James Taylor; Who do you think you are?

The diminutive figure of Nottinghamshire Outlaws' new captain, James Taylor, carries the much publicised heritage of horsemanship with him. Understandably people see the link and the imagination isn’t stretched much when it is said that James’ career path could have been very different and that he might have followed in his father’s footsteps, or perhaps hoof marks, as a race jockey. However there is another line in James Taylor’s family tree that is equally interesting and more colossus in standing.

When I was told James Taylor is related to the Rank Organisation people, the ones with the gong in the movies, I thought; horses, land and the need for loads of money - that there could be a connection but I'd like to prove it. Proving this might be a little time consuming with a name like Taylor I thought but with a key piece of information: "James’ grandmother was called Ursula Newton", all became much easier, thanks JAG.

Ursula Helen Newton died in Melton Mowbray in 1995.

The train of thought and reasoning leading to proof of a connection went as follows:

James William Arthur Taylor born 1990 Nottingham

is the son of once National Hunt jockey and now race starter

Stephen Taylor and Susan “Carol” Newton (birth and marriage registrations are publicly available to view)

Carol’s parents were

Robert C Newton and Ursula H Rank who married in 1952 in Westminster

Ursula was born 23 March 1919 in Reigate to parents Joseph A Rank and Laura E Marshall.

Joseph Arthur Rank was 1^st Baron Rank, Industrial giant and head as well as founder of the Rank Organisation

Joseph Arthur Rank better known as “J Arthur Rank”

born 22 December 1888 in Hull and died in 1972 in Winchester

IMDb say: Lord 'J. Arthur Rank' was the millionaire flour miller and devout methodist who got into films to spread the gospel. When some early films that he was involved with didn't get a very good circulation he realised that control of the movie theatres was the key to success and established the Odeon chain of cinemas.........................




"Oscar Deutsch Entertains Our Nation" ODEON




Lord Rank, near bankruptcy in the 1940s sold much of his empire off including Pinewood Studios.

DDG