Knowing an unusual family name (like Kapadia in late 19th century England) makes it fairly easy to locate a family's documentary record. Slightly more common, but still unusual, the name Hanrott helped in finding Zoe Young, and so on. Records for Zoe's great grandparents Taylor seemed beyond reach. But it was her grandfather, William Taylor, who had the good fortune to receive a legal training, and this proved enough to locate some records about his father.
In the early 19th century, legal training involved serving as clerk to an established attorney for five years. The contracts made by aspiring solicitors are recorded in Articles of Clerkship, which, at the very least, name the Clerk and the Attorney to whom he was articled. Given that most young men entering the profession were about 16 years old, their fathers are often mentioned as parties to the contract. In addition, Articles of Clerkship take the form of an affidavit made by someone who was not a party to the actual agreement, and these names can be useful in finding connections among family members.
As you might suspect, simply searching (on ancestry.com) for Articles of Clerkship for William Taylor yields many results, even if we specify 1810s London. But if we specify additionally that John Birkett must be named, there they are, Articles of Clerkship 1817 assigning the young William Taylor as clerk from John Blow to John Birkett for the remainder of his five-year term. This was also a geographical move from Carlisle to London - for his training at least, since it's unclear where he was born, although his 1841 England Census return claims he was not born in Middlesex.
We already have records indicating a professional relationship between Birkett and Blow; by 1847 there were law partnerships of Messrs. Blow and Relph in Carlisle working with Messrs. Birkett, Taylor and Cox at Cloak Lane, London. By 1847, John Birkett had died, but a son had taken up the mantle. Meanwhile, John Blow of Carlisle had died in July 1829, although the law practice still bore the name Blow. And Birketts, The Next Generation describes evidence for a likely family relationship between the two as first cousins.
Back to the Articles of Clerkship. There are actually two documents, each of them a sworn statement to the effect that William Taylor, son of John Taylor, was assigned from John Blow to John Birkett on the date 6 February 1817. The parties to the contract are "John Blow of the City of Carlisle in the county of Cumberland Attorney at Law of the first part John Taylor of Maiden Lane in the City of London Straw Hat Manufacturer of the second part William Taylor Son of the said John Taylor of the thrid part and John Birkett of Cloak Lane in the City of London attorney at Law of the fourth part". One of the documents is from Carlisle (dated 29th March), recording the execution of the Articles of Clerkship by John Blow and John Taylor. The other document is from London (dated 10th April), recording its execution by John Birkett and William Taylor. How much of the term of the clerkship was remaining as of April 1817, I don't know. By December 1821, however, William Taylor married John Birkett's daughter, Sarah Halton Birkett.
We do know, now, the name, address and occupation of William's father, John Taylor of Maiden Lane, Straw Hat Manufacturer. A google search of these terms gives two useful leads. First, the National Archives at Kew has a Will for such a person (PROB 11/1660/105). I purchased a copy, in which he wrote:
I John Taylor of Maiden lane in the City of London Straw hat manufacturer
do make and publish this my Last Will and Testament in manner following that
is to say I give devise and bequeath all my household goods linen plate book
and other debts sureties for money and all other my estate and effects of what
nature and kind soever and wheresoever unto my dear wife Ann Taylor her
heirs and assigns and I do hereby nominate and appoint my said Wife and my
friends John Botts and John Birkett Executrix and Executors of this my Last
Will and Testament...
One of the witnesses to this Will is George Cox 3 Cloak Lane, presumably Birkett's law partner. The Will was made 24 November 1821, and proved 20 July 1822. Confident that he was buried between these dates, I searched ancestry.com for a burial record in London. Needless to say, many John Taylors died in 1822, but I just looked at each record until I found John Taylor of Maiden Lane, who died aged 58 years, and was buried 12 July 1822 at St Ann and St Agnes Aldersgate. This sets his birth year about 1768.
From the Will we learn that at the time of his death his wife's name was Ann, although this does not mean that Ann Taylor was William's mother. John Taylor might have been widowed and remarried for all we know. I did look for baptismal records for parents John Taylor and Ann, but I'm stymied by the lack of information in parish registers of this period, with neither address nor father's occupation to differentiate between the several families of this name.
For example, the most promising list comes from the parish records of St John Zachary City of London, which has five baptisms of children of John Taylor and Ann, including a William Taylor (born 30 June 1798, bapt. 30 Sept 1798 - but note the claim of the 1841 census that he was not born in Middlesex). St John Zachary had been incorporated into St Ann and St Agnes, which is why it caught my attention. The other children are Elizabeth Ball Taylor (born 4 June 1797, bapt. 16 July 1797), Caroline (born 12 Aug 1801, bapt. 1 Jan 1802), Jane (born 6 Sept 1802, bapt. 17 Nov 1802) and James (born 19 May 1804, bapt. 30 May 1804). These are names I am keeping in mind, especially Elizabeth Ball, on the off chance that further evidence might make sense of them.
The second lead into John Taylor's life comes from the London Gazette, the pages of which are filled with legal notices. Many of these notices concern the administration of bankruptcies, from which law firms, like Birkett, Taylor and Cox, made their living (although I do not see them in this particular case).
A series of notices dated from 28 January 1800 onwards chronicle some bankruptcy proceedings against "John Taylor, of Maiden-lane, in the City of London, Weaver and Straw Hat-manufacturer, Dealer and Chapman". The notices announce the various meetings and examinations to which he would have been subjected by his creditors. He would have made some kind of offer to pay them dividends periodically. His creditors appear to have been favorably inclined. By 9 September "his Certificate will be allowed... unless Cause be shewn to the contrary on or before the 4th day of October next [1800]". Less fortunate debtors might end up in prison at the pleasure of their creditors. The last record I found was an announcement 16 July 1805 of a dividend to be paid. And we know from the Articles and from his Will that he was still trading from an address at Maiden Lane well after this.
So, here are John and Ann Taylor who turn out to be 5xgreat grandparents of mine. On the one hand a small gain in information; on the other hand, I am surprised that I found them at all given a name as widespread as Taylor.
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