I was disappointed to hear that another stalwart of Veteran’s passed on Thursday, 4th July, 2024. Jim was born in 1931 and was 93 years old.
Jim was a remarkable man not only in the field of surgery but as a missionary in the Belgian Congo.
Jim wrote two books on surgery. “The Lumbar Spine: An Atlas of Normal Anatomy and the Morbid Anatomy of Ageing and Injury. James Taylor” and “The Cervical Spine: An atlas of normal anatomy and the morbid anatomy of ageing and injuries.
Jim gave up his medical profession to become a missionary in the Belgian Congo. Much happened whilst Jim was in the Congo and when the uprising broke out many christian and catholic mercenaries were killed. Jim, Mary and his five children were rescued in the nick of time by ‘Mad Mitch Hoare’ and his mercenaries and taken to Kenya. Coincidently they were housed in the boarding school that Alan Dale was attending at the time. Alan remembers being sent home a week early so that they could use the boys dormitories.
Many of us remember Jim going around with his late wife Mary playing 9 holes together on most days of the week.
Jim first appeared in the Veteran’s Photo in 2000 and was a regular player ever since.
Many of us remember the last game Jim played. He had an accident and fell out of his golf buggy and was laying flat on his back on the fairway. Bob Williams came rushing over and tried to give him CPR. Jim was so scared that Bob was going to try mouth to mouth that he pushed him off, telling him not to be so silly, “I am a doctor, I have just twisted my ankle”
Updated 29 September, 2025
