Frederick Williams-Taylor

Sir Frederick Williams-Taylor
Born
Frederick William Taylor

(1863-10-23)October 23, 1863
Moncton, New Brunswick, British North America
DiedAugust 2, 1945(1945-08-02) (aged 81)
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Known forGeneral manager of the Bank of Montreal
Spouse
Jane Fayrer Henshaw
​
​
(m. 1888)​
Children2
RelativesBrenda Frazier (granddaughter)

Sir Frederick Williams-Taylor (October 23, 1863 – August 2, 1945) was a Canadian banker. He was general manager of the Bank of Montreal.

Early life

Frederick was born in Moncton, New Brunswick on October 23, 1863. He was the son of Ezekiel Moore Taylor, from County Donegal, Ireland, and Rosaline (née Beatty) Taylor, born in Moncton, New Brunswick.[1]

His paternal great-grandfather was Capt. Moore (d. 1849) of Buncrana Castle in Inishowen, Ireland (third son of William Thornton-Todd, heir of both Isaac Todd, the prominent Montreal merchant with the North West Company, and William Thornton, a British Army officer who served as Lieutenant Governor of Jersey)[2] and his maternal great-grandfather was Joseph Morse (30 Nov 1721 Medfield MA-1769 Amherst, Nova Scotia), a pre-Loyalist planter to Nova Scotia.[1] This Irish ancestry has not been proven.

Williams-Taylor was educated at the Moncton Superior School until he began working in 1878.[1] In 1914, he was honored with the honorary degree of doctor of laws by the University of New Brunswick.[3]

Career

In 1878, Williams-Taylor joined the Bank of Montreal and by 1897, he was appointed Assistant Inspector, Head Office. In 1903, he became the Joint Manager of the bank in Chicago and by 1906, he was promoted to Manager of the bank in London, England, and eventually, and General Manager of the bank in 1913.[4]

In 1913, Frederick Williams-Taylor was knighted by King George V,[5] and combined his middle name and birth surname into a new hyphenated surname. He received an honorary degree of Doctor of Laws from the University of New Brunswick in 1915.[4]

Personal life

In athletics, he "earned great distinction in skating, rowing, tennis, squash, racquets, and stroked the Wanderers four-oared crew" in Halifax, in 1886.[1]

In June 1888, he married the former Jane Fayrer Henshaw (1868–1950), a daughter of Mr. Joshua Henshaw of Montreal. Together, they had a daughter:

  • Brenda Germaine Henshaw Williams-Taylor (1889–1948), who married Frank Duff Frazier of the prosperous Boston family in 1917.[6] They divorced in January 1926 (he died of throat cancer in 1933) and she married Frederic Newell Watriss (1871–1938).[7] After his death, she married Henry Pierrepont Perry (1878–1966) in 1942.[8]
  • Frederick Travers Williams-Taylor (1894–1926), a Lt. formerly of the 13th Hussars, Bimbashi Sudan Defence Force and veteran of World War I who died in 1926.[9]

Just before her daughter's wedding in Montreal in December 1917, Lady Williams-Taylor was painted by the Swiss-born American society artist Adolfo Muller-Ury at his palatial home, Star Acres, in Nassau in the Bahamas,[3] after which he attended the wedding ceremony.[10] While living in the Bahamas, Sir Frederick and Lady Williams-Taylor were close friends of the Duke (formerly Edward VIII) and Duchess of Windsor.[3]

Williams-Taylor died in Montreal, Quebec on August 2, 1945.[3]

Descendants

Through his daughter Brenda, he was the grandfather of Brenda Frazier (1921–1982), known as one of the most famous American debutantes during the Depression era.[11]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Sir Frederick Williams-Taylor. Manager of the Bank of Montreal, London, England. An important Factor in the Money Centre of the Great Metropolis. | Canadian History Makers. A Volume Containing Accurate and Concise Sketches of Men who have Done Things in The Dominion of Canada Past and Present Together with Photogravures Made from their Latest Photographs. Montreal: Canadian Publication Society. 1913. pp. 63, 159. Retrieved August 30, 2018.
  2. ^ Burke, C.B., LL.D., Sir Bernard (1886). A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry of Great Britain & Ireland. London: Harrison and Sons, Pall Mall. p. 1813. Retrieved August 30, 2018.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  3. ^ a b c d "Sir Frederick Williams-Taylor Dies Here After Lengthy Illness". The Gazette (Montreal). August 2, 1945. p. 1. Retrieved August 30, 2018.
  4. ^ a b A cyclopædia of Canadian biography. Toronto: Hunter-Rose Company. 1919.
  5. ^ "No. 28690". The London Gazette. February 14, 1913. p. 1147.
  6. ^ "8 Years' Legal Battle Over Little Diana Frazier". The Milwaukee Sentinel. April 29, 1933. p. 45. Retrieved August 15, 2014.[permanent dead link‍]
  7. ^ Koenig, Rhoda (May 4, 1987). "Better Dead Than Deb". New York Magazine. 20 (18). New York Media, LLC: 118–119. ISSN 0028-7369.
  8. ^ "Brenda Frazier's Mother To Marry". Toledo Blade. August 1, 1942. p. 3. Retrieved August 15, 2014.
  9. ^ "Montreal Officer Died in the Sudan | Capt. Travers Williams-Taylor Saw Much Service in Great War | Prisoner of the Turks | Wounded and Captured While on Service in Mesopotamia – Twice Wounded With Canadians". The Gazette (Montreal). May 12, 1926. p. 4. Retrieved August 30, 2018.
  10. ^ American Art News, Vol. 15, No. 25, New York, 31 March 1917, p. 8: 'A. Muller-Ury has had a busy winter painting portraits. Among his most recent works are a three-quarter length of Lady William Taylor, of Montreal, which he painted at Nassau.'
  11. ^ "Brenda Frazier Once Mixed With Cream of Cafe Society". Toledo Blade. June 4, 1987. p. 30. Retrieved August 15, 2014.