Mr. William Taylor, O.B.E., F.R.S.

Abstract

WILLIAM TAYLOR, who died at the age of seventy-one years on February 27, showed a bent towards engineering early in life, making his own lathe at an age when most children are playing with toys. He learnt from the village blacksmith and the local wheelwright. His first schoolmaster was Dr. Richard Wormald of London, a pioneer in the teaching of science, at whose lectures he assisted as demonstrator. The school was so far advanced in its methods as to have a workshop for metal and wood work. At this time, William and his brother made in their workshop at home, which they had themselves built, a pair of the first telephones ever made in England, and one of the first copies of Edison's recently invented tinfoil phonograph. Later, William Taylor was one of the first students at the Finsbury Technical College, his teachers being Profs. H. E. Armstrong, Ayrton and Perry. He made for Ayrton and Perry the model of their ammeter which is now in the Science Museum. Some of the instruments made in his student days are still in use at the factory he started in conjunction with his brother. The firm thus founded in 1886 was known at first as T. S. and W. Taylor, and afterwards as Taylor, Taylor and Hobson. The founders had the unusual experience of celebrating last year the jubilee of the business they had established.