52 residents #46 Hubert Taylor
22/11/15 18:01
Hubert Taylor and his wife Ada bought Springhill House from Doris Hartley in 1948. Interestingly their purchase seems to have been financed by a loan for £2000 from Hilda Haworth of Caernarvon, Widow. I am not sure about the connection. This was repaid in 1960 when they borrowed from Barclays and the Halifax.
In 1964 the Taylors registered a memorandum of association establishing Springhill Nursing Home Ltd. Its terms of reference were very wide including:
'carry on a Private Nursing or Maternity Home'…
to 'employ medical, surgical and pharmaceutical officers'…
to 'educate and train medical students'…
to 'carry on business in…Ambulance and other Motor Vehicle Proprietors and Merchants of and Dealers in Stretchers…Respiratory Apparatus…'…
to 'organise social parties'…
to 'construct, maintain, alter…factories, mills, works, wharves…[NB 40 miles from the sea and no navigable river]…
to 'apply for, promote and obtain any Act of Parliament…for enabling the Company to carry out its objects'…
basically to do whatever it liked. It also made Hubert and Ada Taylor and her parents Harold and Marjorie Lawrence Co-Directors for life.
Nothing like thinking big, and there is no evidence that it ever acted other than as a nursing home for the elderly despite all the options in the founding document.
The property was sold to Portman Registers Ltd in 1970 and Springhill Nursing Home Ltd was wound up in 1972. it appears that the Nursing Home ever made much money and was managed by a succession of matrons who rarely lasted more than 18 months. I remember visiting someone there in the late '70s/early '80s (date deliberately vague!) and standards were not high…
As an aside, Taylor's daughter, Muriel, was good friend with my mother Eileen Taylor - no relation!
In 1964 the Taylors registered a memorandum of association establishing Springhill Nursing Home Ltd. Its terms of reference were very wide including:
'carry on a Private Nursing or Maternity Home'…
to 'employ medical, surgical and pharmaceutical officers'…
to 'educate and train medical students'…
to 'carry on business in…Ambulance and other Motor Vehicle Proprietors and Merchants of and Dealers in Stretchers…Respiratory Apparatus…'…
to 'organise social parties'…
to 'construct, maintain, alter…factories, mills, works, wharves…[NB 40 miles from the sea and no navigable river]…
to 'apply for, promote and obtain any Act of Parliament…for enabling the Company to carry out its objects'…
basically to do whatever it liked. It also made Hubert and Ada Taylor and her parents Harold and Marjorie Lawrence Co-Directors for life.
Nothing like thinking big, and there is no evidence that it ever acted other than as a nursing home for the elderly despite all the options in the founding document.
The property was sold to Portman Registers Ltd in 1970 and Springhill Nursing Home Ltd was wound up in 1972. it appears that the Nursing Home ever made much money and was managed by a succession of matrons who rarely lasted more than 18 months. I remember visiting someone there in the late '70s/early '80s (date deliberately vague!) and standards were not high…
As an aside, Taylor's daughter, Muriel, was good friend with my mother Eileen Taylor - no relation!
