(1734 - 1798) of Bifrons, Kent; m. 1769 Margaret Payler (d. 1780).
1789 - 92 [dep. England summer 1789, Germany, Austria] Verona, Mantua, Modena, Bologna (by 2 Nov. - 4 Dec. 1789 - ), Florence (May - summer 1790), Todi, Orvieto, Rome (Oct. 1790 - Apr. 1791), Naples and Vietri (summer 1791) Rome (winter 1791 - spring 1792), Bologna, Venice (10 May 1792), Milan, Turin [England late summer 1792]
'Induced by economical views, and yet more by the desire for promoting the education of his children', the Rev. Taylor removed his family to the Continent in 1780 for eight years, which were mostly spent at Karlsruhe.1 In 1789 he left England for the same reasons, but this time for Italy and as a widower with four of his sons and three daughters, Edward (1774 - 1843), Herbert (1779 - 1839), Brook (b. 1776), William (d. 1797), Mary-Elizabeth (d. 1840), Charlotte (d. 1836) and Margaret (d. 1809). The family was attended by an elderly family servant (Richard Simmons) and a Mr Fraentyl who taught them German and music, but they were 'not encumbered' with a governess.
In November and December 1789 Arthur Young met them at Bologna where they were renting the first floor of the Palazzo Sampieri; he spoke husbandry with the father and housekeeping with the admirably educated two daughters.2 Elizabeth Gibbes was visited by a Mr Taylor in Bologna: 'a worthy man, but he looks oppressed', and in May 1790 she drank tea with 'the Taylors' in Florence.3 The Taylor family took a house in the suburbs of Florence for 'about four months' that summer. They moved to Rome where they occupied part of a house 'in an airy part of the Strada del Popolo', and gave musical evenings frequented by French ?migr?s, artists (Flaxman, Canova and Vig?e Lebrun), as well as British travellers: Lord Camelford (previously Thomas Pitt) was later able to assist Taylor's second son Herbert. The Taylors were also visited by Bridges (1778 - 1814), the fifth son and midshipman on the Aquilon, and together the sons played the 'Nobile Giuoco di Crichetto' in the grounds of the Villa Borghese. Summer 1791 was spent at Naples (at the Crocelli Hotel) and mostly in Vietri (where there was 'no society'). The family then spent another winter in Rome. On 10 May 1792 Taylor and his seven children arrived in Venice4 on their voyage home.
1. See Taylor Papers, 2 - 16. 2. Young, Travels, 269 - 71, 289. 3. Gibbes jnl.MSS (2 Nov. 1789, 13, 14 May 1790). 4. ASV is 764.