Taylor Arthur M.A. (1868 – 1951)
Prebendary Arthur Taylor M.A. 1868-1951 2 Vermont Road 1905 – 1910
Anglican Priest, born in Manchester and educated at Manchester Grammar School and at Corpus Christi, Oxford University, Secretary of the British and Foreign Bible society from 1898 to 1918, Vicar of St Bride’s Fleet Street from 1918 to 1951, appointed Prebendary of Ealdland in St Paul’s Cathedral in 1940. He lived in Upper Norwood at Hawke Road (1901 census), Vermont road (1905-1910) (both houses named “Caerleon.”) and then in Highland Road (1911 census).
A portrait of rev Arthur Taylor faces page 192 of Volume 5 of William Canton’s 1910 history of the British and Foreign Bible Society
https://missiology.org.uk/pdf/e-books/canton-w/history-of-bfbs-vol-5_canton.pdf
“The Times” wrote that “his great work began” when he became secretary of the British and Foreign Bible Society. His colleagues at home and abroad “were inspired by his long vision and strengthened by his wise judgement”. Shortly after his arrival at “Bible House” he began to plan for a worthy celebration of the 1904 centenary of the society “A large fund was raised….. special editions were published…meetings were held all over the world”.
The March 1904 edition of the Upper Norwood section of the Sydenham Circuit Wesleyan Magazine reported :
“Sunday March 6 is the centenary of the British and Foreign Bible Society, when collections will be made in our church for the Bible Society Centenary fund. On that day collections will be made in most of the places of worship in our country for that object. Special sermons will be preached giving information with regard to that Noble Society, and we doubt not that our people will do something worthy of such a glorious institution.”
With the outbreak of the 1st world war, there were further initiatives. At the 1914 Manchester meeting of the British and Foreign Bible Society, Mr Taylor reported that bibles were being freely given to refugees and the wounded in all countries affected by the war and that the Bible Society would bear half the production costs for all bibles provided to soldiers. He advised that the society had issued over three quarters of a million books in connection with the war.
The Bible Society, Distribution of books among soldiers – The Guardian, 28 October 1914
He was appointed vicar of St Bride’s Fleet Street in 1918. “As one of the secretaries of the Bible Society, which sends the printed gospel over the globe in every language, Prebendary Taylor had a technician’s knowledge of printing and publishing, and his wide travel for the Society had fitted him for dealing with business men and women. In the result Fleet Street possessed a parson whose ministrations it could appreciate and St Bride’s has become the Journalists’ Church.”
https://www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-london/bk15/pp33-38
On Sunday 29th December 1940 the Luftwaffe targeted London in a concentrated incendiary raid with incendiary bombs hitting the roof of the church. The timbers of the roof caught fire and the church and tower were gutted. The twelve bells crashed to the ground, breaking or melting as their frame in the belfry was consumed by fire. After the fire Prebendary Taylor held services in Fleet Street in a repaired vestry building that had been converted into a chapel. He died on March 15 1951 – his funeral was held in the crypt of St Paul’s Cathedral – with tributes taking the form of donations to the St Bride’s Restoration Fund.
It was said that Prebendary Taylor had secured what was left of the bells against the time when they might be recast. After his death remains of the bells, formerly thought to have gone missing, were discovered in the former music room in the south east corner of the church in December 1951. In 1954 St Bride’s was rebuilt at the expense of newspaper proprietors and journalists. The metal fragments from the twelve bells were used to cast one new bell – the one that hangs in St Bride’s steeple to this day.
Prebendary Arthur Taylor worked for “The Times” between 1919 and 1922 and was honorary chaplain to the Press Club, the Institute of Journalists and the Fleet Street branch of the British Legion. He was a keen supporter of the London School of Printing (now the London College of Communication) under the St Bride Foundation. According to “The Times” “for all who came to his church he had a cheery word both in the pulpit and in private”. According to “The Guardian” “Mr Taylor had a salty northern wit and such vigour that few are not surprised to learn that he was in his 84th year. He will be much missed…..”
Sources: Times and Observer obituaries – March 16 1951