Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 55.djvu/477

 , co. Kerry. Here his medical knowledge and his purse were freely used for his poorer neighbours during the famine winter of 1847–8, and here he died early in February 1848. Taylor was elected a fellow of the Linnean Society in 1814, and was also an honorary member of the Royal Irish Academy. His botanical researches were mainly among the mosses, liverworts, and lichens. Besides ‘Muscologia Britannica,’ published by him in conjunction with Sir [q. v.] in 1818 (2nd ed. 1827), he wrote much cryptogamic matter for the ‘Flora Antarctica’ of Dr. (now Sir) Joseph Dalton Hooker, and is credited with twenty-three papers, four written in conjunction with that botanist (Roy. Soc. Cat. v. 923–4). These include an important memoir, ‘De Marchanteis,’ in the ‘Transactions’ of the Linnean Society, and contributions to the ‘Transactions’ of the Botanical Society of Edinburgh, the ‘Phytologist,’ ‘Hooker's Journal of Botany,’ and the ‘Annals and Magazine of Natural History.’ His herbarium of over eight thousand sheets and his drawings were purchased at his death by John Amory Lowell of Boston, Mass., and presented by him to the Boston Society of Natural History.

His name was commemorated by Sir William Hooker in the genus Tayloria belonging to the mosses.



TAYLOR, THOMAS EDWARD (1811–1883), politician, of Ardgillan Castle, Dublin, born in March 1811, was the eldest son of the Rev. Edward Taylor, fourth son of Thomas Taylor, first earl of Bective. His mother was Marianne, daughter of the Hon. Richard St. Leger. Thomas Edward was educated at Eton, and in 1829 obtained a commission in the 6th dragoon guards. He attained the rank of captain on 2 Nov. 1838, and retired in 1846. From 1847 to 1874 he was lieutenant-colonel of the royal Meath militia, and afterwards filled the post of honorary colonel. In 1841 he was elected as a conservative to represent Dublin county, and continued to sit for the constituency till his death. He acted as whip of the opposition during the Palmerston administration of 1855–8, and Sir Mountstuart Elphinstone Grant Duff states that he was instrumental in bringing about the downfall of the government in February 1858. He had brought up the tories to support Palmerston against Sir Thomas Milner Gibson's vote of censure, but at the last moment, by the direction of Lord Derby, he instructed them to vote against the government (, Notes from a Diary, 1851–72, i. 99). In 1858–9 he was a lord of the treasury in the second Derby administration, and when the conservatives returned to office in 1866 was appointed patronage secretary. On 7 Nov. 1868 he became chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster and was sworn of the privy council. His services as whip during the reform debates of 1867–8 were so considerable that Disraeli was wont to say that Taylor was the real author of household suffrage. He acted as whip for seventeen years in all, during which he exhibited in a high degree the requisite combination of energy and conciliation. When Disraeli became premier in March 1874 Taylor was again appointed to the chancellorship of the duchy of Lancaster, though many thought that his services should have been recompensed by a more responsible office. On this occasion his re-election for Dublin county was opposed by Charles Stewart Parnell, whom he defeated by a considerable majority. He seldom spoke, but his advice was greatly valued by the conservative leaders; and he was popular with all parties in Ireland.

Taylor died at his sister's house in Fitzwilliam Place, Dublin, on 3 Feb. 1883, and was buried in the family vault at Balbriggan.

On 11 Nov. 1862 he married Louisa, second daughter of Hugh Francis Tollemache, rector of Harrington, and granddaughter of Louisa Tollemache, countess of Dysart. By her he had three sons and two daughters.



TAYLOR, THOMAS GLANVILLE (1804–1848), astronomer, was born at Ashburton, Devonshire, on 22 Nov. 1804. He was a descendant of Sir (1586–1661) [q. v.], speaker of the House of Commons in 1640. His father, Thomas Taylor, became in 1805 first assistant at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, and, at the instance of the astronomer-royal, [q. v.], devoted his son to the same career. Young Taylor entered the establishment as a supernumerary in 1820, and in August 1822 was placed in regular charge of the transit instrument. His distinction as an observer was marked by Sir Edward Sabine's selection of him in 1829 as assistant in his pendulum experiments, his leisure hours being meanwhile spent in calculations for Stephen Groombridge's star catalogue.

Nominated, on Pond's recommendation,