From The Illustrated Warminster And District Miscellany, May 1996. Compiled by Danny Howell:
Captain Arthur Austin Taylor
One of Warminster’s best known personalities, living in the town for over 50 years, was Captain Arthur Austin Taylor. He was known by many local men because they served with him in the Old Volunteers and the Territorial Army. His life was devoted to the Army and it was his boast that he had enjoyed every minute of it.
A native of Chippenham, Arthur Taylor ran away from home when he was 16 to join the Army. His parents were greatly upset because the Army in those days was not always looked upon as an honorable career. His long years of service were spent entirely with the Wiltshire Regiment, first with the Regulars and later, as before mentioned, with the Old Volunteers and the Territorials.
As a boy he had never heard of Warminster and eventually learned of it through his growing interest in county affairs. It was, therefore, coincidence when he was appointed Regimental Sergeant Major in the Old Volunteers and was posted to the town. He had been greatly interested in a law case relating to the building of the house where he finally lived – Berry Villa at West Street – and from what he could ascertain there had been a dispute between a builder called Gaisford and another Warminster resident called Lucas. The latter had been responsible for building Berry Villa by direct labour (Lucas had also built the rank of houses on the opposite side of West Street: Jubilee Terrace, commemorating the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria) and the case had gone to court. A Mr. Tanswell was called as a witness and his evidence weighed strongly in favour of his employer, Mr. Gaisford.
At the outbreak of the Boer War in 1898 Arthur Taylor went to South Africa as R.Q.M.S. It was there that he first met the Earl of Radnor, who was later to command the 4th Battalion the Wiltshire Regiment during the First World War. It was after returning from South Africa that Taylor came to Warminster, to carry out his duties as Regimental Sergeant Major to the Old Volunteers.
He lived at Crockerton for a short while but then moved to 7 Market Place, Warminster. When Berry Villa at West Street came on the market he bought it from James Bartlett, the Sambourne School Headmaster. Bartlett had been a sergeant in the Old Volunteers and a close association had been formed between the two men.
Patriotism ran high among the Old Volunteers, no more so than with the Feltham family of Chitterne. Captain Taylor proudly recollected the sterling work of Jimmy Feltham, who had a record of volunteer service which was second to none in the whole of the country. Jimmy’s two sons followed him. Ev was one of the first volunteers to go to the Persian Gulf in 1915 and he eventually gained the D.C.M. Geoff remained with the Regiment and rose to the rank of R.S.M.
Captain Taylor, recalling the old Volunteer camps, said that at one at Aldershot they were all thrilled by a visit from Lord Roberts, who was then the Commander in Chief of the Army. He was a Boer War hero and the visit was marked with great celebrations. Many of the camps were held on the downs near Warminster.
When Taylor retired from the Regular Army in November 1911, the occasion was marked with the presentation of a clock and an address to him from the Sergeants’ Mess. The following day he was gazetted as Lieutenant Quartermaster to the 4th Wiltshire Regiment and with that rank he went to India in October 1914. He was promoted to Captain Quartermaster in 1917, during his service in Palestine, and he was the last of the officers to leave that country at the end of the First World War. He retained his interest in the Territorials until the age limit necessitated his retirement.
Of the olden days in Warminster Captain Taylor said West Street was much noisier before the First World War. Saturday nights were always rowdy and there always seemed to be family quarrels for people to sort out. The big event in the neighbourhood was the Whitsuntide festivities at the Cock Inn. The Cock emblem, which was known as the ‘bird’ was taken from its ‘perch’ and carried in a procession through the town and afterwards there were sports held in a field where the houses at Princecroft now stand. On Guy Fawkes Night there were always torchlight processions to the old Fair Field at Station Road, where it was the usual custom to burn an effigy of whoever was the most unpopular person in Warminster at the time!
Freemasonry was Captain Taylor’s chief interest in his civilian days. In 1952 he was the oldest, by age, of Warminster’s freemasons. He was primarily responsible for the establishment of the Royal Thynne Chapter and carried out its secretarial duties in the office of Scribe E for over 20 years. Ill health forced his retirement from the Longleat Lodge. Captain Taylor was also a prominent member of the Athenaeum Club and he also enjoyed gardening. A Nonconformist he attended the Congregational Church in the Close for many years.
Captain Taylor’s wife, Mary Louisa, was formerly a Miss Hailstone of Devizes. She was the eldest daughter of Issachar and Martha Hailstone, who lived at 35 and 36 The Butts (the Crown Grocery Stores), Devizes. Issachar Hailstone was a cooper, born at Woodborough, Wiltshire; and Martha was born at Stanton, Wiltshire.
Arthur Taylor and Mary Hailstone were married by the Rev. J.E. Doubleday at the Wesleyan Chapel, Devizes, on 23 May 1890. The Rev. Doubleday was obviously very neglectful in his duties because he didn’t bother making an entry in the Wesleyan Chapel’s marriage register for Arthur and Mary. The register also shows that he didn’t always fill in all the necessary details for other couples he married. The registrar didn’t fare much better either. He should have been present at weddings to sign the register, but his name is also missing from several entries!
Mrs. Taylor took no part in public affairs in Warminster, preferring to look after her home and family. She eventually suffered a long illness and in August 1943 she moved to Yeovil, to be cared for by her eldest daughter, Mrs. Millicent Steadman. An operation in September 1943 left her bedridden for the rest of her life. She returned to Berry Villa and was nursed by her sister Mrs. Fruen and Nurse Spiers. Mrs. Taylor died at Berry Villa on Thursday 30 December 1943. She had asked for no mourning and no flowers and was cremated privately at Arnos Vale, Bristol. The service was conducted by the Rev. J. Stacey, the Methodist Minister of Warminster.
Captain and Mrs. Taylor had seven children: Mrs. Millicent Steadman, as previously mentioned, was the eldest of the family and lived at Yeovil. Her husband was Captain Steadman and they had three children; Arthur Taylor, was born at the Curragh Camp and lived at Trowbridge; Harvey Taylor, who was a school teacher, moved to Swansea (he married a local girl, Miss Binden, who was also a school teacher); Stanley Taylor, who lived at Trowbridge, was a Relief Stationmaster with the Great Western Railway; Mrs. Winifred Carter, was born in the Wynberg district of South Africa and lived at Swindon. Her husband had served with Captain Taylor throughout the First World War, was mentioned in despatches and awarded the M.B.E.; Mrs. Gladys Dicks, who lived at Crockerton (and whose children were born at Berry Villa), was the wife of Mr. J. Dicks, the engineer at the Waterworks at Crockerton; and Ethel, who died in Australia, had three children who survived her there
Captain Taylor employed a housekeeper, Miss Gilbert, after his wife’s death and he described her as “an angel.” After indifferent health for some years Captain Taylor died in March 1956. He was 86. His funeral was held at the Methodist Church, George Street, Warminster, and was followed by cremation at Bristol. The service was taken by the Reverend F. May, who was assisted by Captain Taylor’s grandson, the Reverend John Taylor. Jesu, Lover Of My Soul, a favourite of Captain Taylor’s, was one of two hymns sung at the funeral. At Captain Taylor’s request there was no mourning and no flowers. In an interview made in February 1952 he said he hoped there would be “No moaning at the bar when he put out to sea.”