John Forwood Tafe, 1831 - 1920
by Brian Stevenson
last updated January, 2025
John F. Tafe, of London, was an import/export agent and accountant, who had a strong interest in microscopy as a hobby during the 1870s. He joined the Quekett Microscopical Club in 1870, but let his membership lapse during 1878. Tafe was a fairly active member during his time in the QMC, being reported as exhibiting microscopical preparations at multiple meetings and soirees. He presumably made some slides of his own, judging from comments that he made at meetings and evidence that he owned a copy of Thomas Davies’ The Preparation and Mounting of Microscopic Objects. Tafe also purchased slides from professional mounters, and applied his own descriptive labels (Figures 1 and 2).
Figure 1.
Mount of an injected and corroded toad tissue (labeled as “intestine”, but actually mesentery), prepared by professional slide-maker Charles M. Topping (1799-1874), and labeled by J. F. Tafe. Tafe probably prepared some of his own slides, too.
 
Figure 2.
“Intestine” of a toad, prepared by C.M. Topping (see Figure 1). Imaged with a 3.4x objective lens, top lighting, and a C-mounted digital SLR camera on a Leitz Ortholux II microscope.
 
John Forwood Tafe was born during the early summer of 1831, and baptized on June 9, 1831, at Saint Peters, Liverpool. He was the eldest child of William and Letitia Forwood Tafe. Father William was a “grocer”, and was evidently very successful in that business: the 1841 national census showed that the Tafe family employed a domestic servant, and the 1851 census reported that the household included three “shopmen” and two servants.
At the time of the 1851 census, the then-nineteen year old John was working as a “cotton broker” (notably, not a clerk, but an actual broker). For the 1861 census, he was listed as a “shipping agent”. Advertisements of the time show that he was involved with a business that imported ground tobacco from the United States for use as plant fertilizer (Figure 3).
John Tafe married Jane Weston in early 1855. They had two children, a boy and a girl, then Jane died in the summer of 1858. John remarried in 1862, to Emily Clarke, with whom he had another six children.
In about 1869, the Tafe family moved to London. The 1871 census listed John as a “shipping agent”, but his employer at the time is not known.
John Tafe joined the Quekett Microscopical Club on November 25, 1870. Over the next several years, The Journal of the Quekett Microscopical Club recorded that Tafe exhibited numerous time as club functions. These include “circulation of blood in tail of tadpole” at the April 28, 1871 meeting, “scales of weevil from the Philippine Islands” at the March 17, 1871 Club Soiree, “mildew from cuticle of apple” at the October 23, 1874 meeting, and “Colorado potato beetle” at the April 16, 1875 Club Soiree. Tafe probably made at least some of those preparations. Evidence that he prepared his own slides comes from an April 28, 1871 comment from him that was entered into the Club minutes, “Mr. Tafe was of the opinion that time and care were the chief secrets of successful mounting”. In 1874, Tafe donated his copy of Thomas Davies’ The Preparation and Mounting of Microscopic Objects to the QMC. This may suggest that Tafe had learned all that he wanted from Davies, and/or was beginning to tire of microscopy as a hobby. Pointing to the latter, Tafe also donated his copy of Edwin Lankester’s Half-Hours with the Microscope. John Tafe was last recorded as a member of the QMC in 1878.
Throughout this time, censuses recorded Tafe’s occupation as “accountant”. He is known to have been associated with London businesses who were involved with American railroad companies. In 1875, he was reported to be connected to the West Wisconsin Railway, as an employee of Naylor, Benzon & Co. of 34 Old Broad Street, London, and Naylor & Co. of 99 and 101 John Street, New York. In 1896, he was “financial agent of the Philadelphia & Reading Railroad”.
Tafe was also of an inventive mind. In 1888, he and one F.V. Anderson filed a patent for “improvements in systems of electrical supply”. In 1889, he and one A. Wilson “designed improved arrangement for the machinery which is employed in raising and lowering submarine telegraph and other cables”.
J.F. Tafe died on November 5, 1920, at his home in Clapham, Surrey.
Figure 3.
1867 advertisement from the fertilizer business that J.F. Tate operated in Liverpool. From “The Journal of Horticulture and Cottage Gardener”.
 
Acknowledgement
Thank you to Jeff Silverman, for histological assistance.
 
Resources
American Railroad Journal (1875) West Wisconsin Railway, page 1371
The Electrician (1888) Patent record, page 251
England census and other records, accessed through ancestry.com
Industries (1889) Raising and lowering cables, page 311
,i>The Journal of Horticulture and Cottage Gardener (1867) Advertisements from The Richmond Cavendish Company, multiple issues
Journal of the Quekett Microscopical Club (1871) Minutes of the March 17 Soiree, pages 185-188
Journal of the Quekett Microscopical Club (1871) Minutes of the April 28 meeting, pages 215-218
Journal of the Quekett Microscopical Club (1872) “Members … Nov. 25, 1870, Tafe, John Forwood, 84 Old Broad-st., City, E.C.”
Journal of the Quekett Microscopical Club (1874) Minutes of the October 23 meeting, pages 36-39
Journal of the Quekett Microscopical Club (1874) Donations to the library, page 322
Journal of the Quekett Microscopical Club (1875) Minutes of the April 16 Soiree, pages 72-76
Journal of the Quekett Microscopical Club (1878) “Members … Nov. 25, 1870, Tafe, John Forwood, Fernlea, King Edward-road, Victoria-park, E.”
Journal of the Quekett Microscopical Club (1879) J.F. Tafe not listed as a member
Nature (1875) “At the conversazione of the Quekett Club to be held tonight at the University College tomorrow night, Mr. J.F. Tafe will exhibit some specimens of the Colorado Potato Beetle”, page 76
Probate of the will of J.F. Tafe (1920) “Tafe John Forwood of 20 Sibella-road Clapham Surrey died 5 November 1920 Probate London 7 December to Emily Clara Maud Munnion widow and Florence Gertrude Sharpe (wife of Thomas Ebenezer Herbert Sharpe). Effects £4557 4s 5d”, accessed through ancestry.com
The Railway Age and Northwestern Railroader (1896) “Mr. J. F. Tafe has resigned as financial agent of the Philadelphia & Reading at London, England, and the position has been abolished”, page 272
Tafe, J.F. (1867) Tobacco duty-free for gardening purposes, The Journal of Horticulture and Cottage Gardener, page 407