Campden Voices 

by Christopher Marsh, 23 December, 2005

A quantity of glass plates were donated to Gloucester Record Office some years ago, and they now have the resources to scan them for printing. The photos include early pictures of Campden Research Station and WW1 Belgian soldiers who were recuperating at Burnt Norton House, used then as a hospital. The display shows a very small proportion of the collection variety of photographs taken by Jesse Taylor and many local scenes and people need to be identified. - we need to know!
So watch out for some photos which you might be able to identify, to help us to put together the story of how WW1 touched Campden.

Each month we shall be featuring a photograph and caption from the display.

Jesse Taylor was born in Redcliffe, Bristol in 1865, the fifth son of William and Mary Taylor. William was a pianoforte maker and the 1881 census shows that the eldest son followed his father’s trade but Jesse, then 15 years old, and one of his older brothers were watchmakers.
Ten years later Jesse, still a watchmaker, was living in Bedminster, Bristol with his wife Alice who was from an old Ebrington farming family, the Stanleys.  The 1881 census lists Alice as a music teacher in Bristol, living with her grandfather. The music connection must have brought Jesse and Alice together. The Taylors moved to Chipping Campden in about 1893, probably to be near her family.