Arthur March Tapp
Arthur March Tapp (1826/7–1916)[1] was an English accountant to the railway contractors Brassey, and company director.
Background
He was the son of Charles Tapp of Fyfield, Hampshire.[2] A report of the 1917 memorial service for Tapp, at which Donald Tait spoke, mentioned a church window at Fyfield dedicated to the family members Nicholas Tapp (1700–1796), John Tapp (1747–1810) and Charles Tapp (1790–1855).[1]
Career
Tapp began work aged 15.[1] He acted for a period as accountant to Brassey, Jackson & Henfrey, railway contractors, and was involved in major railway construction contracts.[3] He was also the financial secretary to Thomas Brassey, and a confidential adviser. He accompanied Brassey on business trips in continental Europe.[4][5][6]
In 1883 business premises at 4 Great George Street, London were shared by Tapp, his son Nicholas and the accountant Henry T. Bird, with Sir Thomas Brassey and others.[7]
Directorships
Tapp was a director of the Evesham and Redditch Railway company that built the Ashchurch–Barnt Green line from Birmingham into the West of England in the 1860s, headed by Thomas Brassey.[8]
Tapp was also a director of the Southend Waterworks Company, incorporated in 1879, with Henry Leonard Campbell Brassey.[9] He was a director of the Buenos Aires and Ensenada Port Railway in the 1880s.[10][11] He was a director of the Powell Duffryn Steam Coal Company from 1889, still active in the role to 1914.[12][13]
Death and legacy
Arthur March Tapp died in 1916 aged 89, leaving over £100,000.[12] A monumental plaque designed by Ernest George was placed on the north wall of the nave of St Mary's Church, Shortlands, to Tapp and his wife Caroline.[2][1]
Family
Tapp married Caroline (1826–1906).[14] He was survived by six of their children, three sons and three daughters, two of his sons having predeceased him.[15] These children attended their mother's funeral.[14] The sons were:
- Charles James Tapp (1856–1902), eldest son, a member of the London Stock Exchange, married in 1882 Olga Marie Henriette Andreae.[16][17][18] Theodore Tapp was their son.
- Arthur Tapp (born 1858), second son, a surveyor and estate manager, married in 1888 Beatrice Maude Sentance, daughter of William Sentance. He travelled in 1886 to Michigan with Thomas Allnutt Brassey.[19][20][21]
- Nicholas Tapp (1858–1921), third son, chartered accountant qualified in 1883.[22][23][24] That year Tapp & Bird were acting as railway company auditors from 4 Great George Street;[25] in 1885 Nicholas Tapp of Tapp & Bird was running a company liquidation from St. Clement's House in the City of London.[26]
- William Munro Tapp (1859–1936), English solicitor and company director.[27]
- Alfred Horace Tapp (1863–1901), youngest son, mining engineer, who worked at the silver lead foundry at Pertusola, near Lerici in Italy.[28] Among his father's directorships in 1892 was with the Continental Lead and Iron Co., name changed the following year to Società di Pertusola.[29][30]
The daughters were:
- Rosa Ellen Tapp (1864 – 10 November 1930), married name Varley.[14][31][32] She was an artist, exhibiting at the Society of Women Artists in the period 1905 to 1927.[33] In 1887 she had been awarded a Crystal Palace School silver medal for painting, as a pupil of Edward Angelo Goodall.[34] She showed with Frank Spenlove-Spenlove's Yellow Door School, as Miss R. Tapp of Shortlands, and in 1913 at the Paris salon.[35] That year, also, she had a painting in the annual exhibition of the Royal Cambrian Academy of Art, and is mentioned in the index as an Associate of the Society of Women Artists.[36]
- Catherine (Caty) (1866–1937), second daughter, married in 1912 William Taylor Alway at Newchang (Yingkou).[14][37][38][39] She left money to family members including great-nephew Theodore Charles Tapp.[39]
- Annie Caroline (1868–1925), third daughter.[14][40][41]
Notes
- 1 2 3 4 "The Late Mr. Arthur March Tapp". Bromley Chronicle. 15 November 1917. p. 4.
- 1 2 Christie-Murray, David (1954). Heraldry in the Churches of Beckenham: A Fully Illustrated and Annotated Account of All Coats of Arms in Beckenham Churches Today and in the Past. Staples Printers. p. 65.
- ↑ "Funeral of the Late Mr. A. M. Tapp". Bromley Local Guide and Advertiser. 15 July 1916. p. 15.
- ↑ "Leaders of Modern Industry by G. Barnett Smith: Thomas Brassey - Graces Guide". www.gracesguide.co.uk.
- ↑ Helps, Sir Arthur (1888). Life and Labours of Mr. Brassey: 1805-1870. Bell. p. 68.
- ↑ Helps, Sir Arthur (1888). Life and Labours of Mr. Brassey: 1805-1870. Bell. p. 169 note 1.
- ↑ Boyle's Court and Country Guide. April 1883. p. 100.
- ↑ Bradshaw's Railway Manual, Shareholders' Guide and Official Directory. Henry Blacklock & Company. 1882. p. 92.
- ↑ The Stock Exchange Year-book. Thomas Skinner. 1900. p. 578.
- ↑ The Railway Times. J.T. Norris. 1883. p. 450.
- ↑ Bradshaw's Railway Manual, Shareholders' Guide, and Official Directory. W.J. Adams. 1883. p. 442.
- 1 2 "Accountant's Fortune". Globe. 12 August 1916. p. 5.
- ↑ Walters, Rodri Havard (1977). The Economic and Business History of the South Wales Steam Coal Industry, 1840-1914. Arno Press. p. 63. ISBN 978-0-405-10801-3.
- 1 2 3 4 5 "Death of Mrs. Caroline Tapp". Bromley Chronicle. 4 October 1906. p. 5.
- ↑ "The Late Mr. A. M. Tapp's Will". Bromley Chronicle. 23 May 1918. p. 3.
- ↑ Tonbridge School; Hughes-Hughes, Walter Oldham (1893). The Register of Tonbridge School, from 1820 to 1893. London: R. Bentley. p. 178.
- ↑ "Marriages". Essex Herald. 20 March 1882. p. 8.
- ↑ "Death". Bromley and West Kent Telegraph. 13 September 1902. p. 5.
- ↑ Tonbridge School; Hughes-Hughes, Walter Oldham (1893). The Register of Tonbridge School, from 1820 to 1893. London: R. Bentley. p. 192.
- ↑ "Marriages". Northern Whig. 31 January 1888. p. 1.
- ↑ Partridge, Frank (1921). T. A. B.: a memoir of Thomas Allnutt, second Earl Brassey. London: J. Murray. p. 48.
- ↑ Tonbridge School; Hughes-Hughes, Walter Oldham (1893). The Register of Tonbridge School, from 1820 to 1893. London: R. Bentley. p. 195.
- ↑ "Chartered Accountants". Liverpool Mercury. 20 January 1883. p. 6.
- ↑ "Deaths". Bromley & West Kent Mercury. 13 May 1921. p. 1.
- ↑ Bradshaw's Railway Manual, Shareholders' Guide, and Official Directory. W.J. Adams. 1883. p. 52.
- ↑ "Companies in Liquidation". Financial News. 14 April 1885. p. 3.
- ↑ "Tapp, William Munro (TP877WM)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
- ↑ "Tapp, Alfred Horace (TP882AH)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
- ↑ "Continental Lead and Iron Co - Graces Guide". www.gracesguide.co.uk.
- ↑ The Directory of Directors. Thomas Skinner Directories. 1892. p. 583.
- ↑ "Index entry". FreeBMD. ONS. Retrieved 30 June 2026.
- ↑ "n/a". Suffolk Chronicle. 30 January 1931. p. 4.
- ↑ The Society of Women Artists Exhibitors 1855-1996: A-D. Hilmarton Press. 1996. p. lxiii. ISBN 978-0-904722-26-0.
- ↑ The Englishwoman's Review of Social and Industrial Questions. Garland Publishing. 1887. p. 372. ISBN 978-0-8240-3744-4.
{{cite book}}: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help) - ↑ ""Yellow Door" School of Art". Beckenham Journal. 31 May 1913. p. 6.
- ↑ "Catalogue, Royal Cambrian Academy of Art, Plas Mawr, Conwy" (PDF). rcaconwy.org. Royal Cambrian Academy of Art. 1913. p. 67.
- ↑ "Index entry". FreeBMD. ONS. Retrieved 30 June 2026.
- ↑ "Marriages". London and China Express. 19 April 1912. p. 6.
- 1 2 "Burley Will". Hampshire Advertiser. 4 September 1937. p. 11.
- ↑ "Index entry". FreeBMD. ONS. Retrieved 30 June 2026.
- ↑ "Deaths". Bromley & West Kent Mercury. 18 September 1925. p. 1.