Lord (Frank) Taylor (1905 - 1995) is best known as the founder of Taylor Woodrow, the leading international developer of living and working environments.
He was a shopkeeper's son who became a tycoon and a peer of the realm. He was born in Hadfield, near Glossop, Derbyshire, in 1905. His family lived in a small house with the front room converted into a fruit shop; by the age of 11, Frank was operating the business alone.
While Frank was still a teenager the family moved to Blackpool (in northwestern England) and his father set himself up as a fruit wholesaler. Frank learned the business by working for a rival wholesaler. By 1921 his father decided to buy a house, but he was unable to secure a loan.
Sixteen-year-old Frank offered the following arrangement: he would put up £30, his father £70, and the bank, with whom Frank had negotiated, a £400 loan. Frank proposed to build two houses with the money, including one for his uncle. In the end, Frank with his family sold the newly completed houses, realising a handsome profit.
Frank soon began building small developments of 20 to 30 houses. His plan was to make enough money to open a fruit wholesale business in California, but his early successes persuaded him to remain in the construction industry.
After a few years in business, government authorities realised that Frank was still a minor and ruled that his land and property deals were illegal. Frank's uncle Jack agreed to serve as his adult partner, but Jack's sole contribution was the addition of his surname, Woodrow, to the company's title.
In 1930, Frank Taylor moved his business to London where he purchased some marshy land near a proposed factory. After arranging another loan, he installed a pumping station to drain the land and built houses for the new factory's employees. He sold 50 houses in the first week at an average cost of £450 each. The estate, Grange Park, took three years to complete and contained 1,200 homes. By 1934, Taylor Woodrow's profits were £54,000 and the firm was building estates throughout the home counties and southern England.
Frank Taylor was later awarded a knighthood, and so become Sir Frank Taylor. In 1979, he resigned as managing director and became life president; already knighted, he was elevated to the peerage in 1982 and assumed the title Baron Taylor of Hadfield.
As the decade ended, Lord (Frank) Taylor retired as chairman and chief executive of the companyand theld the position of Life President until his death in 1995.