Full name of worker at H.M. Factory Gretna (and any other names they are known by): Ernest Harry Taylor

Gender: Male

Date and Place of Birth: December 4th 1868, Chelmsford 

Date and Place of Death: June 19th 1928, Chelmsford 

Nationality: English

Biography

Childhood: 115 High Street, Chelmsford.

Parents: John Taylor, Matilda Robbins Taylor

Parent’s occupations: John Taylor: Newspaper proprietor/Printer, Matilda Robbins; Printer’s Wife on 1861 census.

 

Schools / universities attended and years of attendance: 

College School House, Braintree: 1875 until at least 1883.

Occupation: Publishing manager/Journalist.

Place of residence at Gretna: Unknown

Job title at Gretna: Social Manager

Marital status: 1911 census lists Taylor as ‘widowed’ but there is no mention of a wife in his obituary published in 1928 and there is no evidence of a marriage record.

 

Children: None 

Travels: Southend, Prittlewell, Clacton-on Sea, Gretna, Brighton, Danbury.

Awards/recognitions: Elected onto Southend School Board in 1888. Joined the Southend Priory Freemasons Lodge in 1892. Served on Council of the London Football Association.

 

Trivia / any other information: 

At school he was nicknamed “Cockey” on leaving he joined the staff at his father’s newspaper the Essex Weekly News. He started at the Chelmsford office and later as part of the literary staff at the Southend office of the Weekly News. He was also involved with sports and played for the Rochford Hundreds Football Club. By 1890 he was working on the Southend Observer Taylor, also worked on the Barking Advertiser and was later manager of the Law Journal. Ill health caused him to give up the post and he moved to Clacton-on-sea where he worked as a political agent for the Conservative Party, playing a role in the election of Sir Harry Newton for the Harwich Parliamentary seat in the 1910 General Election. Taylor was appointed Social Manager at Gretna as part of the programme to keep workers within the factory area. He was also secretary of the Gretna Institute and in this capacity greeted George V and Queen Mary during the Royal visit to Gretna on May 17th 1917. Taylor was at the center of many of the factories activities and after the Armistice he was entertained at a farewell dinner. Post war Taylor lived in Brighton and spent his later years at Millington House in Danbury, Essex. He died at the Chelmsford and Essex Hospital on June 19th 1928, after a prolonged illness.