Citylife in Lichfield October 2021

FM Tayler & Son
A Local Family Business
By Jono Oates
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Over the last 150 years there have been many family businesses in
Lichfield, as in many towns and cities across the country, where a
traditional business has been passed down from father to son,
from son to granddaughter and from granddaughter to cousin. One of the
best-known Lichfield family businesses was the Tayler family who
provided a gentleman’s outfitters on Bore Street for over a hundred
years. The business was started by Frederick Monk Tayler at the end of
the 19th century, before it was handed down to his sons and even when
it was managed by non-family members, it was still known as ‘Tayler and
Son’.
Frederick was born in March 1873 to his parents William, who was a cooper
(barrel-maker), and Emma in Abingdon, Berkshire, one of five children. He left
school at 16 to work in the clothing trade at various towns in Lincolnshire and
then at Corsham in Wiltshire where he met his wife, Alice, and they married at
Portishead near Bristol in 1897. In the autumn of that year the family moved to
Lichfield and he started his own gents’ outfitters business at number 40 Bore
Street, part of the Five Gables, now Kerry Evans the butchers. In July 1898
William placed an advert in the Lichfield Mercury about his new business using
the limerick: ‘When wool was high, In days gone by, It cost you lots of clothing,
Now wool is lower, And at our store, Are clothes for next to nothing…’ –
catchy eh?!
By 1914 Frederick decided to expand his business after an opportunity arose
to move to a larger premises further along Bore Street, on the junction of Bore
Street and St John Street – but his new venture was to cause a lot of
controversy. The building he wanted to move in to had previously been the
Thomas Minors’ School, established in the 17th century by a Lichfield
benefactor. Thomas provided the funds to build, and maintain, a school for 30
poor young Lichfeldian boys, so that they could learn to read and write. The
school later closed and the building was radically changed. In early 1914
Frederick Tayler purchased the property to build a ‘modern’ gents’ outfitters,
replacing the one he had at number 40. However, there was much resistance to
this and, at a meeting of the City Council in May 1914, Councillor Joseph Raby
objected to the transformation of a historic Lichfield landmark to a modern
business premises, especially the removal of a fine Norman door, the original
entrance to the school. After a lengthy discussion the Council members agreed
that the decision on the planning change for the property be delayed, although
it was later approved and Frederick’s new shop opened later that year.
Two of his sons, John and Ben, also helped in the shop and Tayler and Son
quickly became a very well-known and respected business in Lichfield, in a very
popular location. Tayler’s were well-known for selling high quality suits, trousers,
sports jackets shirts, blazers, ties and accessories for both men and boys. In May
1938 you could buy a made-to-measure suit for 50 shillings (£2.50 in today’s
money), a sports jacket for 12 shillings and eleven old pence (£0.65p) and a pair
of flannel trousers for 10 shillings and six old pence (£0.53p).
Tayler, as a successful businessman, owned houses in and around Lichfield,
including several houses on Cherry Orchard, using number 11 as his own
residence. He and Alice had six children and, as well as the two brothers who
worked in the shop, their daughter, Mary, went on to marry Frank Halfpenny,
from another well-known Lichfield family.
Frederick became a councillor in 1920 and in 1937/38 he became Mayor of
Lichfield before becoming Alderman of Lichfield in 1943 and also served as
Sheriff in 1932. In 1955 he became a Freeman of the City, a very rare privilege,
although this was tempered by the death of his wife, Alice, in the same year.
In May 1961 Frederick resigned his position at Lichfield City Council having
been involved with the council for 40 years. Known as the ‘Father of the
Council’ Tayler claimed the proud record that he had retained his seat, without
any contest, for 23 years, believed to be the longest in the history of the City
Council.
In December of that year Frederick died, aged 88, at St Michael’s Hospital,
after falling out of his bed at his home in Cherry Orchard. The name Tayler and
Son continued however, first under his son’s guidance and later under the
management of Reg Simkins, then Michael Mullarkey and David Harries. The
shop continued until 2007 when it closed, and it is now the site of Jayman Estate
Agents.
The name Tayler and Son still resonates strongly in Lichfield however, and that
bears testament to the impact and influence that the Tayler name had on the
city of Lichfield for over 100 years.
*Vintage photographs courtesy of the St Mary’s Photographic Collection
Sources: The British Newspaper Archive; Trades of a City by J.P. Gallagher
My thanks to Mr Michael Mullarkey for his assistance with this article.
FM Tayler's earlier shop on Bore Street
Thomas Minors School before
conversion to FM Tayler's
Tayler and Son advert as featured
in Lomax Red Book
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