backed by weaving sheds and other buildings of an extensive industrial complex. This is the Victoria Mill of W.T.Taylor and Co.
"In 1903 Mr W.T.Taylor was the inside manager at a local towel mill, and he had problems. Unable to see eye to eye with the firm's owner, he decided he could no longer work with him.
"Taylor was fifty-five, and it could not have been an easy decision. With the backing of friends and relatives, he proposed to start a towel mill in Horwich, providing himself with a living and employment for local women. So he set himself the task of raising £10,000 for the mill to be built.
"Little by little the money came in, a number of people entrusting all their savings to Taylor, so strong was their belief in him. True, all who subscribed to the venture ultimately got their money back several times over, but at the time their investment was an act of faith.
"The original building was completed during 1904 and started up with 100 looms. But Taylor's troubles were by no means over. He fully understood everything to do with the technical side of the work and indeed had taught weaving at the Harris Institute in Preston. What he had overlooked was that the majority of towels he had been making in his former post had been for the Indian market. They just would not sell in this country.
"At first, business was so bad that he would pace his room at night, unable to sleep. There was even one terrible week when he had no money to pay the wages. He turned to an accountant he knew for a loan of £3,000. It was given readily, with the comment "Come back if you want any more."
"The tide was finally turned when Taylor introduced a process for weaving waste yarn – a technique that had never been used before. This produced Terry (Turkish) towelling much cheaper than by the normal process and the product sold so well that the success of the mill was assured.
"Several times he was invited to become a deacon at the Congregationalists' New Chapel in Horwich. He declined the honour because he did not think he was good enough – he drank the occasional half-pint of beer, you see, and played bridge for a stake of one penny…
"By the Thirties, Taylor's had become the largest towel manufacturers in the British Empire, running 1,200 looms with 700 employees, and with the registered name Wavecrest becoming familiar to shoppers in Canada, New Zealand, South Africa and Australia.
"Right from the start, William Taylor had been assisted by his salesman son, John. Later, William's elder son, Harry, left his job with a bank to become the company secretary – swapping bank hours for a six o'clock start in the mornings. In time, the founder's grandsons, granddaughter and great grandson joined the firm, and whole families of employees spent their entire working lives at Victoria Mill.
"It would be nice to be able to record that Victoria Mill still continues as a family concern but, as Wells's Mr Polly put it: "This 'ere Progress, it do keep on." Now Taylor's is part of the Spirella Group, but John's two sons are still with the firm."
Barbara J. Balshaw
A letter from the War Office
Letter to John Taylor from the War Office
John Taylor (my grandfather) received this letter informing him that T. K. Taylor (his son, my father) had been wounded in action on 25th July, 1944. My father Kenneth was in the 6th Battalion Green Howards — part of the allied armies landings in Normandy on D-Day, 6th June, 1944. He kept a daily diary of his war experiences from 6th June through to 11th December (against army rules). Thanks to a wallet and a pocket watch he had in his breast pocket he wasn't seriously wounded.
For Ken when I die
A letter written in 1974 by my grandmother Emmie Taylor to my father Kenneth Taylor
My dear Ken.
I know that when I die as my executor and the eldest of the family you will have a lot to do, so I am making a few suggestions to try to make things easier. I should enlist the help of Mick and Margaret as far as possible.
To begin with send my body immediately to Hardman's to be dealt with. Arrange with Hardman's to do as much as possible of the funeral arrangements. This will cost more, but will save you trouble.
I would like a service at New Chapel and then be cremated. Get to know from Hardman's as early as possible the time convenient for the Crematorium, then get in touch with the Minister or Ministers. I should like Rev J. Vause and Rev H. Gibson to do the funeral. If both come they can arrange the service between them. Hymns "O Master let me walk with Thee" (my favourite) no. 553 in the Congregational Hymn Book, and "Guide me O Thou Great Jehovah" no. 500.
Nellie Kenwright would get you a Hymn Book to copy from.
I should also ask her to arrange for the Chapel to be opened in good time, to be there to see people to their seats, to get an organist, to give out the service sheets and hymn books w[h]ere required.
Rev J. Vause's address 51 Hordern Rd, Bamford, Rochdale. P.T.O.
Nellie will probably be able to get Mr Gibson's address from the Church Secretary. I do not know if either is on the phone.
I should like my ashes to be put in Uncle Harry's Garden of Remembrance next to Daddy's.
No mourning to make people miserable.
One lot of flowers on the coffin from the family. Otherwise no flowers, but donation to "The Save the Children Fund" (Bolton Branch) either to Hardman's or to Mrs Sheridan, Princess Rd.
If New Chapel should be closed when I die, I should get in touch with the Minister of St George's Rd, the Group Leader, but ask Nellie about this.
The Backbone of Industry
An article from the Horwich & Westhoughton Journal & Guardian on Friday, September 24, 1954
IT IS THE INTENTION of the management to administer all rules and regulations with fairness and equity, to treat every employee's case on its own individual merits and to maintain good working conditions and fair discipline throughout the mill.
This is an extract from a handbook presented to all employees at the Victoria Mill of W.T.Taylor and Co. Ltd which, in the foreword, extends a welcome and a wish for "success at your work." The 900 people from Horwich and district who work at the mill are agreed that these are no empty words and here, probably, is the reason why a concern which started in a small way and had a hard fight to overcome financial difficulties in its early years was able to call itself the largest towel mill in the British Commonwealth during the golden jubilee celebrations at the week-end. Fifty years is but a short period of time in which to achieve such remarkable progress and the firm of W.T.Taylor has obviously been blessed not only with progressive and enlightened management, but also with employees capable of showing both loyalty and efficiency.
The backbone of British industry
Family firms, where control passes from one generation to the next and where employees often start straight from school and finish at retiring age, are the backbone of British industry. They often lead the way in the quality of their products and in the relationship between those who employ and those who are employed. There is, of course, a definite link between the two, as the success of the Victoria Mill through half a century of industrial unrest and economic hardship has proved. Horwich has good reason to be thankful that the Taylor family chose to carry on their enterprise within its boundaries and the town as a whole will share in the congratulations to the firm on reaching an important milestone in its history.
The importance of the good team spirit
By a happy coincidence, the Horwich Employment Committee this week discussed a Ministry of Labour report on the factor to which the firm of W.T.Taylor and Co. have long attached considerable importance – human relations in industry. In the report, the Minister, Sir Walter Monckton, is quoted as saying, "No matter how good may be the technical equipment, however advanced the method of process, efficiency is in the end determined by the extent to which you have been able to cultivate a good team spirit in the industrial unit. It is that feeling of oneness, the identification of the individual with the group, which gives life to all the techniques and policies."
A speech by Alfred Holt
The following speech is a tribute to W.T.Taylor (my great grandfather) soon after his death in 1925.
A speech to the shareholders of W.T.Taylor & Co. Ltd 19th January, 1926 by Alfred Holt, Chairman
The Directors have pleasure in presenting their 21st Annual Report.
The year's working has resulted in a profit of £26,154/10/2½d, making with the balance brought forward a disposable balance of £41,131/2/6d.
The directors declared an interim dividend of 1/3d per share in June last, and now recommend a final dividend of 1/6d per share, making a total dividend for the year of 2/9d per share free of tax and carrying forward a sum of £17,131/2/6d to the current year's accounts.
The year has had some encouraging features but also one of the saddest that could come to any company. On the 22nd of May last, Mr W.T.Taylor, our Managing Director, passed to his rest after a comparatively short illness.
During the previous year he had undergone a somewhat severe operation but made a quite complete recovery and was looking forward, as we were, to a long period still during which we should have his continued assistance and the benefit of his wisdom and wide experience.
It was a severe blow to his colleagues on the Board when they realized that Mr Taylor's life had run its course and his invaluable service would no longer be available to our Company and that our association with him, commencing in the atmosphere of business, developing through the 21 years of our connection with him into a friendship of respect and affection which is rarely seen in a purely business undertaking, was to be broken. We feel we have not only lost an invaluable business colleague but a dear personal friend.
Whilst we grieve over his death, we rejoice in the life he spent amongst us and are grateful for the happiness we have found in him and through him.
His life has been a useful one and his contribution to the welfare of his generation much above the average of his fellows. His faithfulness to duty and his loyalty to his friends was an example and an inspiration to all with whom he came in contact, and his honour and integrity beyond reproach.
His services to our company cannot be calculated or valued in set terms, as the seeds he planted and the trees he so carefully and zealously tended will bear rich fruit for many many years to come.
Whilst he was of a quiet and reserved nature, he had a winning and attractive personality, especially was this so in his relationship with our workpeople, whose respect and regard he won in an unusual degree, and he possessed the rare faculty of drawing the best out of those with whom he was associated.
We can however understand something of the nature of his service if we would carry our minds back to the beginning of the Company in 1904. Our Company was incorporated on the 15th June 1904 with a nominal capital of £15,000 and a subscribed capital of £8,000, the first allotments being made on the 20th June. We resolved to commence operations with 100 looms, although we planned our works for 250 looms, intending to put in the remaining 150 looms as we could raise further capital.
To commence with 100 looms was looked upon by many people in the Cotton Trade as a mad enterprise and doomed to failure from the very beginning. Our struggles lent some colour to this view but in spite of the trials and tribulations in those early years, Mr Taylor never lost faith either in himself or in his friends and his dogged perserverance, courage, and determination carried him through where most other men would have failed. What was a seeming impossibility became for him a great triumph. How great a triumph this was, our shareholders have very good reason to know, but a simple illustration will shew it more clearly.
In our first year our turnover was £20,636, in the 2nd year £33,884, whilst in the year just concluded we turned over nearly half a million, a figure nearly 25 times the amount of our turnover in our first year.
Mr Taylor never had any ambition to acquire wealth and in the Company's early years would not accept any higher remuneration than was necessary to maintain his household in reasonable comfort, preferring the success of our Company to personal profit for himself.
In later years when circumstances changed and the Company's prosperity became more assured we sought his views from time to time as to what he thought his remuneration should be, but he always accepted without demur whatever sum the Board thought was just and fair as between himself and the Company.
His relationship with his colleagues on the Board have been of the very happiest character throughout the 21 years of the Company's existence and we shall greatly miss his genial presence for many years to come. Our deepest sympathy go out to his two sons Mr Harry and Mr John Taylor in their personal loss, a loss tinged with the pride of inheritance of a good name, well won, and richly deserved.
John and Emmie Taylor’s wedding, 1916
Click picture to enlarge
New Chapel in Horwich, Lancashire. John and Emmie, my grandparents, are in the centre of the front row. Behind John is his father W. T. Taylor and behind Emmie is her father the Reverend Thomas Hughes Parker, the Minister at New Chapel. On Rev. Parker's right is his second wife Ethel. The boy to John's left is Jack with his mother Sally and father Harry (John's brother) behind her. The man on Sally's left is unknown – perhaps the Best Man. The old man at the left on the front row is probably 'Uncle John' who died in 1936 aged 100. He was W. T. Taylor's brother. One of the two ladies sitting to Emmie's right may be 'Auntie Maggie' (Rev. Parker's sister) who brought Emmie up until the age of twelve. Emmie's mother died in childbirth. Maggie was 'sent away' when Rev. Parker remarried but she and Emmie remained devoted to each other.
John Taylor
John Taylor as a young man
A photograph (exact date unknown) of John Taylor, my English grandfather and a son of W.T.Taylor, taken by Leslie Brothers of Knowsley Street, Bolton, England.
James Edington Curry
Family photo with wife and daughters (circa 1868)
In the photo above is my great great grandfather James Edington Curry (1824-1900), his wife Hannah Emma Hester (1826-1904) and probably their two oldest children. James was apparently an artist, as was his father Ralph Curry (ca.1798-1841). Ralph was also a sailmaker.
James and Emma had a number of children: Jane (b. 1849), Hannah (b. 1851), James (b. 1852), Ralph (b. 1853), Elizabeth (b. 1859), Isabella (b. 1860), Sarah (b. 1863), Alexander John (b. 1864), and finally my great grandmother Emma Hester (1866-1895). In 1891 Emma Hester became Emma Hester Parker by marrying the Rev. Thomas Hughes Parker, my great grandfather on my father's mother's side.
Emma Hester and Thomas Hughes Parker had only one child, Emma Parker, who became Emmie Taylor by marrying my grandfather, John Taylor at New Chapel in Horwich, Lancashire in 1916. Thomas Hughes Parker was Minister at New Chapel having moved there from Bourne in Lincolnshire when Emma was young. Emma (Emmie) and John Taylor's wedding photo is here »
Boat Scene
Painting by James Edington Curry
(probably)
Thomas Hughes Parker was born in Bishop Auckland, County Durham in 1864. Emma Hester Curry (now Parker) died in Bourne in 1895, three weeks after giving birth to Emma (my grandmother Emmie). In 1971, Emmie wrote family recollections and in 1974, childhood recollections of living in Bourne after the turn of the 19th century.
2 Willoughby Road, Bourne
The house to which my grandmother Emma Parker (later Emmie Taylor) moved at the age of two (via an interim house in Coggles Causeway) from the house in North Road, Bourne, where she was born in 1895. In the picture are Rex Needle (left, the historian for Bourne) and Kenneth Taylor (my father, and Emmie Taylor's son) on his first ever visit to the town on April 3rd 2008.
From Bourne to Horwich
From here my grandmother aged 12 moved to Horwich in the North West of England when her father Thomas Hughes Parker, Minister of Bourne United Reformed Church, became Minister at New Chapel in Horwich. When she was 21 she married John Taylor, a local man and Joint Managing Director of W.T.Taylor & Co. Ltd, once the largest towel manufacturing company in the British Empire.
Objection to War (4)
Continued from page 3
My objection to war is fourfold —
(1) That intra-specific competition is unnatural to humanity and will lead to its eventual destruction.
(2) That war never achieves what it sets out to achieve.
(3) That the method of war is itself far worse than anything against which it may be used.
(4) That there is a practical alternative method of dealing with any International problem which may arise, including the direct threat of aggression.
4. That there is a practical alternative method of dealing with any International problem which may arise, including the direct threat of aggression.
It is unnecessary to give details of how causes of friction might be settled round a conference table. We all agree that this is a desirable method, but it is when it seems to break down that another method must be resorted to. Recent history provides us with a number of examples of the successful application of non violent resistance to violent aggression. The campaigns of Ghandi in South Africa and in India are well known. Lest it be thought that this technique is something which can only be put into operation by the Eastern mentality, it should be pointed out that it has been used with succcess in Europe by the Hungarians against the powerful Austrian Empire during the years 1861—1867, more recently by the Finns agaist the Russians at the beginning of the present Century and by the early Christians including Christ himself against Rome. Let us try and visualize a campaign of non-violent resistance and non-co-operation being employed by Britain against an imaginary German invasion at the present time. It would require great courage and sacrifice, but so does war. In the first place, if Britain had neither armaments nor defences, the aggressor would not find it necessary to send over fleets of bombing planes, in order to defend himself or in order to break down resistance. He would be at liberty to send his armies to occupy the country. He would find it impossible to make his soldiers turn their guns on a fraternizing and unresisting populace. Atrocities are committed through fear and desperation during a long and bloody war. Assuming that the Army had met with no violent resistance, the aggressor would then try to govern the country to his own advantage. If all the civil servants in central and local government departments refused to co-operate, it would be impossible for the invader to make any progress, whatsoever. No doubt many people would be victimized, shot and imprisoned, but is this to be compared to the effects of a European War? Whenever Germans would be sent to replace the English, they would be greeted by organised non-co-operation in every department of life, taxes would not be paid, there would be no machinery to collect them, strikes and boycotts would be used against the aggressor. Extreme measures might be taken to break them but these measures would not succeed, provided the spirit of the resistors was sufficiently strong. It might be that the invader would abandon the attempt to subjugate the populace, in despair, as the Austrians did in Hungary in 1867. The German government finds it difficult enough to govern its own people already. It would find it doubly so, were the fear of aggression removed. What chance would such a government have against the opposition of another forty million people? Fascism would probably be painlessly removed from the face of Europe, were all nations fearing aggression to practice the methods briefly mentioned above. The method of non-violent resistance is not likely to cause resentment by those against whom it is used, because it does not seek to harm them in any way. It is not likely to sow the seeds of a future war, rather it is likely to point the way to a new era of peace and co-operation.
It must be stressed, however, that a nation which intends to carry out such a campaign, must not give any other nation any just cause for aggression. It must be prepared to sacrifice its own ill-gotten gains.
Those are my objections to war and a brief outline of the methods I would use against it. Being convinced of the truth of these views, I cannot conscientiously take my part in it whatever, nor can I deliberately take advantage of any protection offered to me by a state which is engaged in a war, but I will not do anything to add to the possible loss of life on either side. I have not signed the National Register because as the Minister of Labour stated, it is a measure designed to enable the State to prosecute the war more efficiently. I will not carry a gas mask nor enter a public air-raid shelter, otherwise I would be morally bound to offer any assistance to the State in return for this protection. I do not intend to Register for Conscientious Objectors. If I were to do so, I should be recognizing the justice of this and be showing my willingness to take advantage of it were its decision in my favour. I do not recognise the right of anybody to try my conscience and I think the Conscription Act is undesirable in every way.
End.
Tailpiece by Patrick (Kenneth's eldest son).
It should be appreciated that early in 1940, when these pages were written, Nazism had not yet revealed itself for what it was and that the German invasion of Poland might have been seen as little different from any other colonisation of the kind historically undertaken by several European nations, including Britain, France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Spain. The tragedy of Nazism did not become fully apparent until early 1945, by which time Kenneth had already fought with the Green Howards half-way across Northern Europe precisely to defeat it.
In 1938, he toured the whole of Germany in his car with a friend and presumably found nothing too sinister. Indeed, he loved foreigners and their languages and was always a committed European, so it is not so surprising he might have given Germany the benefit of the doubt as to its qualities as a fundamentally civilised nation (Bach, Beethoven etc), even as an occupier.
As the facts emerged, Kenneth's youthful idealism quickly gave way to an obvious need to forego theoretical principles and take action against outright human evil. That is why these pages, interesting they may be historically, should be read in a different context to now.
« Page 3
