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TAYLOR, Robert Paris (?1741-92), of Burcott, Som. and Grately Lodge, Hants.
Available from Boydell and Brewer
Biography Detail
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Constituency
Dates
Family and Education
b. ?1741, 1st s. of Peter Taylor. unm. suc. fa. 3 Nov. 1777.
Offices Held
Dep. paymaster in Germany 1759-63; sheriff, Som. 1765-6.
Biography
Taylor’s father was a friend of Henry Fox, and through that connexion Taylor was appointed first to a place in the paymaster’s office, and then to a deputy-paymastership in Germany. He came home with a handsome fortune. On 9 Mar. 1765 Lord Northington wrote to Grenville to recommend Taylor for Ilchester as a candidate ‘willing to sustain all expense that is necessary’.1 He did not get the seat, but was returned at the general election of 1768 for Berwick.
Taylor began by voting twice, 3 Feb., 8 May 1769, with Administration in two divisions over Wilkes. But on 25 Jan. 1770 he voted for Wilkes, and during the remainder of the Parliament he was in opposition. His only intervention in debate was on a point of order.2
After 1776 he seems to have been in serious financial trouble, and there was litigation between him and the trustees of Lord Holland’s estate about the balances of the paymaster’s office. The last twelve years of his life were spent in the Fleet prison, where he was confined for debt,3 and, judging from accounts he presented to the Government, not in his right mind.4 He died 7 Aug. 1792.
