Cyril Taylor (educationist)

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Member of the Greater London Council
for Ruislip-Northwood
In office
1977–1986
Preceded byBernard Brown
Succeeded byCouncil abolished
Majority17,147 (30.9%)
Personal details
Born(1935-05-14)14 May 1935
Leeds, Yorkshire, England
Died29 January 2018(2018-01-29) (aged 82)
South Kensington, London, England
Political party
Spouse
Judith Denman Taylor
​
​
(m. 1965)​
Children1 daughter
Signature
Second Lieutenant
UnitKing's African Rifles
Battles/warsMau Mau rebellion

Sir Cyril Julian Hebden Taylor

Specialist Schools and Academies Trust
(SSAT).

Taylor founded

Richmond University[1] the American International University in London in 1971. The University is accredited in the United States and designated by the Department of Education of HM Government in the UK.[2] Taylor was Chancellor[1] of the university which has 1,200 students from 100 countries.[3]

Taylor was appointed a director of

Academies
initiatives.

Taylor was appointed a

Knight Grand Cross of The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (GBE) for services to education in 2004. In 1996, Taylor, was appointed by Queen Elizabeth II as High Sheriff of Greater London
.

Early life and education

The youngest of six children, Cyril Julian Hebden Taylor was born in Leeds, Yorkshire, England on 14 May 1935.[5] His parents, the Reverend Cyril Eustace Taylor and Marjorie Victoria Hebden Taylor, were Methodist missionaries in the Belgian Congo[6] who helped establish 38 churches with a collective membership of more than 3,000 people by 1925. They married in Mwanza on 17 October 1923 and had their first child, a son, on 25 July 1925.[7] The Reverend died from pneumonia in Switzerland four months before Taylor's birth in 1935, leaving Marjorie to raise him, his brother and his four sisters.[8]: 19 and 21 

Taylor was six months old when his mother returned to the Belgian Congo. He joined her and spent his formative years there, learning the local

Roundhay Grammar School until 1947 when he moved to London. In London, Taylor attended St Marylebone Grammar School, where he stayed until 1954.[12] In 2006, Taylor described Thomas Kingston Derry, his teacher at St Marylebone, as "probably the greatest influence on my life".[11]

National service and university

Kenya (National Service)

Taylor was called up for his two years National Service

Mau Mau emergency. He spent eighteen months as the Commander of Number 8 Platoon, C Company, in the 3rd Battalion of the King’s African Rifles.[14]

Trinity Hall, Cambridge University

Taylor left the army in March 1956, just prior to going up to

Cambridge University and took a teaching job for a term at a private boarding school. In October 1956, Taylor took his place at Trinity Hall, Cambridge[15] to read History. During his time at Cambridge, Taylor became good friends with reporter Mark Tully and Parviz C. Radji. Taylor's personal tutor was The Reverend Robert Runcie, who became Archbishop of Canterbury and who encouraged and supported Taylor's application to Harvard Business School and who would later recommend Taylor to the Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher.[16]

United States

Harvard Business School

In 1957 Taylor assisted a friend at Cambridge, Miles Halford, who had chartered two DC6 aeroplanes to fly fellow students who wanted to work their summer university break in North America and Canada.

Entrepreneurial studies in his final year. After graduation, Taylor was offered a job by Procter & Gamble[19]
in the Marketing Department where he worked from 1961 to 1964.

Procter & Gamble

Whilst working at Procter & Gamble, Taylor met and later married, French language teacher, Judy Denman.

American Institute For Foreign Study (AIFS). Taylor saw there was an untapped market for school trips abroad led by teachers and so spent his two-week Procter & Gamble vacation in August 1964 setting up summer study abroad programmes for high school students at universities in European cities.[21] This led to Taylor leaving Procter & Gamble in September 1964 to focus on this new enterprise and together with Roger Walther and Doug Burck, two other Brand Managers from Procter & Gamble, the AIFS[22]
was established.

American Institute for Foreign Study (AIFS)

Foundation of AIFS

Taylor founded the

Cambridge University
.

In 1969, Taylor and his two partners sold AIFS to the National Student Marketing Corporation (NSMC). NSMC went public in the 1970s and Taylor and his partners bought back AIFS from NSMC in 1977. As part of the purchase Camp America[24] was acquired, originally called Rural Britannia. This led to thousands of British and other foreign students travelling to the USA to work as camp counsellors during their summer vacations. Au Pair in America was formed in 1986, and signed into statute by President Bill Clinton. There have since that time been over 90,000 participants.

AIFS was floated on the

American Stock Exchange
in 1986 but was later re-acquired by Taylor and his partner Roger Walther in 1990. In 1993, AIFS was split as Walther wished to concentrate on other business ventures on the West Coast, with the ELS becoming a separate company under Walther’s direction.

Taylor remained actively involved with AIFS as its chairman. AIFS recently celebrated the enrolment of its 1,500,000th student and celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2014.[25]

Political career

Starting out in politics

Taylor was drawn towards the UK's

Huddersfield East seat in 1973. Taylor lost to Labour who regained power in 1974, but as Harold Wilson did not have a working majority in parliament, he called another election for October 1974 which he lost narrowly. Taylor had the opportunity to stand for another Labour marginal seat in Keighley which he lost by 3,081 votes. However, Taylor wanted was a safer seat near to London that would work well with his professional career and also to fit with his family life and so he resigned as the candidate for Keighley after the election.[26]

Greater London Council (GLC)

Taylor began to look at other ways to serve in a public capacity. In 1977 he was given the opportunity to stand as the Greater London Council (GLC) Conservative candidate[27] for Ruislip-Northwood and won a significant victory.

From 1977 until 1986, Taylor served as the member of the GLC for Ruislip-Northwood. Sir Horace Cutler, appointed Taylor to be the chairman of the council’s Professional and General Services Committee, which supervised the employment of 25,000 GLC staff. During his time at the GLC, Taylor was concerned with getting better value from public spending and wrote a paper called The Elected Member’s Guide to Reducing Public Expenditure.[28]

The Conservatives lost power to Ken Livingstone, Labour, in 1981. However, under Ken Livingstone’s leadership, Margaret Thatcher abolished the GLC in 1986, together with Taylor's role as a Conservative councillor. Taylor did not agree with Margaret Thatcher’s decision to abolish the GLC and made his views public in a Bow Group paper "London Preserved". Margaret Thatcher referred to Taylor as a ‘wet’, which was seen as one of the strongest forms of abuse for a Conservative at the time. Taylor was elected deputy leader of the Conservative Councillors in 1985. However, Margaret Thatcher later called upon Taylor to assist her with the growing youth unemployment problem of the 1980s.[11]

Specialist schools and academies

City Technology Colleges (CTCs)

In 1986 Taylor was still a director of Margaret Thatcher’s

Think Tank, the Centre for Policy Studies (CPS) and regardless of her views on Taylor's opposition to her abolition of the GLC, he was asked to organise an all day[29] CPS conference at the House of Lords to discuss the growing youth unemployment issue. It was from this conference that the idea of City Technology College (CTC) was born with the intention of using private sector and state support to set up the colleges to provide free education to children in urban areas, focused on modern technology. The idea was announced by Education Secretary, Kenneth Baker, Baron Baker of Dorking, at the Conservative Party Conference in Bournemouth October 1986. Taylor was then appointed as special adviser to organise the project and in May 1987 established the City Technology Colleges Trust (CTCT).[30]
The Trust gathered together leading figures from both industry and education as sponsors and between 1987 and 1993, £44 million of sponsorship was raised.

The CTCT model was expensive for sponsors and so had to be changed as it was being developed. Taylor suggested an alternative, less expensive option involving converting existing comprehensive schools to specialist technology colleges. There was still an element of industry sponsorship,[31] but at £100,000 this was much less than the £2 million previously required. The government would also provide match industry funding. The new CTCs needed to show how they would raise standards using their new technology specialisms. This new option was strongly supported by the new prime minister, John Major, who had succeeded Margaret Thatcher in 1990.

Special adviser to ten successive Secretaries of State for Education

Taylor remained specialist adviser to Kenneth Baker’s four Conservative successors:

Gillian Shepherd. It was through Gillian Shepherd’s enthusiasm and support that Taylor met with Prime Minister John Major to discuss how to include all schools as potential CTCs rather than remain limited to technology colleges who, on hearing the ideas being put forward, backed Taylor's proposals.[11]

The Conservatives lost the 1997 General Election to Labour after seventeen years in power. Taylor sought the support of the Labour Government so that his educational reforms [32] through CTCs and the raising of standards in specialist schools could continue. David Blunkett, Secretary of State for Education[9] from 1997 to 2001, supported Taylor's ideas and together with Conor Ryan, who was David Blunkett’s key adviser on schools, the specialist schools programme continued.

In 1997, Labour was re-elected and Taylor was reappointed as specialist adviser by David Blunkett, who was promoted to

Specialist Schools and Academies Trust (SSAT)[33]
programme, as it was now known, which had grown rapidly from 245 in 1997 to 700 by 2001 and by 2009 the number stood at over 3,000.

Taylor remained at the helm of the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust (SSAT) as a special adviser for education from 1987 until 2007 where he served ten Education Secretaries from both Conservative and Labour governments.

Personal life

Family

Taylor married June Judith Denman in 1965

Taylor married June Judith Denman, a teacher at Glen Este High School, at the Calvary Episcopal Church on 5 June 1965.[34] They had one daughter.

Lexham Gardens, London

Taylor purchased the freehold of a one-acre garden square, near to his London home, Lexham Gardens, Kensington, by auction in 1989.[35] With the assistance of designer Wilf Simms, he redesigned and replanted the garden. This saved it from the hands of property developers who wanted to build a car park underneath. In the garden’s first summer of 1991, it was awarded first prize in the All London Garden Squares Competition, competing against entries from 100 other squares.[36]

Death

Taylor died unexpectedly on 29 January 2018, at his home at 1 Lexham Walk,

Fulbright Commission scholarship that helps students from the United Kingdom study a master's degree at any desired university in America. It was created to commemorate Taylor's work and life.[41]

Awards

Knighthoods

Taylor was honoured in 1989 when Lord Baker recommended Taylor be made a Knight Bachelor[42] in the 1989 Birthday Honours for services to education in recognition of the success of the CTC initiative.

In 2004,

Knight Grand Cross of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (GBE) for services to education.[43]

High Sheriff of Greater London

After the abolition of the GLC in 1986, Taylor was appointed by Her Majesty the Queen as High Sheriff of Greater London for one year. During this time, Taylor's interest in the welfare and education of young people, led him to focus his attention on how to improve the treatment of young offenders as well as looking at how to reduce crime committed by young people especially by those who had been children in care.

Honorary citizenship

Awarded Honorary citizenship by the Mayor of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, June 2009 for services to education.

Honorary doctorates

Honorary Degrees
Location Date School Degree
 New Hampshire 1991 New England College Doctorate
 England 1997
Richmond, The American International University in London
Doctor of Laws (LL.D) [44]
 England 16 December 2000 Open University
Doctor of the University (D.Univ) [45]
 England 2005 Brunel University London Doctor of Education (D.Ed) [46]

Fellowships

Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts

Books and publications

References

  1. ^
    Richmond University. Archived from the original
    on 3 October 2014. Retrieved 30 May 2013.
  2. Richmond University. Archived from the original
    on 24 December 2014. Retrieved 19 March 2014.
  3. Richmond University. Archived from the original
    on 17 February 2014. Retrieved 19 March 2014.
  4. SSAT. September 2013. Archived from the original
    on 12 July 2013.
  5. OCLC 652076965
    .
  6. ^
    ISSN 0307-1235
    . Retrieved 23 September 2022.
  7. ^ a b Bishop, Steve (June 2016). "Tribute to E.L. Hebden Taylor (1925–2006)". Pro Rege. 44 (4): 1–8.
  8. ^
    ISBN 978-1-4456-1199-0
    .
  9. ^ a b Passmore, Biddy (25 May 2001). "The rise of Sir Cyril's specialist empire". TES Connect. Archived from the original on 12 July 2013.
  10. ^ "Foreign education enabler: Cyril Taylor". Honorary Unsubscribe. 4 February 2018. Retrieved 2 October 2022.
  11. ^ a b c d e Wilby, Peter (17 July 2006). "A different sort of missionary". The Guardian. London.
  12. ISBN 9780723001249
    .
  13. London Gazette
    .
  14. ^ "Camp America Staff Detail". Camp America. Archived from the original on 24 April 2013. Retrieved 30 May 2013.
  15. ^ "Project Leaders". Trinity Hall, Cambridge. Archived from the original on 29 July 2013. Retrieved 11 July 2013.
  16. ISBN 978-1-4456-1192-1
    .
  17. ISBN 978-1-4456-1192-1
    .
  18. ^ "Trustees and Patrons". British Friends of Harvard Business School. Archived from the original on 15 August 2013. Retrieved 11 July 2013.
  19. ^ "Specialist Schools Programme". Tes Connect. 2004. Archived from the original on 1 November 2013. Retrieved 11 July 2013.
  20. ^ "Sir Cyril Taylor Background Information". Cyril Taylor.
  21. ISBN 978-1-4456-1192-1
    .
  22. AIFS
    . September 2013.
  23. ^ "Biography". Debrett's.
  24. ^ "Sir Cyril Taylor Camp America Chairman". Camp America. Archived from the original on 24 April 2013. Retrieved 30 May 2013.
  25. ^ "Home". aifs.com.
  26. ISBN 978-1-4456-1192-1
    .
  27. ^ "Sir Cyril Taylor GLC Candidate" (PDF). London Datastore. 7 May 1981. Archived from the original (PDF) on 22 August 2013.
  28. ^ Elected Members Reducing Public Expenditure. ASIN 085070653X.
  29. SSAT. September 2013. Archived from the original
    on 12 July 2013.
  30. ^ "Specialist Schools". BBC. 28 September 2001.
  31. ^ "Academy payment change welcomed". BBC. 7 September 2009.
  32. ^ "'Staggering' academy improvement". BBC. 10 September 2010.
  33. Source Watch
    .
  34. Newspapers.com
    .
  35. ISBN 978-1-4456-1192-1
    .
  36. ^ "Annual Report" (PDF). Kensington Society. Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 November 2013.
  37. ^ Jones, Peter (2 February 2018). "In Memoriam – Sir Cyril Taylor (1935-2018)". ACIS. Retrieved 23 September 2022.
  38. ^ "No. 62338". The London Gazette. 28 June 2018. p. 11562.
  39. ^ "Sir Cyril and Lady Judy TAYLOR". Legacy.com. 12 February 2018. Retrieved 23 September 2022 – via The Times.
  40. ISSN 0140-0460
    . Retrieved 23 September 2022.
  41. ^ "US-UK Fulbright Commission Introduces Sir Cyril Taylor Memorial Award for Social Entrepreneurship". American Institute for Foreign Study. August 2018. Retrieved 23 September 2022.
  42. London Gazette
    .
  43. London Gazette
    .
  44. ^ "Honorary Degree Recipients – Richmond University". Archived from the original on 30 September 2018. Retrieved 21 March 2018.
  45. ^ "Honorary graduate cumulative list" (PDF). The Open University. 2017. p. 21.
  46. ^ "Honorary Graduates".
  47. ^ Garner, Richard (10 February 2009). "State Schools". The Independent. London.
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