I seem to have a real problem getting on to these obscure websites that you fellows keep pointing to, but after many attempts I've finally made it.
And, as we say up in very cold and wet Yorkshire when we wish to be controversial, which we often do because it's so bloody cold and wet that ther'e's precious little else to do but to be contraversial., I'm going to put "..the cat amongst the pigeons".
I reckon that this frame is definitely NOT a Taylor nor it it a Flying Scot as it's just TOO unfinished for a hand-built job. What it is, I think, is a top-level frame from the lightweight workshop of one of the large manufacturers producing lightweights in the 1950s - . In that era there were builders such as Viking, BSA, Dayton, Wearwell - all producing quality factory-built lightweights for use by their teams of Pros/Independents. This mystery frame, I'm sure, is a Hercules, a large manufacturer who had a trade team and, if my memory is correct sponsored one of the very early, if not the first GB team to ride in the Tour de France.. They also sponsored the record-breaking lady, Eileen Sheriden,
What makes me think so? Well, it's the top-eyes at the junction of the seat stays and the seat-lug. These are not craftsman-made items, they are factory pressed-overs, with no trace of filing up after brazing.. The lugs are Oscar Egg "Super Champion" - the plainest of the series, often used by Hercules, and sometimes on Bates of London, JRJs, Rotrax etc. The fork crown is pure English. I have several frames in my workshop of all sorts of varying qualities , some Falcon, some Elswick, all sporting this crown, which on late 40s frames were sometimes D - to -round section, The crown manufacturer also made bottom-brackets, but these were pretty clumsy affairs, and so, for this "top-of-the-range" TEAM frame the manufacturer chose a French (or was it Belgian) RGF shell which always were of very high quality. The mixture of Stallard rear-ends with another brand of drop-out was quite normal in those days. The D/T gear lever boss is Cyclo, I think, and the chainstay cable eye is the same as those used by most large manufacturers - check out your Vikings. Hercules built some very light "classic" looking frames, most of which had the sweeping rake type of fork, because there were still a lot of cobbles around in Britain's cities in the 50s which is when, I am certain, this frame was made.
As for the rear brake bridge I am pretty sure that this is a replacement item as is the seat lug bolt eye, Such parts exposed to ham-fisted cyclists can get pretty chewed up over a period of several decades,
So.. I maintain it's a HERCULES..but I have been known to be wrong..
Norris Lockley ( nursing a !953 Hercules catalogue on his lap)