FEBRUARY 1921: LOUGHBOROUGH PEOPLE VIEW THE ART OF BELL FOUNDING
In February 1921, Taylor’s Bell Foundry arranged an exhibition of the ‘bell founders’ art’, which not only raised funds for Loughborough’s Carillon War Memorial but garnered more interest and support for the whole idea of a carillon.
The decision to honour Loughborough’s WW1 fallen had not been without controversy. After much debate and a public vote, a carillon tower had been chosen, so the exhibition would have reassured Loughborough people about the memorial they were getting, as well as being good publicity for Taylor’s.
BELLS LARGE – AND LARGER STILL
Visitors to the exhibition were able to view some of Taylors’ most spectacular creations, including a 39-bell carillon commissioned for Armagh Cathedral. The one for Loughborough, visitors were told, would be bigger still with 47 bells. Also on show was the huge 4½ ton bell cast for the new Rotterdam City Hall, and a 25-bell carillon for South Shields.
BELLS IN MEMORIAM
Taylor’s lost three sons in the war, all killed in action. Arnold Bradley Taylor died in 1916, aged 22, and his brother John William Taylor in the same year, aged 31. Gerald Bardsley Taylor was killed in 1918, aged 32. All three men are commemorated on the Carillon, and its largest bell is inscribed with their names. It’s called the Denison Bell, after their uncle Edmund Denison Taylor (1864-1947). The family also cast a bell for the brothers for Holy Trinity Church in Loughborough. This too was on show at the exhibition.
As well as the bells, visitors to the exhibition were able to see architect’s drawings of the forthcoming Carillon Tower, and hear a demonstration of a carillon being played.
Gwendoline Taylor (1894-1942), sister to Arnold, John and Gerald, played a part in the creation of Loughborough’s Carillon, by assisting in the tuning of the bells. It would surely have been a very poignant task for her.
@DebbieTaylor
