Mark Taylor was born in Bristol in about 1797 and passed away in Ledbury, Herefordshire in 1879. Charlotte Lewis was also born in Bristol in about 1804, she passed away at the home of her eldest son, James, in Coleford, Monmouthshire in 1888. Mark and Charlotte were probably married in about 1823-1824 and had at least 11 children and 50 grandchildren.
Family tree: Mark Taylor (1797-1879) and Charlotte Lewis (1804-1888) 
In 1825, at the time of the birth of their first son James, Mark and Charlotte are living at 3 White Hart Court, which was in the Smithfield area of London, near Charterhouse Square. At this time Mark is working as a smith1.
By 1830 Mark and Charlotte have moved back to Bristol and by 1841 they were living in Brick Street in the parish of St Philip and St Jacobs. At the time of the census, in June 1841, Mark was travelling with his two oldest children; James and Jane, and are staying in Mill Street, St Woolos, Newport2. At that time Charlotte is at Brick Street with their children Emma, Charlotte, Harriet and John. She is recorded as working as a fishmonger3.
In 1851 the family are living at 10 Brick Street, by this time, of their eight children, only James has moved away from the family home. Mark’s occupation is more specific than that of smith and he is recorded as a four scale beam maker. Charlotte, Emma and Harriet are recorded as fish dealers, and their daughter Charlotte is recorded as a tailor. Jane’s occupation is recorded as “nothing”4. By 1861 the family have moved to 9 Bread Street, St Philip and St Jacob (now Old Bread Street). Living with Mark and Charlotte are Samuel, their youngest son, and their niece Charlotte Taylor who was born in Australia. Mark is listed as a smith and Charlotte is a fish vendor5.
By 1871 Mark and Charlotte have moved to 10 New Street, Ledbury, Herefordshire. Mark is listed as a general dealer and they have a servant/errand boy called Charles Hare6. In 1875 the Littlebury’s Directory and Gazette lists Mark as a general dealer in New Street, however the following year Littlebury’s had downgraded this to marine store dealer. Mark passed away at New Street on 15 June 1879 at the age 82 from heart disease, his son John was present at his death7.
In 1881 Charlotte is living with her granddaughter, Emma Little at their shop in New Street. Charlotte is a dealer in marine stores in her own right and Emma is listed as an assistant. With them is a servant, Frederick Tippin8. Charlotte passed away from bronchitis on 25 April 1888 at the age of 85 in Coleford, Monmouthshire. She appears to have been staying with her son James, and her daughter in law, Jane Taylor (nee Pinker) was with her when she passed. She was recorded as the widow of Mark who was recorded as a blacksmith9.
Conviction for Theft
Early records of Mark and Charlotte are hard to source. However, there is a Mark Taylor of a corresponding age who was convicted of larceny at the Bristol assizes on 15 July 1816. He was found guilty and sentenced to 7 years transportation. It was not uncommon for prisoners who were sentenced to transportation to serve their sentences on prison hulks awaiting transportation and ultimately released at the end of their sentence should transportation not have taken place. Subsequent records show that he was received as prisoner number 1428 on board the Laurel Hulk off Portsmouth, Hampshire on 6 February 1817. Although unlike most other prisoner records it does not state his fate in this record. At some point he was transferred from the Laurel Hulk to York Hulk, however there are no details other than the fact he was placed in leg irons. On 9 June 1821 he was transferred from the York Hulk to the Leviathan Hulk as prisoner number 5496, from where he was granted free passage on 23 October 1822. Although the names Mark and Taylor are normally commonplace, census and other records for Mark Taylor from Bristol are reasonably unique and it is probable that these records relate to Mark.
Children
There is a baptism record from St Philip and St Jacob’s in Bristol which show that Mark and Charlotte has a daughter, Anne, who was baptised there on 22 February 1824. There are no further records identified for her.
On 27 March 1825 Mark and Charlotte baptised their oldest son, James, at St Sepulchre, Holborn. James married Jane Elizabeth Pinker, who was twenty years his junior, on 18 July 1881 at St Mathias, Bristol. They had 13 children together including William who was born 16 years before they married. Gloucestershire records show that Jane was living as a Taylor and confirms her maiden name as Pinker. James lived in Coleford Monmouthshire, before moving to Newton Abbot where he passed away in 1914, Jane passed away in Newton Abbot in 1918.
Mark and Charlotte’s daughter Jane was born in about 1829 in Bristol, she was baptised on 7 June 1829 at St Philip and St Jacob. There is a burial record at Holy Trinity, St Philips, Bristol for a Jane Taylor (aged 24) on 3 December 1854. The only further information available at the time of burial is that her father’s name was Taylor. It is not certain but probable that this is Mark and Charlotte’s daughter Jane, The Holy Trinity church was consecrated in 1832 and was 50 metres from Brick Street.
Emma was born in 1832 in Bristol and was baptised on 3 July 1836 at St Philip and St Jacob with he sister Sarah Ann. Although it is not uncommon for children to wait and be baptised together, it is slightly confusing as to why Mark and Charlotte would wait until 1836 rather than baptise her with Charlotte in 1833. On 31 December 1853 Emma married John Little and in February 1858 they emigrated to Australia. Emma and John had 5 children. Following the death of her husband, Emma returned to the United Kingdom in December 1871, settling in Bideford, Devon. On 3 March 1874, she married her second husband William Sharpe by whom she had a daughter. William passed away in Bideford in 1907 with Emma passing away in 1909.
Mark and Charlotte’s daughter, Charlotte, was baptised at St Philip and Jacob’s, Bristol on 8 December 1833. On 6 June 1859 Charlotte, married John Crossman at St Paul’s in Bristol. Charlotte did not have any children and after the death of her husband in 1865 she continued to work as a fish dealer, taking lodgings in Bristol until her admission to the Glenside lunatic asylum as a pauper on 19 December 1871, she was to die a few years later in the asylum on 6 September 1974.
Sarah Ann was baptised on 3 July 1836 at St Philip and St Jacob, Bristol at the same time as her sister Emma. It is believed that she passed away in early 1839.
Eliza was baptised on 17 September 1837 at St Philip and St Jacob, Bristol. There are no further records identified for her.
Harriet was born in Bristol in about 1838. She married John Howe on 11 May 1856 in St Philip and St Jacob, Bristol. No further details of Harriet and John are known.
John Lewis Taylor was baptised at St Philip and St Jacob, Bristol on 13 September 1840. He married Harriet Saunders in St Mary Magdalen, Launceston, Cornwall on 2 May 1871. Prior to their wedding John and Harriet had been staying at the Northgate Inn in Launceston as “Taylors”. After moving from Bristol John settled firstly in Winkleigh and then Barnstaple, Devon. John and Harriet had 19 children of which 14 have been identified. John passed away in Barnstaple on 10 February 1913 at the age of 72, Harriet was to pass away in Barnstaple on 20 December 1925 at the age of 75.
Henry was baptised at St Philip and St Jacob, Bristol 28 May 1843. He married Amelia Slack in 1878 in Barnstaple and they had 6 Children. Henry settled in Carhampton, Somerset and worked as a chinaware dealer before moving to Norton Fitzwarren, Somerset. Henry passed away at Somersetshire Hospital, Taunton on 20 February 1923.
On 17 February 1848 Samuel Taylor was born at 10 Brick Street, Bristol. He was baptised on 5 March 1848 in St Philip and St Jacob. The birth as registered by Charlotte who made her mark and recorded Mark’s occupation as “smith” and her former name as Lewis. Samuel moved to Gloucester where he married his wife, Mary Evans in 1871. Samuel and Mary had 11 Children and moved about living in Coleford and Barnstaple, before finally settling in Washford, Somerset. Samuel passed away in 1932 while staying with his son Philip in Hall Green, West Midlands.
Footnotes:
[1] St Sepulchre, Holborn, Baptism James Taylor 27 March 1825. 
[2] 1841 Wales Census, Mill Street, St Woolos, Newport. 
[3] 1841 England Census, Brick Street, Bristol. In the census of 1841, taken on 2 June 1941, there is a record of a Thomas Taylor aged 8 Months, it is probable that this is John Lewis Taylor given his date of baptism, in addition there are no further records corresponding to a Thomas Taylor. 
[4] 1851 England Census, Brick Street, Bristol. 
[5] 1861 England Census, Bread Street, Bristol. The spelling of the surname is Tailor.
[6] 1871 England Census, 10 New Street, Ledbury, Herefordshire.
[7] Death Certificate, Mark Taylor 15 June 1879. 
[8] 1881 England Census, 10 New Street, Ledbury, Herefordshire. 
[9] Death Certificate, Charlotte Lewis 25 April 1888. 
A very interesting account of James Taylor’s family. My grandmother Jane was the Jane which your account indicates as having died as a child.
My grandmother married after the family had moved to Devon. Her married surname was Craddock, her husband was for most of his working life a painter and decorator. Jane had a pretty rough life; giving birth four times, my mother the only one to survive into adulthood.
Error correction:Jane Craddock nee Taylor, alluded to in my previous comment was the daughter of James Taylor the son of Mark. She died in childbirth aged Thirty-six whilst living in Newton Abbot.