Dave Taylor (Thames Ironworks F.C. founder) Dave Taylor (Thames Ironworks F.C. founder) Dave Taylor was one of the co-founders of Thames Ironworks, the team that became West Ham United, in 1895. He was a foreman at the Thames Iron Works as well as being a local football referee. Taylor approached the Ironworks owner Arnold Hills with the idea of starting a works football team, and with his financial aid was able to announce on 29 June 1895 the following in the company's weekly journal: He organised the half-a-crown year's membership for fifty would-be players and spent that summer arranging the fixtures for the Thames Ironworks team
Thames Ironworks and Shipbuilding Company Co. During its lifetime the yard produced 144 warships and numerous other vessels. In 1911 Hills petitioned Winston Churchill, then First Lord of the Admiralty, regarding the lack of new orders. He was unsuccessful, and the yard was forced to shut in 1912. Within two years the United Kingdom was at war with the German Empire, with the yard's last major ship taking part in the Battle of Jutland. Part of the company's Limmo Peninsula site was excavated during the construction of Crossrail in 2012. Employees at the Thames Ironworks formed a works football team, called Thames Ironworks Football Club.