John Taylor
Mayor of Oxford 1695/6 and 1708/9
John Taylor (or Tayler/Taylour) (c.1650–1716) was the son of John Taylor, a limner (portrait painter), and his wife Jane. He and his siblings were as follows:
- John (born c.1650)
- Anne (born c.1652)
- Mary (born c.1655)
- Another daughter, probably called Jane, who married and had a child but had died by 1680.
The fact that in 1677 Taylor's sister Mary got married at St Thomas's Church indicates that they may have lived in that parish; but unfortunately the parish registers for St Thomas around the time of their birth are missing. They do not appear to have been baptised in St Mary Magdalen parish, where the whole family ended up, and it is possible that they originated from Downham in Gloucestershire, as Taylor's father left property there to his wife Jane in his will of 1680.
It must have been Taylor's father who in 1655 painted the self-portrait presented to the Bodleian Gallery and a portrait of his uncle, the water poet John Taylor (1578–1653), of whom Pope says: "Taylor, their better Charon, lends an oar / Once swan of Thames, though now he sings no more." In 1659 John Taylor senior was commissioned by the city to paint portraits of John Nixon and his wife Joan; and in 1664, when Dr John Wall, Canon of Christ Church, presented money to the City "for certain pious uses", the City paid him £8 10s for painting his picture as well.
It is possible that Taylor's family moved to St Mary Magdalen parish at this time: in 1665 two people in that parish called John Taylor paid tax, one on six hearths and another on three. The former may have been Taylor's father, and the latter the tobacco-pipe maker of the same name who lived in the parish. Similarly in March 1667 one John Taylor in that parish paid 5/- poll tax for himself, his wife, and his three children, and the other 3/- for himself, his wife, and his child.
It was probably Taylor's father who was employed by Magdalen College to copy the portrait of the Founder in 1669 and of Dr John Warner in 1670.
John Taylor junior was Taylor obviously inherited his father's talent, as he too became a limner or portrait painter, and was admitted free for £10 on 9 December 1672. It is unclear whether it was he or his father who in 1674/5 was paid £5 for drawing a picture (now lost) of Alderman John Harris, and who in about 1680 painted Alderman Richard Hawkins (described by Taylor's father in his will of that same year as one of his "loveing friends").
Taylor and his first wife Elizabeth moved to St Mary Magdalen parish by 1676. They had three sons:
- Edward (identified in his grandfather's will of 1680, and clearly described as "son of John, limner" when he was buried at St Mary Magdalen on 19 February 1683/4). He is possibly the Edward Taylor, son of John, baptised at St Giles on 20 November 1673.
- John I (baptised at St Mary Magdalen Church on 26 June 1676, died on 13 December 1676, buried inside that church on 14 December 1676)
- John II (baptised at St Mary Magdalen Church on 14 November 1678, died on 1 June 1679, buried inside that church on 2 June 1679.
Elizabeth herself died and was buried inside the church on 2 August 1680.
The next month, on 24 September, Taylor's father also died (notwithstanding the fact that he stated that he was "in good health and perfect memorie thanks bee given to God" in the will he signedon 23 September, the day before his death). He was buried inside the church on 25 September 1680.
The chancel of St Mary Magdalen Church was rebuilt in 1840; but an inscription on the floor near the old chancel read:
Here lyes interred ye body of Eliz: Taylor, wife of Jo: Taylor, junior — paynter. She died ye 31st July 1680. With her lye two sonnes, both John's, who dyed in theire infancy. ye first dyed December ye 13th 1676, ye other dyed ye 1st June 1679, she leaving behind her, issue one only son. Also underneath the body of John Taylor, junior* in hope of a joyful resurrection, he died September ye 24 1680.
* This is the Mayor's father: theepithet "junior" is given to two different people in this inscription. This is caused by the fact that he Mayor's grandfather, a third John Taylor, was still alive at this time. The second part of the inscription was probably added three months later, without notice being taken of the first.
In October 1681 Taylor first came on to the Common Council. The following year the new Mayor, John Townsend, nominated him as his Child and obtained a Bailiff's place for him.
Taylor's second wife was Denise ("Dennis"), the sister of Sir Robert Harrison (Mayor in 1688 and 1699), and they had two children:
- John III (baptised at St Mary Magdalen Church on 5 December 1682)
- Jane (baptised at St Mary Magdalen Church on 26 September 1689).
On 29 January 1682/3 the council granted John Taylor, limner, his first lease of 47 Broad Street. The house had hitherto been leased to Edward Sellwood, and was then in the occupation of Dr John Luffe. When Taylor's lease was renewed on 28 February 1695/6, it was occupied by Thomas Swift; and when it was renewed again on 18 July 1709 it was occupied by the victualler John Gibbens. John Taylor's son of the same name was granted leases for this house jointly with the mercer Henry Wise in 1723 and 1735
On 23 February 1682/3 the Mayor informed the house that John Taylor had promised to give the King's arms and a frame to be hung in the Council Chamber, and it was agreed that his name should be put in the benefactors' book.
On 17 August 1686 Mrs Jane Taylor, widow, presumably Taylor's mother, was buried at St Mary Magdalen Church.
In September 1687 Taylor was appointed Junior Bailiff, and in December 1694 one of the eight Assistants. In September 1695 he was elected Mayor for the first time, selecting Jeffery Clarke as his Child. At the start his year of office, on 20 September 1695, Anthony Wood reports in his diary that the men who supported the Recorder, William Wright, at the general election "went to Taylor the new mayor, and Wood the old mayor, and made a disturbance at their dores".
During Taylor's mayoral year King William III paid a visit to Oxford, and it was agreed that:
all the gentlemen of the Council Chamber resident within the City or suburbs on the day of His Majesty's coming, at the ringing of the great bell of St Martin's shall repaire to the Guildhall and from thence with the Mayor shall ride two and two to meet His Majesty according to their places, the Mayor in his scarlet gown on horseback with two footmen and footcloths handsomely suited, all the aldermen in their scarlet gowns with their tippets on horseback with each his footman and footcloth, and the assistants in their scarlet gowns with footcloth and footmen, and the bailiffs with white rods in their hands, and all the rest of the citizens except the Recorder, the townclerk, and the Macebearer, having comely suits of clothes with handsome gowns according to their places, with handsome horses and other furniture, shall also ride behind the Mayor and his company, and all that can procure scarlet gowns are desired to do so and ride next the bailiffs. All the company are to meet His Majesty at the furthest place of our liberties or in some convenient place near Wolvercote, where all that are in scarlet, and the Recorder, townclerk, and Macebearer, shall alight from their horses and the Recorder is hereby desired to make such speeches to His Majesty as he thinks suitable, and then the Mayor is to present to His Majesty such presents as the Mayor and his brethren provide, the cost of which presents, the conduit running with claret, and all other necessary charges are to be paid out of the City treasure.
In 1696 Mr John Taylor, Mayor, is listed as paying tax on ten windows in St Mary Magdalen parish.
Taylor's only son John does not appear to have inherited his father's artistic skills, because in September 1696 when he was fourteen he was apprenticed as a mercer to his uncle, Sir Robert Harrison.
Taylor was elected Barge Commissioner in April 1701, and September 1708 he was chosen as Mayor a second time, nominating his own son John, now a mercer, as his Child.
On 18 July 1709 John Taylor, described as a painter, was granted a lease of in St Mary Magdalen parish: the shop was occupied by the victualler John Gibbons.
Taylor's wife Denise was buried at St Mary Magdalen Church on 23 April 1713.
Taylor remained a Mayor's Assistant until his death, and was buried beside his wife at St Mary Magdalen Church on 21 May 1716.
Taylor's family
Taylor's grandfather
At the time of his death in 1680, John Taylor's father was still referred to as John Taylor junior, because his own father, a third John Taylor, was still alive, and was in fact a witness to his will. He may be the tailor John Taylor whose son John was baptised at St Mary Magdalen on 16 March 1619/20.
Taylor's sisters
- Mary (born c.1655) married Unton Bullin or Bulein of Marston at St Thomas's Church on 12 June 1677. Their son John was baptised at Marston in 1678, followed by their daughter Elizabeth and sons Devereau and Richard, baptised at Barford St Michael in 1680, 1684, and 1688.
- Anne (born c.1652) was still single in 1680.
- The unnamed sister (?Jane) became Mrs Cox, and by1680 she had given birth to a daughter called Jane and was died.
Taylor's two children
The memorial below was put up on the wall of St Mary Magdalen Church in 1744 by John Taylor's only daughter, Mrs Jane Scott, in memory of her only sibling, John Taylor junior:
"Near this Place lies interr'd with the Remains
of his Father & Mother the Body of John Taylor,
late of WOODSTOCK, Gent.,
Son of JOHN TAYLOR late of this Parish, Gent
(Several times Mayor of this City)
and DENNIS his Wife (Sister to Sir Robert HARRISON,
late of this City Knight & Alderman).
He died a Bachelor Dec ye 8th 1744, Aged 62.
His only Sister JANE, Relict of ye late Revd Mr William Scott,
Rector of BLETCHINGTON in this County, out of Gratitude to a Kind
Brother, caused this Monument to be erected in his memory."
There follows a list of the many charitable bequests in the will of her brother (whose name appears in a list of benefactions cut in stone near the vestry door for giving £100, the interest to apprentice a poor boy once in two years, 1645), Finally Mrs Jane Scott adds a memorial to her own baby daughter, also called Jane, who died over thirty years earlier on 20 December 1713, aged just ten days.
See also:
- Poole, Catalogue of Oxford Portraits, vol. i
- Portraits of John and Joan Nixon, and Dr John Wall hanging in the Town Hall
- PCC Will PROB 11/369 (Will of John Tayler, Painter of Oxford, proved 14 January 1682)