4^th Great Grandfather – FFFMFF¹

In many ways Henry Taylor is a pivotal player in my Family Tree research.  In my article on the life of Francis Fane Taylor I mentioned that he was born in Farley, nr Salisbury and his father was Henry Taylor.  I have also shown in my article on John Taylor - the landscape painter - that Henry Taylor was the youngest child of John and Rebecca Taylor.

But how do we know that this was the same Henry Taylor.  After all Henry and Taylor are both common names today and were also common names in early 19th century England.

We will start with what I know about Henry’s life and later I will present the evidence that - in my opinion - conclusively shows that Henry Taylor the father of Francis Fane Taylor was the son of John Taylor the Landscape Painter.

Henry was born in 1775, being baptized on 7th October 1775 at St Swithen, Walcot in Bath ², the son of John Taylor Esquire and Rebecca his wife. His parents were living in a house on the Circus at the time, and Walcot was fairly close.

Very little is known about Henry’s early life. While his two brothers, Richard and John were educated to be doctors, there is no record of Henry’s education. As the son of a gentleman, he presumably was educated, possibly privately.

Once he reached adulthood, he apparently moved quite frequently, eventually settling down in Bradford Leigh, just outside Bradford-upon-Avon in Wiltshire. This comes from my grandfather’s notes as he records the birthplaces of the children,(see Nurse 1937) which have been confirmed from the parish registers of the parishes concerned, as well as from census returns.

Henry married Jane Watts in Winterbourne Earls on 15^th March 1798, by license³. In the license, Henry is described as a Yeoman, which was the next level below a Gentleman.

Richard, the eldest son was born in June 1798 and baptised at Winterbourne Gunner, near Salisbury, Wiltshire on 23^rd July 1798⁴. I believe that Richard died in infancy. There is no mention of him in any of the parishes where Henry and Jane lived. There is however a reference to a Charles Taylor, son of Henry and Jane Taylor, who died in 1799 and was buried on 30^th October 1799 at Winterbourne Gunner, and there is no reference to a birth/baptism of a Charles Taylor before then, so I think that this was actually Richard and either he went by two names or the local Priest mis-wrote one of the entries⁵.

The next two children, Francis Fane and Charles were born at Farley, a neighbouring parish of Winterbourne Earls to the east of Salisbury, near the Hampshire border and they were both baptized there on 15^th April 1804, when Francis was two⁶.

Harriet was born in Burleigh, Hampshire and Charlotte and Eliza were both born in Buttermere, Wiltshire, Charlotte being baptised on 23^rd October 1808⁷ and Eliza being baptised on 2^nd August 1812⁸

The last child, Thomas was born at Bearfield, near Bradford-upon-Avon and was baptized at St Nicholas, Winsley on 19^th March 1815.⁹

According to the parish register of Winsley, Henry Taylor was a Farmer. In the late 1820s Henry and Jane and some of their children, moved to Alderholt in Dorset, where according to the Land Tax assessments for 1831 and 1832 Henry was the occupier of Harts Farm in Daggons, which was owned by the Marquis of Salisbury.

On 1^st December 1831, Henry’s daughter Eliza married William Coles in Cranborne¹⁰. Cranborne was the neighbouring village to Alderholt which at that time did not seem to do Marriages.

In 1837 Henry’s wife Jane died. Jane was buried in Winterbourne Gunner, possibly in a Watts family plot. Their daughter Charlotte died soon after and her burial is the next entry in the Winterbourne Gunner burial register¹¹.

In the 1841 Census Henry is shown as still living at Harts Farm, with his son Charles, his daughter Eliza and 4 of her children¹². The following year, on 21^st April, his son Charles marries Emma Brewer at Cranborne¹³.

By 1846 Henry had moved to South Newton just outside of Salisbury, as his brother Richard leaves him a legacy in his will, which was written in 1846 (although Richard did not die until 1860)¹⁴. He probably moves there initially with his son Charles and Emma, as Charles’ daughter Charlotte who was born in 1846 was baptised in South Newton¹⁵.

In the 1851 Census, Henry is recorded as still living in South Newton¹⁶, although he is living on his own. His occupation is recorded as retired Farmer. He died 6 years later in 1857. I have a copy of his death certificate, where it says he died of “General debility of Age” on 11^th March 1857 in South Newton. He was also buried in Winterburne Gunner on 16^th March 1857¹⁷, presumably with his wife Jane and daughter Charlotte.

I have not been able to find a will for Henry who appears to have passed the farm nr Winsley onto his eldest surviving son Francis, before moving to Dorset to live near his other son Charles Taylor and his family.

So I will turn my attention now to the evidence that confirms that Henry Taylor was the son of John Taylor, landscape painter.

• Henry Taylor’s Death Certificate indicates his age as 82 which ties in with the baptism at St. Swithen, Walcot in 1775.
• Henry cites his birthplace as Bath in the 1851 census.
• While Henry names his first son Richard after his maternal grandfather (Richard Luther) he names his second son Francis Fane Taylor.  The middle name is unusual, but it happens to be the name of his maternal cousin Francis Fane - the son of his mother’s sister Charlotte Luther and her husband Henry Fane of Worsley, Oxfordshire. According to Burke, although Francis Fane was MP for Dorchester, the county town of Dorset, he had a residence at Green Park Place in Bath, as did Richard Taylor, Henry’s brother.  While it is unusual to name one’s son after one’s cousin, it would be even more unusual to name one’s son after a stranger, no matter how important that person might be.
• As mentioned above, Richard Taylor in his will mentions his brother Henry from South Newton, but also refers to paintings he inherited from his father John Taylor.
• And the most compelling piece of evidence is the will ¹⁸ of Henry’s nephew Richard Thomas Wilson Taylor, the son and heir of Henry’s older brother Richard Taylor.  In this will, Richard refers to a painting by his grandfather John Taylor, which confirms that his father Richard was John Taylor’s second son Richard, and more importantly he mentions his dear cousin Francis Fane Taylor of Bradford Leigh, Bradford, as well his cousin Charles Taylor of Bemerton, Wiltshire (Francis’s younger brother).

It thus appears that Henry Taylor (Francis Fane Taylor’s father and Ann Jane Taylor’s grandfather) and my 4th great grandfather is the same Henry Taylor mentioned in the will of Rebecca Taylor (nee Luther) and baptized at St, Swithen, Walcot, and thus Ann Jane Taylor the wife of Robert Nurse (and my 2nd great grandmother) is the great-grand daughter of John Taylor, the Landscape Painter.

So Henry Taylor is pivotal as this opens the door into the landed gentry of England and the Gordon clan of Scotland.

References

Footnotes