R. & A. Taylor of Lynn, seed merchant: seed packets and ephemera

The archive consists of printed material including price list, calendar, stationery, labels and seed packets relating to R. & A. Taylor of Lynn, Norfolk, established 1770.

John Marshall established a seed merchant's business in Norfolk in 1770. Around 1800 it moved to Purfleet Street in Lynn, where John Taylor (1817-8 Mar 1884) became an apprentice to John Marshall's son Thomas in 1830. Following Thomas Marshall's death in 1849, John Taylor took over the business. The 1851 census shows him living at Purfleet Street, Kings Lynn, with his sister Ann, occupation seedsman. He moved the business to a busier location at 142 Norfolk Street in 1855. The 1861 census shows John and his wife Susan (nee Susan Embling) living at 142 Norfolk Street, Kings Lynn, occupation seedsman, the business comprising 12 acres and employing four men. Robert and Arthur Taylor, whose initials later remained on the shop, took over the business from their father in 1884. Robert Taylor's son Robert (1916-1999) worked alongside his father for many years and took over his side of the business and the shop in 1947. His twin sons Jim and Bob (born 1953) joined him when they left school in 1969. After the Taylors closed their shop in 1982, they ran a mobile shop from a van until 1997. This marked the end of 167 years of the family's connection with the seed and garden trade and 227 years from the foundation of the business

Source: 'Lynn News', 27 May 2013

TLR/1 Price list, calendar and stationery

TLR/2 Labels

TLR/3 Packets

Open

Open for consultation at the Lindley Library London. It is essential to check opening hours and make an appointment. Readers are asked to take care due to the fragile nature of the original material.

Donated by Norfolk Museums Service in Aug 2014 and Jun 2015

The catalogue is available online via the Lindley Library archive catalogue and the Archives Hub.

Catalogued by Liz Taylor, RHS archivist, in Aug 2023, with packaging assistance given by Annie Johns, RHS Lindley Library volunteer, and research assistance given by Ann Thornham, RHS Lindley Library volunteer.

The following trade catalogues were donated along with the archive and were transferred to the Library's nursery catalogue collections:

Taylor's own nursery catalogues:

'Catalogue of seeds for the farm', R. Taylor, 1895

'List of select farm seeds', R. & A. Taylor, 1908

'Seed catalogue', R. & A. Taylor , 1927

'Seed catalogue', R. & A. Taylor, 1929

'Seed potato prices', R. & A. Taylor, 1932

'List of seeds', R. & A. Taylor, spring 1943

'List of seeds', R. & A. Taylor, spring 1945

'List of seeds', R. & A. Taylor, spring 1946

'List of seeds', R. & A. Taylor, spring 1947

'Seed potato prices', R. & A. Taylor, undated [?1940s]

'List of flower seeds', R. & A. Taylor, undated [?1940s]

'Catalogue of seeds', R. & A. Taylor Ltd, spring 1954

'Catalogue of seeds', R. & A. Taylor Ltd, spring 1955

'Catalogue of seeds', R. & A. Taylor Ltd, spring 1959

'Vegetable and flower seeds', R. & A. Taylor Ltd, 1966

'Vegetable and flower seeds', R. & A. Taylor Ltd, 1967

Generic sundries catalogue:

Rolcut secateurs, undated [?late 1920s]

The records were previously held at the Gressenhall Museum, Beech House Gressenhall, Dereham. The collection was acquired by Gressenhall in the 1980s after the seed shop closed. In 2013 Gressenhall completed work on a recreation of Taylors seed shop where many items from the collection were used. As there were many duplicates they sought new homes for some of them. A selection of material went to Norfolk Record Office and the Garden Museum.

Records of the firm are held at Norfolk Record Office. For nursery catalogues of the firm, 1895-1967, see the Lindley Library nursery catalogue collection.