Love me love my Pig

Guy Tayleur

The Lovett family of Whittington/Oswestry has many branches and interconnects with many of the land-holding families of Shropshire as well as further afield. The result of this is that many of the people featured in the stories of the Pigs are related – albeit distantly! Guy Tayleur exemplifies this feature. Initially he seemed to spring, fully formed, to life on the 1901 census aged 9 and living with his parents in Marine Place, Seaton. His father was listed as Charles Tayleur, born around 1843 in Market Drayton, and Constance, born around 1860 in London.

No trace of a birth or baptism record could be found, so instead I looked for a marriage record for his parents. Charles Tayleur married Constance Emily Lovett on 13th January 1898, at Holy Trinity Church, St Marylebone. Constance gave her father’s name as John Henniker Lovett – a name that I had come across previously in my research, but I hadn’t looked into how the Lovetts of Fernhill fitted with the Lovetts of Greenfields, Weston Rhyn. Some rapid research later, it transpired that Arthur Lovett (of Greenfields) and Constance Lovett (mother of Guy Tayleur) shared great grandparents – John Lovett and Anne Venables. John and Anne had had two sons, Joseph and Thomas. Joseph Venables Lovett had married Margaret Heaton, and their son was Thomas Heaton Lovett who was the father of Arthur Lovett. John and Anne’s other son, Thomas, had married Emily Henniker (daughter of the 3rd Baron Henniker) and their eldest son was John Henniker Lovett who was the father of Constance Lovett. It was this branch of the Lovetts that had acquired Fernhill Hall (a sales brochure from 1989 can be seen here OSW-PH-W-20-74 – Fernhill Sales Brochure 1989 | Oswestry Family & Local History Group (oswestrygenealogy.org.uk))

Anyway, after that diversion, I had another surname to use to search for Guy’s birth. Looking for a baptism for Guy Lovett led me to a record dated 21st May 1891 when Guy was christened at All Saints Church, Clapham Park to Constance Emily Lovett of 53 Cambridge Terrace. The baptism record also gave Guy’s birth date, 21st April 1891. The 1891 census had been taken on 5th April, so I looked for the address given on the baptism record, and sure enough one of the residents at the lodging house at 53 Cambridge Terrace was a Constance Tayleur. Charles Tayleur can also be seen in London on the 1891 census – he is a boarder at a house in King Street, about 2 miles south of Constance.

So why did Constance and Charles not marry until 1898? Charles was already married to Lilias Flemyng Tayleur, nee Gyll and it was not until her death on 14 December 1897 was Charles free to marry Constance which he did, 30 days later.

Charles died on 23rd November 1903 in Seaton. Constance and Guy moved from Seaton to Endsleigh, Parkstone. The Bournemouth Daily Echo (24th June 1910) reported that Guy was caught riding a bike without a light and fined 7s. He is reported as saying “this is the second time I have been had”, demonstrating that 18 year olds haven’t really changed that much! By the time of the 1911 census, Constance and Guy are in Ansty, Dorchester. On this census, Guy stated his profession as Civil Engineer. A couple of months later, Guy boarded “The Virginian” en route to Quebec and Montreal. The Alloa Advertiser carried a report (26 August 1911) of some of the activities that passengers took part in, including a fancy dress ball when Guy dressed up as “a Turk”. A record of a border crossing that Guy took from Canada to the US in July 1912 gives Guy’s employment as that of a ‘rodman’, suggesting that he is still working as a civil engineer and is undertaking surveys prior to construction – perhaps in advance of roads or tramways connected to the mining companies of Sudbury, Ontario where Guy was living.

Sadly, Guy’s Canadian adventures didn’t last much longer. In August 1912 Constance was drowned whilst fishing on Cuil Bay, Loch Linnhe. She had gone to visit her friends, Major and Mrs Ionides, who had come to stay at Keil House, Duror. The three of them had gone out for some evening fishing, but in the process of changing seats the boat overturned. They clung to the upturned boat and shouted for help. Major Ionides disappeared and was presumed to have swum for shore, meanwhile a schooner came to the rescue of Mrs Ionides and Constance. Although Constance was rescued to the boat and artificial respiration was attempted, she succumbed to her injuries. At the time of the report (in The Scotsman, 6th August 1912), Major Ionides body had not been recovered.

A couple of years later, Guy married Evelyn Maud Gwynne, the daughter of the proprietor of the Bourne Hall Hotel in Bournemouth. A directory for 1914 gives Guy’s address as “The Nest”, Avondale Road, Littleham Cross. Time spent there was limited due to the advent of WW1; Guy’s service records look to have been destroyed but looking through issues of The Gazette (one of the official journals of record for the Government) and his medal roll card it is possible to trace part of his military career. On 3rd October 1913, The Gazette published that Guy had resigned his commission from 2nd Dragoon Guards (Queens Bays). Almost exactly a year later in October 1914, Guy was made up to 2nd Lieutenant in the 4th Battalion Devonshire Regiment. Guy seems to have remained with the Devonshire, and in July 1917 The Gazette reported that he had been promoted to Lieutenant, with a further promotion to acting Captain in November 1917. On 2nd May 1918, Guy relinquished the rank of acting Captain and was seconded to the Indian Army where he achieved promotion to full captain on 16th July 1919. At this point, an article in the Western Mail (29 November 1928) suggests, Guy was transferred to the Royal Corps of Signals.

Three of Guy and Evelyn’s 4 children were born in Murree, Rawalpindi in what was India but is now recognised as Pakistan. Their last child was born in 1927, and the following year Guy was promoted to Adjutant of the Royal Corps of Signals based in Cardiff. He spent 4 years in Cardiff before transferring to Catterick (Western Mail 6 September 1932).

In 1937 Guy’s uncle, Horace Lovett of Fernhill, Whittington, died and left the residue of his estate to Guy with the wish that he “assumes the surname of Lovett” (Birmingham Daily Gazette, 18th May 1937). Guy doesn’t seem to have responded to that wish straight away. An article in the Birmingham Daily Post (3rd July 1945) sheds some light on the WW2 experiences of the family, and only names them with the surname Tayleur. The article focuses on the work of Pamela Tayleur who was a member of the Women’s Auxiliary Service, Burma. She explained that shortly before the outbreak of WW2, Guy and the family were recalled to India where they lived in Quetta (now in Pakistan) before moving to Bangalore. In January of 1944, Pamela joined the WASB at Shillong. She was in Imphal in 1944 and evacuated when the Japanese invaded, and then moved to Mandalay. Also in 1944, Guy’s eldest child, Joan married Ian Malcolm Christie at St Mark’s Church, Bangalore. Guy’s third daughter, was also in the WASB and her recollections of VE Day in Burma were published in The Times VE Day anniversary: remembering the celebrations 75 years on | News | The Times.

The article in The Times makes reference to Evelyn developing cancer and the family needing to return to the UK. On the 10th February 1947 Guy made a statutory public declaration that he would be assuming the surname of Lovett. In the declaration, he gives his address as Weycroft Hall, Axminster and his profession as Brigadier (Retd). Weycroft Hall is a Grade 1 listed building WEYCROFT HALL, Axminster - 1098625 | Historic England, and Guy and Evelyn live here until around 1954.

Guy and Evelyn moved to St Brelade, Jersey where Evelyn died in 1956, and Guy died on 12th July 1969. Their only son, John Lovett Tayleur had predeceased them in May 1956.