Henry Taylor and family: Correspondence and Papers

  • This material is held at
  • Reference
      GB 12 MS Add.7901-7908
  • Dates of Creation
      1722-1900
  • Name of Creator
  • Language of Material
      English .
  • Physical Description
      1 archive box(es) 1 box
      6 volume(s) 6 volumes
      1 folder(s) 1 folder

Scope and Content

The collection consists of manuscript notebooks, correspondence, and business and family papers of Henry Taylor, with additional papers relating to the family of his wife Christian (née Fox). The correspondence includes letters sent between Taylor and members of his family (7901/1 and 7901/2). This is supported by correspondence with those outside the immediate family circle. There are letters from Henry Taylor to Mrs. Ann Jebb, who wrote during the 1770s under the pseudonym of 'Priscilla', on religious topics of contemporary interest (7901/3.). There are also copies of letters between Taylor and Mrs. Elizabeth Salter, wife of Dr Samuel Salter, headmaster of Charterhouse, contained in a MS notebook (7903), although there are only a few examples of Taylor's correspondence with Samuel Salter (7901/4/19 and 20; 7901/8/6 and 7). Another correspondent is Benjamin Hoadly, father of John, a school friend of Taylor's, who ordained Taylor to the diaconate and the priesthood (7901/9/1 and 2) and as Bishop of Winchester took an interest in his career. Taylor's career is illustrated in the collection by documents concerning his publications (7901/7) and relating to his ecclesiastical preferences (7901/9). His interest in gardening is represented by a small group of treatises and notes (7901/11). A few drafts of letters and of a 'Dialogue' are all that survive of the correspondence concerning Taylor's quarrel with Christ's College, Cambridge, over his son's Tancred Studentship (7901/8). There are also sermons, prose and poems by Henry Taylor, his father William, and their friends and contemporaries (7902; 7904-7908). The collection also contains correspondence of the Fox family (7901/13), and a bundle of genealogical material amassed by John Charles Fox (7901/14).

Access Information

Unless restrictions apply, the collection is open for consultation by researchers using the Manuscripts Reading Room at Cambridge University Library. For further details on conditions governing access please contact mss@lib.cam.ac.uk. Information about opening hours and obtaining a Cambridge University Library reader's ticket is available from the Library's website (www.lib.cam.ac.uk).

Acquisition Information

Purchased 1971.

Other Finding Aids

A catalogue of the collection can be found on ArchiveSearch.

Related Material

The British Museum holds some papers of Peter Alfred Taylor, Addit. MSS 37682-37686 and Addit. charters 54653-54700, consisting largely of manuscript copies of poems by Henry Taylor, his father William, and their friends and contempories; deeds relating to properties held by the family; copies of wills; and documents dealing with the ecclesiastical preferments of members of the family.

Bibliography

The collection and other family papers were used by Peter Alfred Taylor, great-grandson of Henry Taylor in Some Account of the Family of Taylor (formerly Taylard), printed for private circulation, London, 1875. In this work P.A. Taylor printed a substantial selection of family correspondence, as well as some poems by his ancestors, followed by detailed pedigrees.