Danny Howell writes:
Brigadier D.W. Anderson, C.B.E., Commandant of the School of Infantry, Warminster, performed the official opening of Frederick Taylor Court, the Royal British Legion Housing Association Ltd. flats and bungalows, at Bradley Road, Warminster, during the very windswept afternoon of Saturday 24th June 1978.
The dedication was conducted by the Rev. John Day, branch chaplain and Vicar of Christ Church, Warminster. H.F. Knight, President of the Warminster Branch of the Royal British Legion, read the lesson, and Major (Retired) A.H. Morley, the Chairman, performed the exhortation. Following the Reveille Mr. J.J.D. Rivers, the Director and Secretary of the Housing Association, said Wiltshire County Council had bought the land and West Wiltshire District Council had made a loan to finance the project.
The court, comprising 26 flats and bungalows, was one of 176 built in Britain in recent years. It was named after Frederick Taylor, who had joined the British Legion in 1925 and had been vice-chairman, chairman and president of the Warminster branch during his involvement with it.
Frederick Conrad Taylor was a native of Birmingham. He attended Saltley Teachers’ Training College, Birmingham and taught at Mansfield before returning to Birmingham to teach. During the First World War he served with the Royal Warwickshire Regiment and saw action at Flanders and on the Somme. He came to Warminster in 1923 and was headmaster at Sambourne School until 1955 when he retired. During his career he held every county office in the National Union of Teachers. He was Chairman of Kingdown School governors and Chairman of Warminster Branch College of Further Education. He served on the Urban Council for 29 years and was Chairman twice. He appeared in or helped produce many of the shows staged by the Warminster Operatic Society. He was a chorister at Christ Church, senior sidesman and parochial church council member, and President of the Cock Inn Gardeners’ Club. Mr. Taylor, who lived at York Terrace, West Street, Warminster, died, aged 82, at Warminster Hospital, on 29th June 1971.
Prior to unveiling a commemorative plaque at the court, Brigadier Anderson paid tribute to the work of the Legion’s Warminster members. Major Morley made a presentation to retiring R.S.M. Donald Trotter, for the help he had given during the early days of the court.
Among the first residents of Frederick Taylor Court were Douglas Bacon, Allen Bishop, Arthur Blackmore, Wincentyna Brzeska, Olive Cleaver, Rose Cox, Victor Crosse, Ethel Davis, Robert Doe, Sidney Fletcher, Edith Green, Muriel Hewett, Marjorie Kempshall, Ethel Marsh, Adelaide Masters, Kathleen Maxwell, Rose Mundy, William Murray, Edward Pearce, Stanley Pinnell, James Poulter, Harry Schorah, Ivy Seaford, Alice Stacey, Olive Symes, and Dorothy Walker.