By Christine Swan
My grandfather’s generation were less inclined to travel, unless they were wealthy, in the military, or seeking a better life elsewhere. The latter was the driver for Edwin James Taylor, the younger brother of my grandfather, Albert.
The Taylor family living in Bethnal Green in 1911
Edwin was born in 1901 in Bethnal Green, to David Deighton Taylor and Julia Cooke. His mother died when he was just eleven years old, and his father when he was sixteen. My grandfather worked as a labourer and then joined the military, but, as Edwin was a three years younger, he was not yet able to strike out on his own. Instead, along with his younger siblings, he entered the care of the Metropolitan Board of Guardians.
Edwin James was cared for by the Metropolitan Board of Guardians after the death of his parents
My father had vague memories of his uncle. He told me that Edwin had visited their house in Walthamstow to watch Cardiff Football Club play in a cup match. This seemed rather bizarre to me – why would an East End boy support a Welsh football team? My father also told me that Edwin had emigrated to Canada and was employed by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. He had also worked as a farm hand and rancher, and described to me a photograph that his father had of Edwin wearing a Stetson hat, leather chaps and cowboy boots. I have never seen this photograph and have no idea where it might be now but his description was enough to piece together what might have happened. Such memories have proved to be invaluable in piecing together a life, with all of its twists and turns. Who was Edwin? I was determined to find out.
As the family collapsed due to David’s terminal Tuberculosis, the younger children were taken into the Bethnal Green workhouse site, then called Waterloo House. The first record that I found was 1914, when Edwin attended Leytonstone School, and his father was still alive, but in the Bethnal Green Infirmary. Ailing, and with no prospect of ever seeing his children again, it must have been crushing for David to think that they were within the same building complex as he.
The former Bethnal Green Infirmary
Edwin was being transferred to a new location, hence the record entry. In 1916 a fifteen year old Edwin was packed off to Mr Jones of Drymma Farm, Llansamlet, South Wales. Here was connection number one, and the link with South Wales that I was looking for. How strange it must have been for a boy from the East End to find himself in rural Wales. My own first memories were of the magnificent Black Mountains, the barrenness, and lack of dense housing but how greater would the adjustment have been for young Edwin. He may not have known that his father died just a year later. I hope that Mr Jones was kind and that the work was not too hard for a young lad. I know nothing of Mr Jone, but I would like to think that he was a kindly man to have taken in an orphan from London. At that time, it was preferable for Edwin to have been working on a farm, rather than being down a pit or fighting in France.
St Samlet’s Church Llansamlet, Glamorgan
In 1921, Edwin was still living in Llansamlet but now with his adopted father, William Williams, and family. Adoption was not a regulated process at that time. Doubtless some matches were beneficial to both the child and the family that they were absorbed into, as was the case of George Betts, who only spoke well of his adoptive family, and chose to keep their name throughout his life, rejecting his birth name. Edwin was older, and retained the name of Taylor. He was working at the Worcester Tin Plate Company in Morriston Works, a short train ride away.
Edwin James Taylor lived in Llansamlet in 1921
My father’s memory of Edwin visiting was most likely recounted to him rather than a personal recollection. A little research showed that Cardiff played, and won, the Football Association cup in 1927. My father would only have been a baby at that time, so couldn’t possibly have remembered. Additionally, it was not much longer after this, in 1929, that Edwin set sail from Liverpool for Canada.
In the passenger record, he gave the name of his relative in his home country as his elder sister, May, and her address in Walthamstow. Why did he not give the name of his adopted father?
Edwin arrives in Canada in 1929
This was the start of a new life for Edwin. He described himself as a farm labourer in the immigration document, which would map to the photograph of him wearing cowboy clothing, including leather chaps. My parents visited Canada a number of times and adored the country. In a conversation that I had with my mother, not long before she died, she reflected on all of the countries that she had visited. Canada was her favourite.
I know that Edwin did not travel alone. He was accompanied by his younger brother Frank Henry. I have not yet traced their life in Canada. Two orphaned boys who made good. Edwin found a new family in Wales and then created a new life for himself in Canada. Apart from the one occasion that my father remembered, I am not sure if Edwin visited England again. Certainly not in my lifetime. I find it very sad that the Deighton-Taylor children were scattered to the four winds after the death of their father. Some experienced more success than others but they all worked hard to achieve it.
Awful Rigours and Wretched Pay 