Close
Peter C W Taylor, who has died aged 76, loved Lancing Chapel: singing in the Choir, playing the organ, as Sacristan, and then, as a donor, attending the dedication of the new porch in April 2022. Academic success eluded him in traditional subjects, curtailing university and legal traineeship, but his logical mind and eye for detail were ideal for the new discipline of computer science. He joined the pioneering Government team researching Computer Aided Design, based in Croydon, met his wife Rosalie in the Redhill Madrigal Singers and set up house with her in a pleasant suburb, which he successfully campaigned to be designated a conservation area. Peter soon achieved promotion in civil service communications, eventually as Head of Telecoms at the Home Office. After covering for loss of staff during a prolonged delay in privatisation, he took early retirement at 56.
Peter was always busy. A devoted husband and father of three, he had five grandchildren and a second home outside Cambridge to be close to three of them. He had built a one-manual organ, which he hired out to choral societies, including Neil Cox at Lancing. He and Rosalie joined the New London Singers and Peter became Director of Music at the ancient Surrey church of Chaldon. He used his computer skills for genealogical research, tracing his mother’s side back to Captain Richard Poole, who commanded a Shoreham ship against the Armada. Through the Victorian Society, Peter provided research for architects’ biographies, recently as joint editor of a major study of G E Street.
The Taylor family