A FORMER policeman who worked in Oxford has died aged 81.

Ralph Taylor served with the Royal Navy before becoming a police officer in the city centre and Newbury.

Mr Taylor was born in Loughborough on January 25, 1934, to Wilfred and Winnie Taylor.

The family moved to Bleach Place, Cowley, in the early 1940s when his father was called up to do war work at Morris Motors.

As a result, a young Mr Taylor grew up there and attended school in Temple Cowley.

He started work at the Morris Motors plant, in the pay office, aged 15 before later enlisting in the Royal Navy in 1954.

In his position as an able-bodied seaman he worked in radar on a destroyer.

He married Maureen Westwick in 1956, and the couple lived in Southsea, Portsmouth.

They had two daughters, Tracy and Lynne.

However, in 1959 his wife’s ill health meant Mr Taylor could no longer spend any length of time at sea away from her.

Mr Taylor left the Navy and joined Oxford City Police, with the family moving to Cowley.

He would later tell many stories from his days on the beat as a police constable around Carfax and Oxford City, recalling his favourite breakfast haunts in the Covered Market and carrying out his duties on motorcycle patrol in Cowley.

Mr Taylor later moved with his family to a police house in Blackbird Leys in 1961.

He remembered switching to patrolling around Blackbird Leys in the winter of 1964 when, because of the deep snow, it was not possible to get into the city for his usual beat.

He also captained the police cricket team for several years and particularly enjoyed the matches at Oxford colleges.

He moved to Abingdon in 1965, but still worked as a beat officer in central Oxford and Osney.

He featured in the Oxford Mail in 1968 because of his police number – 1968, the year Thames Valley Police was formed.

In the early 1970s, he moved to Newbury after being promoted to Sergeant eventually became one of Thames Valley Police’s crime prevention officers. He took an early retirement due to the progressive ill health of his wife and they moved to Norfolk in 2000, where they were able to visit the coast and countryside.

His hobbies included watching cricket – his great passion – and he also maintained links with police colleagues in Oxford.

Mr Taylor died on June 8. He is survived by his two daughters, seven grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.

His funeral will be held at Wimbotsham Methodist Chapel, Downham Market in Norfolk, on June 23.