Portrait of Alderman Taylor returned to Rochdale Town Hall

Date published: 04 August 2019

A portrait of Alderman Edward Taylor has been restored and was returned to Rochdale Town Hall on Tuesday (30 June 2019).

Paid for by the Friends of Rochdale Town Hall (FoRTH), the restoration of the oil on canvas painting was completed by Lancashire Conservation Studios, Preston at a cost of £3,000, with funds raised through heritage days, tombolas, town hall tours and various donations over the years.

Those in attendance to welcome the portrait back included Sir David Trippier, patron of FoRTH, the Mayor of Rochdale, Councillor Billy Sheerin, Councillors Janet Emsley and Irene Davidson, council officers and members of the FoRTH committee.

Alderman Taylor (1813–1895) was a pharmacist and councillor in Rochdale.

On the council committee at the time Rochdale Town Hall was put forward, Taylor strongly opposed the building and instead, wanted a new sewerage system. Eventually, Rochdale got both.

Located in committee room three of the town hall, where councillors at that time would have had their debates, Taylor’s portrait is located across the room from Alderman George Leach Ashworth, who was the driving force behind the planning and development of the current Grade I listed building.

Corbels are also located in the room – these are small statues in each corner of the ceiling representing figures involved in the building of the town hall debate, on whether it was worth the expense. The statues show George Leach Ashworth holding a model of the town hall; William Henry Crosslands, the designer of the town hall holds a pencil; and two aldermen, Taylor and Stott, are found on the opposite wall, as a symbol of their opposing to the building.

A plaque on Taylor's portrait reads: 'This portrait of Alderman Taylor was subscribed for and given to him by his friends and admirers on his receiving the honorary Freedom of the Borough. He afterwards presented it to the town council on the 9th November 1893'.

A representative for Lancashire Conservation Studios commented on the recent restoration: “Some might say the style of the artist is interesting. He used bitumen [asphalt] as a base, which is non-drying so doesn’t harden, meaning the painting had split apart. The canvas was reasonably distorted.

“The committee room was quite the place for smokers, so over many decades the painting just became saturated in nicotine.

“From a restoration point of view, we have tried to lessen the effect of these attributes and done what we can do, which has been successful.

“He is now structurally sound and has dried, which is great. He was in a very bad state; you couldn’t see any details. It is nice to see him come out of the gloom that he was once in.

“Now we can see his face in much more detail, the chair he is sitting on, his legs, and a pile of books in the background, which we didn’t even know were there.

“The artist of the painting is unknown, however we did find a rectangle on the back of the canvas that held a signature, so we are looking into it. It would be nice to find an artist to attribute to the portrait.”

Mayor Billy Sheerin commented: “I’m amazed at the restoration - it really has brought a character back to life. It has been interesting for me as a person who knows nothing about the restoration process. I’m sure the Friends are delighted with the results.”

Member of FoRTH, councillor Irene Davidson, said: “The restoration has taken a while to complete as we had no idea how bad the painting was.

“Now that it is complete, we will be fundraising to ensure we can do the last painting of the three in committee room three at Rochdale Town Hall.

“The conservator has agreed to come to the Friends of Rochdale Town Hall to give a talk and explain how they did the work in February 2020.”

The last remaining picture is a portrait of George Leach Ashworth, which is the largest of the paintings and therefore the costliest.

The portrait of Jacob Bright, John Bright’s brother and the first Mayor of Rochdale, was the first painting in committee room three to be restored.