Obituary: Carrie Taylor

As they always did when they parted, Carrie Taylor kissed her mother goodbye, walked away and turned to wave and smile.

The tender farewell on the concourse of Liverpool Street station had become a routine end to their journey together from their home in Billericay, Essex.

But on 7 July it was the last time June Taylor saw her 24-year-old daughter, who died moments later on a Circle Line Tube train near Aldgate station.

Mrs Taylor, 57, told the Brentwood Gazette in 2005: "We travel together every day. I know it sounds silly but we have a little farewell ritual. Carrie gives me a kiss goodbye before we go our separate ways.

"Then I watch her as she heads off for the Tube. Every few steps she turns and waves before she disappears into the crowd.

"I always watch until she's out of sight. It's a funny little mum's habit - but I'm so very glad that the last picture I have of her is smiling and waving at me."

Drama student

Carrie Taylor was born in Sidcup, Kent, on 28 May 1981.

In 1985, she moved with her parents and older brother, Simon, to Billericay in Essex.

There she attended Brightside Primary School and Mayflower High School, where she took A-levels in history, sociology and theatre studies.

Miss Taylor took up drama at the age of 15 and became more outgoing. She took the lead role at a school play and the family often went to the theatre together.

She went on study drama and theatre at the Royal Holloway University in West London, graduating in 2002 with a 2:1.

While at university she directed an Agatha Christie play and began working part-time for the Royal Shakespeare Company. She later worked at the English National Opera, where there is a plaque in her memory in the foyer.

She lived in halls of residence and then in a house with friends but would return home every weekend.

Her housemates remembered her as loving and caring and Miss Taylor would never hear a bad word about anyone.

Miss Taylor enjoyed reading, particularly Harry Potter books, her father John said as he read out a statement at the inquest.

She would race her brother to see who could finish one of the books first and they were both competing to guess which character was the Half-Blood Prince, a competition she never got to finish.

Miss Taylor loved the family's annual holidays to the US.

She had an active social life but was always focused on paying off her student debts and becoming independent and at some stage decided her ambition was to work behind the scenes, he added.

Popular at work

In January 2005, Miss Taylor became a finance officer at the Royal Society of Arts in the Strand, and was delighted to have been offered a permanent post there on 4 July, working with the fellowship team.

A popular member of staff, her former colleagues later planted trees in her memory.

RSA executive director Penny Egan said: "Losing such a bright and lively young woman in such terrible circumstances has left a huge gap in the RSA team."

She had also started writing a novel, her mother revealed, which she kept secret in her bedroom.

The week before the bombings had been a particularly happy one for her. As well as the job offer, she had enjoyed watching the Live8 concert and was overjoyed that London was awarded the 2012 Olympics.

Mr Taylor said: "She believed that she was moving in the right direction and it was devastating that she had only just started to reap the benefits of all her hard work when she died so tragically."

At the inquest, Gerardine Quaghebeur, a doctor who survived the bomb attack at Aldgate, described how she cradled Miss Taylor in her arms to comfort her for about an hour - although she did not know whether she would have survived had aid come earlier given what appeared to be spinal and head injuries.