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A    MEMOIE 


OF    THE 


FAMILY    OF    TAYLOE 


OF    NORWICH 


BY 

O 

PHILIP     MEADOWS    TAYLOR 

OF   LE    MAS   D'iZXL 


PRIVATELY  PRINTED 

......    -rCl 


1886 


7  9     919^     ^ 


\\'J-.      .    :   V:  I.  / 


2G4'?'378 


PEEFACE. 


The  following  Memoirs  of  the  past  generation  of 
the  Taylor  family  of  Norwich  form  a  part  of  a 
larger  work  relating  to  my  own  life. 

This  will  explain  why  my  own  personality  takes 
a  rather  too  prominent  position  in  this  record  of 
our  forefathers,  which  has  been  printed  apart  for 
the  members  of  the  family. 

P.  M.  T. 

Le  Mas  d'Azil: 

August  20,  188C. 


A    MEMOIE 

OF    TUE 

TAYLOR  FAMILY  OF  NOEWICE 


My  name  is  Philip  Meadows  Taylor ;  I  was  born  in 
the  second  decade  of  the  century  ;  I  belong  to  that 
old  Presbyterian  and  Whig  family,  the  Taylors  of 
Norwich. 

I  will  only  glance  at  a  family  legend  of  our 
ancestors  coming  to  England  with  Wilham  the 
Conqueror.  Quilleboeuf  is  near  a  dangerous  part 
of  the  river  Seine,  where  the  shifting  sands  caused 
boats  to  be  delayed  or  wrecked,  within  reach  of  the 
castle  of  Robert  le  Diable,  and  from  this  town  our 
legendary  progenitor  came.  Be  that  as  it  may, 
our  family  were  living  in  Lancashire  in  the  seven- 
teenth century,  and  it  was  in  that  county,  in  the 
5'ear  1G94,  that  Dr.  John  Taylor,  my  historical 
ancestor,  was  born. 

B 


2  A  MEMOIR  OF  THE 

He  was  well  known  as  a  nonconformist  divine, 
as  the  author  of  the  Hebrew  Concordance  and  a 
treatise  on  the  Epistle  of  St.  Paul  to  the  Eomans, 
as  well  as  of  other  theological  works. 

His  son  Eichard  married  Margaret,  daughter 
and  coheiress  of  Mr.  Philip  Meadows,  who  was 
Mayor  of  Norwich  in  1734.  This  gentleman,  though 
a  staunch  Presbyterian,  was  a  somewhat  lax  non- 
conformist ;  a  statute  of  George  I.  passed  in  1718 
allowed  dissenters  to  aspire  to  municipal  honours, 
and  in  1721  we  find  him  Sheriff  of  Norwich.  He 
was  a  man  of  good  natural  parts,  a  useful  member 
of  society,  and  an  accomplished  mathematician, 
spending  much  thought  on  the  vexed  problem  of 
the  longitude. 

Mr.  Philip  Meadows  embarked  a  large  part  of 
his  fortune  in  the  South  Sea  scheme,  of  course  only 
to  lose  it ;  and  his  son-in-law,  Richard  Taylor,  who 
was  in  the  wool  trade,  lost  the  greater  part  of  his 
fortune  in  the  great  earthquake  of  Lisbon  in  1755. 

Philip  Meadows  was  a  son  of  John  Meadows  of 
Ousdon,  a  nonconformist  minister  who  was  ejected 
in  1662. 

A  younger  brother  of  the  ejected  minister  was 
so  remarkable  a  man  that  I  must  give  a  short 
sketch  of  his  career.     Sh-  Philip  Meadows  was  a 


TAYLOR  FAMILY  OF  NORWICH.  3 

younger  son  with  little  or  no  fortune,  but  nature 
had  endowed  him  with  great  intellectual  gifts  and 
great  tenacity  of  purpose,  and  he  received  a  good 
education.  Through  the  patronage  of  Thurloe  he 
was  appointed  joint  Latin  secretary  to  the  Council 
of  State  under  the  Commonwealth,  with  John  Mil- 
ton, and  in  1655  I  find  him  translating  the  Swedish 
Treaty  negotiated  by  Whitelock.  In  1057  he  was 
sent  on  a  delicate  mission  of  pacification  between 
Denmark  and  Sweden,  and  Sweden  and  Poland,  and 
he  brought  to  a  conclusion  the  Treaty  of  Oliva  ; 
subsequently  he  had  to  conduct  negotiations  at 
some  of  the  German  courts.  Frederic  III.  of  Den- 
mark gave  him  the  order  of  Knighthood  of  the 
Elephant  as  a  signal  mark  of  favour. 

Sir  Philip  Meadows  served  under  the  brief  pro- 
tectorate of  Richard  Cromwell,  and  later  on  was  so 
acceptable  to  Charles  11.  that  he  was  appointed 
Knight  Marshal  and  Comptroller  of  the  Army  Ac- 
counts. These  important  posts  he  held  under 
Charles  II.,  James  II.,  William  and  Mary,  and 
Queen  Anne,  dying  at  the  age  of  ninety-three  in 
1718.     The  Meadows  family  were  a  long-lived  race. 

The  son  and  grandson  bore  the  same  title  and 
held  the  same  i^osts.  His  great-nephew,  Admiral 
Charles  Meadows,  took  his  mother's  name  of  Pierre- 

*  b2 


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J  .    i  'jy  ■    ( 


]  .     ,     !■ 


4  A   MEilOIR  OF  THE 

pont,  and  was  raised  to  the  peerage  by  the  title  of 
Baron  Pierrepont  and  Viscount  Newark  in  1796, 
and  advanced  to  the  dignity  of  Earl  Man  vers  in 
1806. 

I  now  return  to  Eichard  Taylor,  who  married 
Margaret  Meadows.  This  lady's  mother  was  Mar- 
garet, daughter  of  John  Hall  of  Norwich  and  Mar- 
garet Lombe,  cousin  to  Sir  Thomas  Lombe,  Sheriff 
of  London  in  1728.  His  name,  with  that  of  his 
brother  John  Lombe,  is  noteworthy  in  connection 
with  the  introduction  of  silk  manufactures  into 
England. 

In  those  days  the  laws  of  Piedmont  inflicted  the 
penalty  of  death  on  any  person  who  should  attempt 
to  carry  out  of  the  khigdom  drawings  or  models  of 
the  organsin,  or  silk-twisting  machinery,  which  was 
a  special  industry  in  Piedmont.  John  Lombe 
mastered  the  rough  dialect  of  the  country,  assumed 
the  dress  of  a  peasant,  and  obtained  employment  in 
the  silk  mills.  Cautiously  and  slowly  during  the 
night  watches  he  cut  tiny  paper  models  of  each 
part  of  the  machinery  protected  by  such  stern 
enactments.  These  precious  bits  of  paper  were 
placed  in  his  snuff-box  and  hidden  under  a  layer  of 
tobacco ;  this  was  in  1718.  I  well  remember,  some 
sixty  years  ago,  being  taken  by  my  father  to  the 


:i  :'TAi 


TAYLOR  F.UIILY  OF  NORWICH.  5 

Tower  of  London  and  shown  the  two  first  organsin 
mills  built  by  John  Lombe  after  his  return.  Are 
they  still  in  existence  ? 

Curiously  enough,  in  the  years  1830-40  my 
father  took  an  active  part  in  introducing  new 
machinery  for  silk  in  Piedmont,  making  known  the 
system  of  treating  the  cocoons  by  steam. 

To  return  to  John  Meadows.  He  was  three 
times  married ;  his  second  wife,  the  mother  of  his 
children,  was  Sarah  Fairfax  —  the  Lord-General 
Fairfax  of  Parliamentary  renown  was  of  the  same 
stock.  To  Sarah  Fairfax  we  are  indebted  for  a 
series  of  admirable  reflections  on  the  education  of' 
her  children. 

The  Fairfaxes  are  an  old  Yorkshire  family,  of 
which  a  younger  branch  settled  in  Norfolk  and 
Suffolk.  Li  1G62  Benjamin  and  his  sons,  John  and 
Nathaniel  Fairfax,  were  among  the  ejected  non- 
conformist ministers,  for  the  Fairfaxes — like  the 
Lombes,  the  'Meadowses,  and  the  Taylors — were 
Presbyterians  in  religion  and  Whigs  in  politics.  I 
pride  myself  oti  being  descended  from  such  a  stock. 

Another  daughter  of  Philip  Meadows,  Sarah, 
married  Mr.  David  Martineau,  grandson  of  Gaston 
Martineau,  who  fled  from  France  at  the  time  of  the 
revocation  of  the  Edict  of  Nantes.     Mrs.  Eichard 


+  •,';'  « v/j  -M'J      /;. 


-:'     •  »        111? 


;  .fi.: 


,  I  ■■fi  1 


6  A  MEMOIR  OF  THE 

Taylor  and  Mrs.  David  Martineau  had  eight  children 
each  ;  they  were  left  widows  at  an  early  age  ;  they 
lived  near  one  another,  devoting  their  lives  to  the 
careful  training  of  their  children,  for  which  they 
were  well  fitted  by  their  strong  intelligence  and 
high  culture.  I  find  record  of  five  sons  of  Sarah 
Martineau  ;  of  these  the  eldest,  Philip  Meadows,  was 
a  celebrated  surgeon,  known  to  be  a  very  skilful 
operator.  Thomas,  the  youngest,  is  remarkable 
as  the  father  of  Dr.  James  Martineau,  the  distin- 
guished writer  and  preacher,  and  of  Harriet  Mar- 
tineau, whose  works  are  popular  in  the  United  States 
as  well  as  in  the  old  country.  David  and  Peter 
were  sugar-refiners  in  London.  John,  the  fourth 
son,  was  an  eminent  brewer,  and  became  a  partner 
in  the  house  of  Whitbread  &  Co. 

A  brother  of  these  two  ladies,  another  Philip 
Meadows,  was  a  much-respected  lawyer  at  Diss ;  he 
left  no  children,  but  was  succeeded  in  his  practice  by 
a  nephew,  Mr.  Meadows  Taylor,  fourth  son  of  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Richard  Taylor.  Mr.'  Meadows  Taylor 
and  his  uncle  carried  on  their  practice  for  a  period 
of  ninety-eight  years,  from  1740  to  1838,  when  Mr. 
Meadows  Taylor  died  esteemed  and  respected  by  all 
who  knew  him. 

Mr.  Meadows   Taylor   married  Miss  Dyson,  a 


■  f  ■. . , 


j):  ff 


TAYLOE  FAMILY   OF  NORWICH.  7 

member  of  a  much-respected  Norfolk  family ;  their 
son,  Thomas  Lombe  Taylor,  presented  to  his  native 
town  a  very  handsome  building,  called  the  Corn 
Hall,  but  with  assembly-rooms  and  library  forming 
part  of  the  building.  One  of  his  sons,  Francis,  who 
married  his  cousin  Susan,  daughter  of  Dr.  lligby, 
is  now  (188G)  member  for  South  Norfolk.  He  is 
well  known  to  yachtsmen  as  the  owner  of  the 
'  Tar  a.' 

Mr.  John  Rigby  of  Lancaster  married  Sarah, 
daughter  of  Dr.  John  Taylor ;  their  daughter 
married  Dr.  Caleb  Hillier  Parry,  a  physician  of 
celebrity  at  Bath,  and  was  mother  of  the  great 
Arctic  explorer,  Sh'  William  Edward  Parry,  born 
1790,  died  at  Ems,  1855. 

An  anecdote  preserved  in  the  Dyson  family  is 
deserving  of  record.  About  1755  the  Marquis  de 
Lafayette,  father  of  the  celebrated  general,  applied 
to  his  English  friends  to  obtain  for  him  the  services 
of  a  competeiijt  tutor  to  teach  his  son  agriculture 
as  practised  in  England.  Mr.  John  Dyson  was  the 
person  chosen,  and  he  lived  for  some  years  with 
the  Lafayette  family  on  the  most  agreeable  footing. 
But  no  peaceful  career  was  that  of  his  pupiF,  and  in 
1792  the  young  revolutionary  General  Lafayette, 
after  playing  a  conspicuous  part  in  the  American 


,1  ;  '  r 


i  :i    :\ii 


8  A  JIEMOm  OF  THE 

and  French  revolutions,  was  captured  by  the  Aus- 
trians  and  imprisoned  in  the  fortress  of  Olmiitz. 
His  devoted  wife  used  all  possible  means  to  obtain 
his  release,  and  at  last  bethought  her  of  help  from 
General  Washington.  There  was  the  greatest  dif- 
ficulty in  communicating  with  the  United  States, 
and  she  appealed  to  Mr.  John  Dyson  to  assist 
her.  He  succeeded  in  sending  her  two  letters  to  the 
President.  General  Washington  replied  to  the  first 
letter  only ;  copies  of  these  two  touching  appeals 
are  in  the  possession  of  the  Dyson  family. 

I  must  allow  myself  to  mention  that  my  wife  is 
a  goddaughter  of  General  Lafayette,  and  that  part 
of  my  honeymoon  was  spent  in  his  family. 

We  will  now  return  to  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Richard  Tay- 
lor's eight  children.  Philip,  the  eldest,  was,  with  his 
cousin  Eigby,  put  to  a  school  at  Nantwich  under  the 
care  of  Mr.  Priestly,  afterwards  celebrated  as  author 
and  chemist,  and  known  as  Dr.  Priestly.  Philip  be- 
came a  Presbyterian  minister,  and  in  1774  was  ap- 
pointed minister  of  the  Eustace  Street  congregation, 
and  settled  at  Harold's  Cross,  near  Dublin ;  he 
married  Miss  Weld,  and  died  in  1831,  greatly  loved 
and  resf^ected.  He  was  the  grandfather  of  Colonel 
Philip  Meadows  Taylor,  the  author  of  '  Confessions 
of  a  Thug,'  '  Tara,'  &c.    His  Autobiography  narrates 


.  ?,    J  ■  ■ 


iH 


'■*•''        '■'    ■   iuV-'  T  '* 


■>  T  " 


TAYLOR  FAMILY  OF  NORWICH.  9 

the  events  of  a  very  remarkable  life,  but  it  does  not 
contain  the  following  anecdote.  Colonel  Taylor 
was  engaged  to  a  daughter  of  Mr.  Palmer,  head  of 
the  great  banking-house  of  Calcutta  and  Hyderabad. 
AVlien  every  tiling  was  settled  for  the  marriage,  a 
sudden  and  tremendous  change  came  over  the 
fortunes  of  the  firm,  and  Mr.  Palmer  told  Colonel 
Taylor  he  had  his  full  permission  to  relinquish  the 
marriage  now  that  his  daughter  was  portionless. 
My  true-hearted  cousin  refused  to  sacrifice  his  love, 
and  the  marriage  took  place.  Colonel  Taylor  was 
selected  to  administer  the  Shorapoor  State  during 
the  minority  of  the  Rajah,  from  1843  to  1853.  In 
1869  Her  Majesty  was  pleased  to  appoint  Colonel 
Taylor  Companion  of  the  Star  of  India.  His  health, 
sorely  tried  by  Indian  work  and  climate,  gave  way, 
and  he  died  in  1876. 

John,  the  second  son  of  Richard  Taylor,  born 
in  1750,  was  my  grandfather.  He  married  in  1777 
Susannah,  daughter  of  Mr.  John  Cook  of  Norwich. 
Mr.  John  Taylor  was  strongly  attached  to  the  faith 
of  his  forefathers,  and  he  was  a  staunch  supporter 
of  the  T^^iig  party ;  but  although  in  those  days 
party  feeling  ran  high  and  religious  prejudices  were 
strong,  he  was  of  so  kind  and  genial  a  temper,  that 
eminent  persons  of  different  opinions  came  with 


■\.,:l        ••) 


'.',•'*.        -1^ 


10  A   MEMOIR   OF   THE 

pleasure  to  his  house— Sir  James  Macintosh,  Sir 
James  Smith,  Mr.  Crabbe  Eobinson,  Dr.  Southey 
(brother  of  the  laureate),  Mr.  Windham,  Sir  Thomas 
Beevor,  Mrs.  Fry,  and  the  Gurney  family,  Mrs. 
Opie,  Mrs.  Barbauld  (who  wrote  those  touching 
lines  on  the  death  of  Mrs.  Martineau),  and  other 
Norwich  worthies. 

My  grandmother  united  strength  of  will  and 
great  acquirements  to  a  kindly  nature  and  a  loving 
heart,  and  she  contributed  to  making  her  husband's 
house  a  favourite  gathering-place  for  his  numerous 
friends.  My  grandfather  was  no  contemptible  poet ; 
some  of  his  hymns  are  beautiful. 

Exulting,  rejoicing,  hail  the  happy  morning, 
The  morn  of  the  day  when  our  Clnist  was  born, 

adapted  to  the  air  of  '  Adeste  Fideles,'  ought  to 
take  its  place  in  every  hymn-book. 

He  was  no  less  hajDpy  in  his  political  songs — 

The  trumpet  of  hberty  sounds  through  the  world. 
And  the  Universe  starts  at  the  sound. 

He  is  said  to  have  written  this  spirit-stirring  lyric 
on  the  back  of  a  letter  which  announced  the  fall  of 
the  Bastile,  July  1789.  For  my  part,  I  prefer  it  to 
Eouget  de  I'lsle's  lines, 

Qu'un  sang  impur  arrose  vos  sillons  ; 


TAYLOE  FAMILY  OF  NOKWICH.  11 

but  those  who  have  heard  the  Marseillaise  sung 
amidst  the  gloom  and  turmoil  of  revolutionary  war 
may  well  deem  its  words  hateful. 

The  '  Trumpet  of  Liberty  '  was  not,  however,  ac- 
ceptable to  the  Tory  ministers  of  the  day,  as  its  author 
knew,  though  it  was  first  sung  by  him  at  a  dinner 
presided  over  by  a  royal  Duke.  At  another  dinner, 
also  presided  over  by  that  liberal  and  independent 
prince  the  Duke  of  Sussex,  with  Lord  Albemarle,  Sir 
Francis  Burdett,  and  Mr.  Coke  of  Holkham  among 
the  guests,  the  Duke  called  on  Mr.  Taylor  for  the 
«  Trumpet  of  Liberty.'  '  No,  please  your  Royal 
Highness,'  answered  my  grandfather,  *  you  know  I 
got  into  trouble  before.'  'Never  fear,'  said  the 
burly  prince,  '  my  back  is  broad  enough  to  protect 
you.' 

The  Taylor  and  Martineau  families  were  at  the 
head  of  the  Whig  party  in  Norwich,  and  the  county 
magnates,  the  Earl  of  Albemarle  and  the  Squire  of 
Holkham,  la-^ge-hearted  men,  gave  their  help  in  re- 
turning Whig  members  for  the  borough.  Mr.  William 
Smith  sat  for  Norwich,  I  believe,  forty  years,  and 
this  of  course  before  the  Reform  Bill,  though  as 
early  as  1822  reform  had  many  stout  adherents  in 
Norfolk. 

I  love  to  dwell  on   my  childish   days   passed 


J'  ■/■/,' 


12  A  JIEMOIR   OF  THE 

under  my  gi-andfather's  roof,  and  still  remember 
some  of  the  stories  told  of  his  friends  and  acquaint- 
ances. 

It  appeared  that  county  members  had  in  those 
days  the  right  to  present  themselves  at  levees  and 
drawing-rooms  in  top-boots  and  breeches.  This 
privilege  Mr.  Coke  declined  to  forego,  much  to 
the  disgust  of  that  fine  gentleman,  the  Prince 
Eegent. 

Of  one  of  the  great  bankers  at  Norwich  they 
told  this  story :  He  was  at  my  grandfather's, 
playing  a  quiet  rubber,  when  an  officious  clerk 
rushed  in  and  whispered  that  the  London  mail  had 
just  brought  the  news  of  the  failure  of  a  large 
banking  establishment  by  which  his  firm  would  sus- 
tain a  considerable  loss.  The  great  banker  took 
no  notice,  but  went  on  with  his  whist.  When  the 
game  had  ended,  he  turned  round  to  the  clerk,  and 
said, '  What  did  you  mean  by  interrupting  me  ?  You 
have  made  me  lose  tlie  trick.'  The  stakes  were  two 
pence,  be  it  knovm,  and  of  course  it  was  long  whist. 

Then  there  was  the  adventure  of  the  apron.  A 
learned  divine,  very  absent  and  rather  short- 
sighted, found  himself  at  a  dinner-table  seated 
next  to  a  young  lady,  or  rather  a  lady  who  had 
been  young,   and   who   kept   up   the    fashion    of 


TAYLOR  FAMILY  OF  NORWICH.  13 

embroidered  muslin  aprons.  The  divine's  dress 
was  also  that  of  the  period,  a  period  when  napkins 
had  not  come  into  use.  After  doing  justice  to  the 
good  things  on  the  table,  his  eyes  were  attracted  by 
something  wrong — some  strange  patch  of  white, 
where  all  should  have  been  black.  He  muttered, 
'  Been  careless  in  dressing,  dear,  dear !  '  then  he 
began  to  impound  the  waif  or  stray,  rather  astonished 
at  the  amount  of  tugging  it  required.  Mean- 
while the  lady  became  more  and  more  uneasy,  till 
the  brilliant  idea  of  unhooking  her  apron  occurred. 
The  doctor  pocketed  the  whole,  and  only  wondered, 
when  he  divested  himself  of  his  black  knee-breeches 
at  night,  how  that  mysterious  muslin  got  there. 

In  1784  my  grandfather,  in  concert  with  his 
cousin,  Mr.  P.  M.  Martineau,  gave  active  support 
in  establishing  that  excehent  institution,  the  Norwich 
Public  Library. 

Though  a  very  abstemious  man,  my  gi-andfather 
was  in  his  later  years  a  sufferer  from  severe  fits  of 
gout,  and  it  .was  somewhat  of  an  effort  when  in 
June,  1826,  he  determined  to  pay  my  father  a  visit 
at  Corngreaves  in  Staffordshire.  Father  and  son 
met  at  Birmingham  on  a  Sunday  morn — well  do  I 
remember  the  fatal  day.  They  attended  divine 
service,  and  then  started  in  my  father's  car,  which 


JOI'V^^, 


\.  ^S      ±\  t  J. 


l.  ■ 


;    -ii  r^lf;  .-. 


14  A  MEMOIR  OF  THE 

opened  behind.  At  the  steep  descent  of  Halesowen, 
'  York,'  the  horse,  became  unmanageable.  Turner, 
the  coachman,  was  thrown  from  the  box ;  my  father, 
in  attempting  to  reach  the  box  and  recover  the 
reins,  was  jerked  out,  falling  on  his  head ;  and  my 
grandfather  in  attempting  to  get  out  behind  caught 
his  foot  in  the  step,  and  fell  heavily  on  the  ground. 
When  my  father  recovered  his  senses  and  went  to 
his  assistance,  he  was  insensible.  He  was  lifted  up 
and  carried  to  the  house  of  a  kind  old  Quaker  hard 
by,  and  never  left  that  house  alive.  Well  do  I 
remember  standing  with  my  mother  and  sister  at 
the  gate  waiting  the  arrival  of  the  travellers,  but  the 
carriage  which  drove  down  the  hill  at  headlong  speed 
was  not  theirs  ;  it  was  that  of  the  good  old  Quaker, 
Mr.  Brewen.  He  gently  led  my  mother  inside,  and 
then  they  reappeared  and  drove  off  to  Halesowen, 
where  he  installed  my  mother ;  and  telling  his 
daughter  and  his  niece  to  pack  up  clothes  for  a 
short  absence,  had  the  horses  put  to  his  carriage, 
and  left  the  house,  writing  a  short  note  to  explain 
that  as  rooins  would  be  required  for  the  doctor  and 
the  relations,  he  had  thought  it  desirable  to  advance 
by  a  few  days  an  intended  journey,  and  he  placed 
his  house  entirely  at  the  disposal  of  the  Taylor 
family.     My  grandfather  breathed  his  last  on  the 


'•'TT 'I    •:;  J 


V.         .[.      ^-'t 

•  s     {  '      ■\i.. 

,  -  (          _,'< 

TAYLOR  FAMILY  OF  NORWICH,        15 

23rd  June,  his  sons  standing  around  him,  and  I,  a 
lad,  among  them.  It  was  my  first  experience  of 
death.  How  many  dear  ones  have  I  watched 
breathe  their  hast  since ! 

I  should  mention  that  the  death  of  my  grand- 
mother took  place  in  1823. 

The  eldest  son,  born  in  1779,  was  called  John 
after  his  father.  His  mother  encouraged  his  boyish 
taste  for  mechanical  pursuits  by  giving  him  mathe- 
matical instruments  and  a  turning  lathe,  thus  de- 
termining his  career.  At  the  early  age  of  nineteen, 
after  a  training  as  land  surveyor,  friends  who  wer^ 
shareholders  in  the  '  Wheal  Friendship '  mine  near 
Tavistock,  struck  by  his  intelligence,  judgment, 
and  integrity,  placed  that  important  concern  under 
his  management,  and  sent  him  to  Tavistock.  This 
was  the  beginning  of  the  career  in  which  he  attained 
such  eminence  as  a  mining  engineer. 

In  Cornwall  he  became  acquainted  with  A. 
Woolfe,  a  self-taught  engineer ;  they  worked  together 
with  others  in  producing  that  splendid  mechanical 
invention,  the  Cornish  pumping  engine.  It  is  much 
to  be  regretted  that  Mr.  Taylor  did  not  continue 
the  publication  of  his  *  Records  of  Mining.'  Only  one 
volume  appeared  (1829) ;  had  it  been  continued,  we 
should  have  had  accounts  of  the  i^rogress  of  mining 


V  II! 


:      '    \  :■.    '.{[ 

■  t 


Uv       .,;, 


•JP. 


f'.t 


16  A  MEMOIR   OF  THE 

in  Cormvall,  and  of  his  own  labours.  Though  no 
mention  of  Woolfe  and  Taylor  is  found  in  English 
mechanical  and  industrial  dictionaries,  in  the 
French.' Annales  des  Mines'  Mr.  Taylor  is  named 
as  a  high  authority,  and  he  was  held  in  much 
esteem  by  MM.  Elie  de  Beaumont,  Dufresnoy, 
and  by  the  celebrated  Baron  von  Humboldt. 

Mr.  Woolfe  was  the  inventor  of  high-pressure 
steam  worked  expansively. 

The  first  tunnel  executed  in  England  for  the 
Tavistock  canal  through  Morwel  Down  in  1806  was 
made  under  the  direction  of  Mr.  Taylor. 

He  wrote  little ;  a  few  articles  in  the  *  Philoso- 
phical Magazine '  are  all  that  I  can  mention. 

In  1805  John  Taylor  married  a  sister  of  Captain 
Daniel  Bring,  R.N.,  whose  family  resided  at  Ivedon 
Pen,  near  Honiton.  This  proved  a  most  happy  union 
for  himself,  and  a  source  of  happiness  to  the  whole 
Taylor  family.  My  uncles  and  kinsmen  held  strong 
opinions,  but  were  not  very  tolerant  of  others  doing 
the  same  ;  the  serene  temper  and  supreme  goodness 
of  Mrs.  Taylor  softened  all  asperities,  and  for  long 
years  she  was  the  peacemaker,  the  gentle  adviser  of 
her  numerous  relations. 

In  1812  John  Taylor  quitted  Cornwall  and 
joined   his   brother   Philip    in    establishing    large 


I '  L  i  ■ 


J  .;■■  ;,Li.- 


■  ;  ;.  .,     .. -.,  ..07.    ,  :.■  j. 

i'      ■     ij    !i  ><:-'    .c  .7.1, 


■  Jt     .■        ([r 


r'<   (t 


TAYLOR  FAMILY   OF  NORWICH.  17 

chemical  works  at  Stratford  near  Bow,  London. 
Both  brothers  were  good  practical  chemists,  and 
they  contributed  to  raise  the  character  of  that 
branch  of  manufactures,  then  in  a  very  rude  state. , 
The  firm  subsequently  added  mechanical  engineering 
to  their  other  pursuits,  but  as  competent  judges 
considered  John  Taylor  the  best  metallurgist  in  the 
country,  and  as  he  was  strongly  attached  to  his 
first  profession,  mining,  he  left  his  brother  and 
devoted  himself  exclusively  to  that. 

The  '  Consolidated  Mines  '  near  Redruth,  and 
many  others  in  Cornwall  and  Devonshire,  wore 
placed  under  his  direction ;  in  1820  and  following 
years  he  undertook  the  management  of  the  vast 
mineral  property  of  the  Duke  of  Devonshire,  of 
Earl  Grosvenor  hi  North  Wales,  and  of  Greenwich 
Hospital  in  Cumberland. 

In  18'24  his  frequent  friendly  intercourse  with 
Baron  von  Humboldt  led  him  to  form  a  sanguine 
opinion  of  the  mineral  wealth  to  l)e  found  in 
Mexico.  A  company  was  formed  for  the  purpose 
of  working  the  mines  of  Real  del  Monte,  the  property 
of  the  Conde  de  Regla.  Immense  expectations  were 
raised;  the  shares  ran  up  to  an  unjustifiable  height 
in  spite  of  the  warnings  of  Mr.  Taylor. 

Here  I  must  mention  a  line  trait  in  John  Taylor's 

c 


1j  i  i!      '((!"' 


a,>  ' 


18  A  MEMOIR  OF  THE 

character.  He  was  often  urged  by  kind  friends  to 
make  use  of  his  special  knowledge  so  as  to  profit  by 
the  fluctuations  of  the  market,  and  to  realise  a 
fortune  ;  these  friends  even  offered  to  act  for  him, 
that  his  name  might  not  appear.  *  I  am  an  agent, 
not  a  speculator,'  was  his  invariable  answer.  Pity 
that  his  unostentatious  rectitude  has  so  few  followers ! 
To  return  to  Mexico.  The  Board  of  Directors 
soon  found  the  difficulty  of  working  mines  in  a 
foreign,  a  distant,  an  uncivilised  country.  Agents, 
engineers,  Cornish  captains  had  to  be  sent  out ;  no 
control  could  be  exercised  over  them,  and  they  soon 
got  to  loggerheads.  The  roads  were  scarcely 
practicable,  the  Mexican  officials  did  their  part 
in  promoting  disorder,  and  finally  the  English 
company  gave  up  the  undertakuig,  which  subse- 
quently, in  the  hands  of  other  parties  managing  it 
on  the  spot,  had  great  success.  I  well  remember 
as  a  boy  seeing  the  engines,  pumps,  and  boilers  at 
my  father's  works,  all  made  in  detached  pieces,  not 
one  of  which  was  to  exceed  a  mule's  load.  All  these 
had  to  be  abandoned  after  the  costly  journey  ,  but 
orders  from  head-quarters  were  months  on  their 
way  in  those  days,  before  steam  and  electricity  had 
conquered  distance,  and  very  gi-eat  losses  must  have 
been  the  result. 


■'.  a.U'. 


TAYLOR  FAMILY  OF  NORWICH.  19 

This  untoward  termination  was  a  sore  grief  to 
Mr.  Ta3^1or  ;  his  efforts,  however,  were  not  unappre- 
ciated by  the  shareholders,  as  they  made  him  a 
present  of  the  vahiable  collection  of  minerals 
brought  together  by  Dr.  Babington  at  a  cost  of  six 
hundred  guineas,  and  home  business  had  mean- 
while been  successful. 

In  1823  an  odd  adventure  befell  my  uncle.  He 
was  going  down  to  Exeter  by  the  mail  coach, 
bowling  along  merrily  at  ten  miles  an  hour,  when 
at  midnight  a  tremendous  roar  was  heard,  and 
some  huge  creature  sprang  on  the  leaders  of  the 
team  ;  this  proved  to  be  nothing  less  than  a  royal 
Bengal  tiger  escaped  from  a  wild  beast  show.  The 
red-coated  guard  unslung  his  blunderbuss,  not  quite 
sure  how  to  use  it,  when  the  keepers  made  their 
appearance,  and  with  nets  and  tackle  secured  the 
ferocious  but  valuable  animal.  I  was  at  my  uncle's 
house  when  he  came  home  and  thrilled  us  by  his 
description  of  the  scene. 

This  same  year  Mr.  Taylor  was  erecting  some 
splendid  water  wheels  for  the  Mold  mines  in  I'lint- 
shire,  of  which  he  w^as  manager ;  and  he  took  a 
delightful  house,  Coed  Du,  in  the  neighbourhood. 
Many  foreigners  and  many  Englishmen  of  the  by- 
gone generation  long  remembered  the  genial  and 

c  2 


'ni...    l> 


■i"i>: 


•n:'..;:/ 


)    -,    .  ■,<:     i 


-J- 


'V.nl     i     :  ji, ,...}• 


20  A   MEMOIK   OF   THE 

unaffected  hospitality  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Taylor. 
Here  is  a  letter  from  one  of  their  guests,  whose 
striking  features  and  charming  manner  I  well 
remember : — 

35  Bury  Street,  St.  James's. 

'  My  dear  Sir, — At  my  departure  from  Coed  Du 
I  was  not  able  fully  to  express  to  you  and  to  Mrs. 
Taylor  my  gratitude  for  all  the  kindness  you  were 
pleased  to  show  me  during  the  happy  time  I  passed 
in  your  house,  and  I  thought  to  bury  in  silence 
those  feelings  for  which  I  could  find  but  insufficient 
expression.  However,  being  returned  to  this  town, 
and  recapitulating  in  my  memory  every  hour  I  en- 
joyed since  my  absence  from  London,  the  recollec- 
tion of  your  house  and  family  must  again  and  again 
occur  to  my  mind,  and  prevails  upon  me  to  address 
you  once  more  on  this  subject,  though  I  am  aware 
of  how  little  moment  my  thanks  may  be  to  you. 
For  you  are  accustomed  to  see  everybody  around 
you  happy,  and  indebted  to  you  for  their  happiness 
— the  peasants,  whose  barren  ground  you  have 
changed  into  a  fruitful  garden,  as  well  as  your 
happy  children ;  i^nd  accordingly  you  do  not  want 
to  hear  repeated  by  a  stranger  the  same  feelings 
which  they  may  better  and  more  properly  express  to 
you.     But  I  myself  cannot  forbear  uttering  what 


TAYLOR  FAMILY  OF  NORWICH.     ,  21 

SO  strongly  and  most  heartily  I  feel :  restrained 
since  long  within  the  rules  of  ceremony,  deprived  of 
a  familiarity  to  ^Yhich  I  was  accustomed  before  this 
journey,  in  short,  after  having  been  a  stranger 
amongst  strangers,  I  was  received  in  your  house 
like  a  friend.  Absent  for  the  first  time  from 
home  and  from  my  family,  I  had  at  least  the 
pleasure  of  witnessing  a  happiness  which  at  a 
former  period  of  my  life  I  shared  myself.  Those 
are  the  enjoyments  which  I  owe  to  your  and 
l\Irs.  Taylor's  kindness,  and  I  never  shall  forget 
them. 

'If  I  should  be  so   happy  as  to  meet   in   my 
native  land  with  you  and  your  sons,  or  with  any  of 
your  friends,  I  sincerely  hope  to  find  an  opportunity 
of  proving  how  much  I  feel  indebted  to  you. 
'  Believe  me,  my  dear  sir, 

'  Yours  very  truly, 
«  Felix  Mendelssohn  Bartuoldy.' 

Always  anxious  to  help  his  fellow-workers,  my 
uncle  was  actively  employed  in  18'29  in  the  promo- 
tion of  a  mining  school  in  Cornwall ;  this  institution, 
the  Polytechnic  Society,  I  am  glad  to  say,  still  con- 
tinues. In  1825  Mr.  Taylor  had  been  elected 
a  member  of  the  Royal  Society ;  he  was  one  of  the 


,.    ■{. 


22  A   MEMOIR   OF   THE 

earliest  members  of  the  Geological  Society,  and  its 
treasurer,  181G-  44. 

The  first  council  of  the  British  Association  for 
the  Promotion  of  Science  was  held  at  his  house 
in  Bedford  Bow  in  1832.  Babbage,  Brunei, 
Davis  Gilbert,  Forbes,  Vigors,  Dr.  Buckland,  the 
Rev.  William  Vernon  Harcourt  were  among  those 
present,  and  Mr.  Taj'lor  was  at  once  chosen  trea- 
surer, a  post  he  occupied  till  1860,  when  advancing 
years  compelled  him  to  retire  from  his  honourable 
labours.  His  descendants  cherish  the  noble  testi- 
monial then  given  him  by  the  council  of  the  British 
Association. 

A  full-length  portrait  of  Mr.  Taylor  was  painted 
by  Sir  Thomas  Lawrence,  and  presented  to  him  by 
seventy  friends,  shareholders  in  his  various  under- 
takings ;  this  picture  was  unfortunately  destroyed 
l)y  fire  in  his  son's  house. 

He  was  an  active  promoter  of  the  London 
University,  and  for  many  years  its  treasurer. 

His  love  of  mechanical  inventions  never  abated. 
He  took  great  interest  in  Jordan's  wood-carving  ma- 
chinery ;  but  though  that  invention  was  charming, 
witness  the  splendid  carvings  in  the  House  of  Lords, 
the  financial  results  were  such  that  the  company 
had  to  be  wounji  up.     Mr.  Trollope  recently  told  me 


TAYLOR  FAMILY  OF  NORWICH.  23 

he  had  the  plant  in  his  workshops  in  Pimlico.  My 
uncle  was  himself  a  very  skilful  worker  in  wood  ;  he 
always  had  a  supply  of  beautiful  tools,  and  his 
dexterity  with  the  turning  lathe  was  very  remark- 
able. 

In  1863,  at  the  age  of  83,  his  honourable  and 
useful  life  ended.  I  have  attempted  to  sketch  his 
public  career,  and  to  note  his  high  moral  standard. 

He  was  succeeded  in  his  business  by  his  two 
sons  John  and  Eichard,  both  now  dead.  The  firm 
is  still  carried  on,  under  the  old-established  name  of 
John  Taylor  &  Sons,  by  the  grandchildren  of  its 
founder. 

Of  Mr.  Taylor's  daughters,  Anne,  the  eldest, 
married  Philip  Worsley,  an  active  partner  in  Whit- 
bread's  brewery  ;  his  i)hilanthropy  and  rectitude  are 
well  known.  Their  eldest  son  is  a  large  chemical 
manufacturer  near  Bristol ;  another  son  has  taken 
his  father's  place  in  Whitbread's  brewery,  and  one 
daughter  married  a  lioscoe,  a  member  of  the  family 
which  is  known  both  in  the  world  of  letters  and  of 
science. 

Susan,  the  second  daughter,  married  Edward 
Eigby,  M.D.,  a  highly  successful  physician  in 
London,  and  brother  of  the  accomplished  Lady 
Eastlake. 


Ki.T    .     r    I 


//        ■i^y,U 


24  A  :\IEMOIR  OF  THE 

/ 
Honora,  the  third  daughter,  became  the  wife  o 
Edward  Enfield,  for  many  years  an  officer  of  the 
Eoyal  Mint. 

These  live  children  of  my  uncle  John,  the  play- 
mates of  my  boyhood,  are  all  gone.  I,  the  wayworn 
hermit  of  the  Mas  d'Azil,  remain  behind,  finding 
some  pleasure  in  retracing  their  lives,  at  the  risk  even 
of  being  called  garrulous.  I  hold,  too — is  it  a  mere 
hobby  ? — that  records  of  the  beginnings  of  middle - 
class  families  from  which  our  bankers,  traders, 
manufacturers,  engineers  have  sprung,  our  men  of 
letters  and  of  arts,  must  be  of  interest  not  only  to 
their  descendants,  but  to  the  future  historian,  who 
desires  to  relate  how  the  *  arts  of  peace  '  grew,  and 
by  what  individual  efforts  that  growth  was  stimu- 
lated. 

The  second  son  of  Mr.  John  Taylor,  Eichard,  was 
born  in  1781.  He  settled  in  London  as  a  printer, 
and  was  the  friend  and  patron  of  Koenig,  of  printing- 
press  fame.  Richard  was  a  man  of  literary  and 
scientific  attainments,  and  he  was  largely  employed 
in  printius  works  in  the  dead  languages  and  on 
scientific  subjects,  and  as  editor  of  the  'Philoso- 
phical Magazine '  he  became  known  to  most  of  the 
scientific  men  in  Europe.  He  was  a  Liberal — 
almost  a  Radical— in  politics;   he  had  a  love  of 


...  .- 1 

-J"    ■ 


J  '■•i  •■■J 


TAYLOR  FAMILY   OF  NORWICH.  25 

being  in  opposition  ;  he  was,  however,  a  very  useful 
member  of  the  City  of  London  Common  Council 
for  many  years,  and  was  held  in  high  esteem. 

"^  He  was  a  fine  portly  gentleman,  and  was  thus 
alluded  to  in  '  Punch  '  : — 

When  Corporal  Taylor  stalks  the  street 
A  walking  corporation. 

He  had  some  difficulty  in  sitting  through  the 
tedious  civic  banquet  and  still  more  tedious 
speeches,  but  at  last  he  acquired  the  art  of  taking 
a  nap  during  the  most  trying  periods.  This  habit 
he  carried  into  private  life,  and  I  well  remember, 
at  a  dinner  party  at  one  of  my  aunts',  her  saying, 
'Eichard,  will  you  take  tart  or  pudding?'  and  then 
a  tremendous  rap  on  the  table,  and  a  stentorian 
voice  saying  '  Chair,  chair  !  order,  order,'  as  he 
woke  up  from  his  slumber. 

He  lived  to  be  threescore  and  ten. 

Edward,  the  third  son,  born  in  1784,  was  a 
remarkably  fine-looking  man,  with  a  deep  bass  voice 
and  an  ardent  love  of  music ;  he  was  deeply  versed 
in  the  history  of  music,  and  as  Gresham  Professor 
he  achieved  great  success.  An  unflinching  Liberal, 
an  advocate  of  Parliamentary  reform,  he  attended 
meetings   in   Norfolk   and   Suffolk   to   uphold   his 


i.C        -     I  (•  ;       I 


it    •    :    ,     •!)) 


ii;:     .1.  ''-ii  ;.,-    ■.'' ,  .•■      iirf<.n.i 


m:.   II' 


)'■■'[■  .!•  :m 


26  A  MEMOIR   OF  THE 

views,  speaking  well  and  boldly.  The  Government 
of  the  day  had  their  eye  on  him.  Once  at  a  public 
meeting  he  pointed  to  a  man,  and  said  :  *  That  is  a 
spy  sent  down  by  Lords  Sidmoutb  and  Castlereagh  ; 
he  is  welcome  to  tell  them  all  1  say.'  He  was 
spoken  of  in  Parhament  as  '  a  dangerous  man,'  but 
n  the  House  of  Lords  Lord  Albemarle,  in  the 
Commons  ^Ir.  Coke  and  Mr.  William  Smith,  stood 
forth  as  his  defenders,  asking  for  proof  of  the 
assertions  made,  and  declaring  their  intimacy  with 
him.  Some  time  later  the  informer  Fayerman 
quarrelled  with  his  employers,  and  published  a 
letter,  with  a  complete  account'  of  the  transaction. 
My  uncle  was  constantly  holding  intercourse  with 
the  leading  \Vhigs,  Sir  Francis  Burdett,  Whitbread, 
Cobbett,  and  others.  He  dined  with  the  Earl  of 
Albemarle,  meeting  H.K.H.  the  Duke  of  Sussex,  the 
Duke  of  Norfolk,  Sir  F.  Burdett,  Mr.  Coke,  &c.  He 
dined  with  the  Duke  of  Sussex  in  London,  and  on 
one  occasion  being  seated  in  front  of  a  blazing  fire 
fainted  away.  The  Tory  papers  got  hold  of  the 
incident  and  attributed  it  to  the  Duke's  wine. 

In  182-4  Mr.  Taylor  took  a  prominent  part  'in 
promoting  and  organising  the  Norwich  festivals. 
For  the  first  festival  he  made  the  entire  selection, 
he  engaged  all  the  performers,  he  chose  the  band, 


t.'i.Aii.: 


.1     1)       ■   :j: 


»    .  -J! 


i:1 


.     I 


TAYLOR   FAMILY   OF  NORWICH.  27 

and  trained  the  choral  society.  Every  oratorio 
brought  out  at  these  festivals  till  1847  was  trans- 
lated and  prepared  by  him.  Among  the  number 
will  be  found  Spohr's  '  Last  Judgment,'  *  The  Cru- 
cifixion,' *  The  Fall  of  Babylon,'  Mozart's  *  Redemp 
tion,'  Schneider's  '  Deluge,'  and  many  others. 

My  uncle  made  the  acquaintance  of  Spohr  on 
the  occasion  of  a  visit  to  Mendelssohn  and  his 
family  at  Diisseldorf,  and  became  his  intimate 
friend.  He  held  him  in  high  esteem,  and  placed 
him  in  the  foremost  rank  of  great  musicians. 
When  I  looked  at  his  stolid  German  countenance 
and  burly  frame,  I  felt  some  difficulty  in  believing 
him  to  be  a  great  composer,  but  my  uncle  placed 
Spohr  in  the  first  rank  of  great  musical  writers.  It 
was  in  1830  that  Taylor  persuaded  his  friend  to 
write  '  The  Fall  of  Babylon.' 

Besides  the  Norwich  festivals,  my  uncle  was 
present  at  t^liose  held  at  Oxford,  Salisbury,  Derby, 
Liverpool,  and  York. 

He  joined  his  brother  Philip  in  London  in  1827 
in  the  engineering  factory  in  the  City  Eoad ;  but 
not  relinquishing  his  musical  pursuits,  was  elected 
Gresham  Professor  of  Music  in  1837,  and  held  that 
post  till  1863,  when  he  died  at  Brentwood  on  the 
12th  of  March. 


'    ,rrn):i^ 


.1        " 


I'  ■(''.< 


">  r 


..  ).■    I ..    . 


28  A   MEMOIR   OF   THE 

Mr.  E.  Taylor  married,  in  1808,  Miss  Deborah 
Newson,  of  Norwich.  By  her  he  was  the  father  of 
three  children  :  John  Edward,  Kate,  Margaret. 
John  Edward  had  a  highly  cultivated  mind  and 
strong  literary  tastes.  He  died  comparatively 
young,  leaving  a  family  of  four  children.  His  wife, 
Meta  Dochow,  has  published  translations  from  the 
German.  Their  son,  Fairfax  Taylor,  is  one  of  the 
clerks  in  the  House  of  Lords  ;  he,  too,  writes  well 
on  various  subjects. 

Lucy,  the  eldest  daughter,  married  Mr.  Markby, 
a  judge  of  the'  High  Court  at  Calcutta  for  twelve 
years,  and  now  holding  a  distinguished  position  at 
Oxford.  Kate  married  Alfred  Currey,  grandson  of 
Mr.  Benjamin  Currey,  Clerk  of  the  Parliaments  in 
1848,  but  for  one  day  only,  as  he  died  shortly  after 
his  appointment. 

The  fourth  son  of  Mr.  Taylor  of  Norwich  was 
my  father,  Philip,  born  in  1786.  His  life  and 
career,  with  which  mine  is  so  mingled,  I  shall 
narrate  later,  and  I  therefore  pass  on  to  the  fifth 
son,  Arthur,  also  born  at  Norwich  in  1790.  In 
his  early  life  he  was  in  partnership  with  his  brother 
Richard,  but  they  soon  separated.  Arthur  set  up 
on  his  own  account,  and  became  printer  to  the 
City  of  London.     His  favourite  study  was  archa^o- 


<:'-!,  !  I 


.11.  ;  -n 


h  •  •  1- 


.iil')-'   '• 


'1       ■  ■    ■   .    I  i 


TAYLOR  FAMILY  OF  NORWICH.  29 

logy.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Society  of  Anti- 
quaries, and  among  the  results  of  his  studies  was 
the  pubheatiou  of  '  The  Glory  of  Piegality.'  He 
married,  in  1824,  Miss  Emily  Lane. 

The  following  anecdote  illustrates  the  ardour  of 
his  taste  and  temper.     On  his  way  to  Italy  he  paid 
a  visit  to  my  parents  at  Marseilles.     On  his  way  he 
strayed  hito   Autun,   the  ancient  Augustodunum, 
founded    by  the    Phoinicians,  seat  of  the  Druids, 
capital  of  the  /Edui— what  a  Held  of  exploration  for 
an  anti(piarian  !  so  no  sooner  arrived  at  Marseilles 
than  with  no  word  of  explanation  he  disappeared 
for  three  weeks,  to  our  great  anxiety.     However, 
back  he  came  from  this  trip   one   morning,    and 
finding  my  father  going  out  to  look  at  a  field  just 
purchased,  Arthur  went  with  him.    Workmen  were 
turning  the  ground,  to  prepare  for  irrigation  pipes, 
when  they  came  on  some  broken  bits  of  tiles.     My 
uncle  pounced  on  these,  scraped  them,  tasted  them, 
declared   them  to   be   of  the  Roman  period,  and 
placed  them  in  safety  to  await  further  investigation. 
He  begged  my  father  to  have  further  excavations 
made,    and   then   continued  his  journey  to  Italy. 
Meanwhile    my   father   ascertained    from   an    old 
peasant  that  the  spot  was  formerly  a  brick-held,  and 
as  the  irrigation  works  went  on,  this  became  more 


•;'jilf' 


30  A  MEMOIE   OF   THE 

certain,  and  the  hoard  of  tiles  was  dismissed  to  the^ 
rubbish-heap.  But  the  first  visit  of  my  uncle  on 
his  return  was  to  the '  Roman  tiles.'  He  asked  my 
father  in  sharp  tones  what  had  become  of  these 
precious  relics ;  and  before  the  answer  had  ex- 
plained why  they  were  thrown  away,  he  burst  out 
with  *  You're  a  Goth,  sir,'  walked  back  to  the 
house,  packed  his  portmanteau,  and  leaving  a  note 
to  say  he  would  send  for  it,  went  to  Marseilles,  and 
started  for  England,  whilst  we  were  waiting  break- 
fast for  him.  It  required  long  letters  of  apology, 
and  the  gentle  influence  of  mother,  with  whom  he 
was  a  great  favourite,  to  calm  down  this  irascible 
*  Monkbarns.' 

Besides  five  sons,  Mr.  John  Taylor  had  two 
daughters.  The  eldest,  Susan,  born  in  1788,  was 
married  in  1807  to  Henry  Reeve,  Esq.  M.D.  His 
death  at  the  early  age  of  thirty-four  was  thus 
alluded  to  by  Dr.  Sayers  in  the  '  Norwich  Mercury ' : 
'  Besides  his  acquirements  in  classical  and  other 
literature,  Dr.  Reeve  became  well  versed  in  the 
primary  object  of  his  pursuit,  and  was  no  mean 
proficient  in  the  collateral  studies  of  chemistry  and 
natural  history.'  His  duties  in  private  life  were  no 
less  happily  discharged  than  those  of  his  profession ; 
his  mind  was  open,  generous,  lively,  simple,  and 


:;i.  Yt;    I;    •     i      -c 


TAYLOR  FAMILY  OF  NORWICH.  31 

affectionate  ;  and  those  to  whom  he  was  united,  as 
a  relation  or  a  friend,  will  ever  turn  with  melan- 
choly complacence  to  the  remembrance  of  his  faith- 
ful and  active  attachment,  of  his  cheering  conversa- 
tion, and  of  his  valuable  accomplishments. 

Two  children  of  the  marriage,  Susan  and 
Wallace,  died  in  their  infancy.  Henry,  born  in 
1813,  was  henceforth  the  sole  object  of  his  widowed 
mother's  care.  She  went  to  reside  at  Geneva  for 
his  education  ;  there  she  found  friends  of  her  hus- 
band, and  there-  her  son  came  to  know  the  De  la 
Rives,  the  Candolles,  Sismondis,  De  Roches,  the 
families  Lombard,  Binet,  Ilentsch,  Maunoir,  Roget. 

Mrs.  Reeve  was  loved  and  valued  by  her 
Genevese  friends  as  she  deserved  to  be.  Courage, 
good  sense,  refined  tastes,  and  simple  habits  were 
her  most  marked  characteristics.  To  her  last  hour 
she  preserved  undiminished  the  love  for  her  husband 
so  early  taken  from  her,  whilst  proud  of  the  career 
of  his  son.     She  died  in  18G4,  aged  70. 

Early  in  life  Mr.  Henry  Reeve  began  his  career 
as  a  man  of  letters.  His  natural  gifts,  aided  by  an 
education  carried  on  at  Geneva,  Munich,  and  Paris, 
seemed  to  point  in  this  direction.  His  lirst  work 
was  a  translation  of  '  Democracy  in  America '  from 
the  French,  and  he  became  the  close  friend  of  its 


32  A   MEMOIR  OF  THE 

authors,  Alexis  de  Tocqueville  and  Gustave  de 
Beaumont.  Then  came  translations  of  Guizot's 
writings. 

The  Marquis  of  Lansdowne,  whose  acquaint- 
ance he  made  through  his  aunt,  Mrs.  Austin,  was 
struck  by  Henry  Reeve,  and  gave  him  a  place  in  the 
office  of  the  Privy  Council,  and  for  fifty  years  he 
has  held  the  office  of  Registrar  of  the  Judicial  Com- 
mittee. On  the  retirement  of  Sir  George  Cornewall 
Lewis,  who  was  appointed  Chancellor  of  the  Exche- 
quer in  1855,  Mr.  Reeve  was  appointed  to  the 
editorship  of  the  'Edinburgh  Review,'  to  which  his 
father  had  been,  in  1802,  one  of  the  earliest  contri- 
butors. 

Sarah,  the  youngest  daughter  and  last  child  of 
John  Taylor,  was  born  in  1793.  She  married  John 
Austin,  the  well-known  writer  on  jurisprudence. 

Sarah  Austin  was  a  well-known  figure  among 
the  cultivated  women  of  the  first  half  of  this  century. 
She  was  endowed  with  great  intellectual  powers, 
which  her  education  had  developed  ;  she.  had  rare 
social  talents,  great  beauty,  and  astonishing  industry. 
Her  first  important  work  was  a  translation  of  Prince 
Puclvler  Muskau's  '  Book  of  Travels  in  England ; ' 
then  came  a  translation  of  Ranke's  '  History  of  the 
Popes.'     When  the  author  received  Mrs.  Austin's 


^■£ 


TAYLOR  FAMILY   OF  NORWICH  33 

translation,  he  wrote  to  her  that,  after  reading  it, 
he  felt  obliged  to  retranslate  his  own  work  into 
German — a  rare  tribute  of  approbation,  coming  from 
such  a  man.  She  wrote  various  books  on  Germany, 
yet  always  found  time  to  help  her  husband  in  his 
learned  and  abstruse  labours.  She  was  a  frequent 
guest  at  Bowood  and  at  Lansdowne  House.  She 
had  many  friends  in  Germany,  whilst  in  her  salon 
in  Paris  she  received  the  leading  men  of  the  day 
— Guizot,  ]\[ignet,  Barthtlemy  St.-Hilaire,  the 
poet  Auguste  Barbier,  Victor  Cousin,  Count  and 
Countess  de  Circourt,  the  Say  family,  Madame 
de  Peyronnet,  Auguste  Comte,  and  others. 

Of  Victor  Cousin,  the  philosopher,  I  must  relate 
an  anecdote.  We  had  been  with  my  aunt  to  ?^,fcte  at 
St. -Cloud,  and  on  our  way  home  M.  Cousin  under- 
took to  sing  a  ballad  describing  a  visit  of  a  Parisian 
to  this  popular  fair.  With  expressive  gesture  and 
hands  clasped  over  his  breast,  he  carolled  forth— 

Et  mon  coeur  6tait  pris  aux  filets  de  St. -Cloud. 

Though  a  boy  when  I  heard  this,  I  still  see  his 
saturnine  countenance,  and  hear  his  chuckles  at 
the  joke  implied  ;  for  the  nets  are  also  those  of  the 
police  stretched  across  the  Seine  to  catch  the  unfor- 
tunates who  seek  to  commit  suicide. 

D 


■(■r<  I'    •]:.  .     i   '... 


•|:.;ii   iu     '-iri/v 


/   /  ••:'o  .      ^'/:j.  ,:  It,;.' J- 


34  A  MEMOIR  OF  THE 

In  each  of  her  residences,  London,  Bonn,  Dres- 
den, and  Paris,  Mrs.  Austin  succeeded,  though  with 
very  Hmited  pecuniary  means,  in  attracting  the 
most  cultivated  society  to  her  house. 

She  was  honoured  by  the  friendship  of  Helena, 
Duchess  of  Orleans,  and  the  sons  of  that  admu-able 
princess,  the  Comte  de  Paris  and  the  Due  de 
Chartres,  inspired  her  with  the  deepest  interest  and 
regard. 

In  1834  Mr.  Cornewall  Lewis  and  Mr.  John 
Austin  were  sent  as  Royal  Commissioners  to  exa- 
mine into  the  state  of  Malta.  Mrs.  Austin  accom- 
panied her  husband,  and  the  trio  passed  a  few  days 
at  my  father's  at  Marseilles,  waiting  the  arrival  of 
the  '  Vernon.'  That  ship,  then  the  crack  frigate  of 
n.M.  navy,  had  to  work  up  against  contrary  winds, 
and  when  she  arrived  was  in  quarantine ;  so  the 
captain  requested  the  Royal  Commissioners  to  em- 
bark without  delay.  All  was  in  confusion  at  this 
sudden  departure,  and  the  washerwoman  had  not 
sent  back  the  linen.  Mr.  Austin,  who  rarely 
smiled,  and  issued  his  mandates  in  stern  and  brief 
sentences,  stood  in  the  hall,  and  in  a  stentorian 
voice  thundered  forth  :  '  What  does  the  woman 
mean  ?  Go  and  icrcst  the  things  from  her.'  Well 
I  remember  the  scene. 


'^^fy~',f  If. 


i)\ 


TAYLOR   FAMILY  OF  NORWICH.  35 

\ 

I  cannot  tell  what  were  the  labonrs  of  the  two 
clever  commissioners,  but  I  know  that  thirty  years 
after,  when  I  had  to  transact  some  complicated  in- 
surance business  with  the  agent  in  Malta,  I  casually 
asked  the  lawyer  if  he  recollected  my  uncle  Mr.  John 
Austin.  '  ^^^lat ! '  he  replied,  '  are  you  the  nephew  of 
Mrs.  Sarah  Austin,  whose  name  is  so  honoured  and 
revered  in  Malta,  and  who  has  left  such  marks  of 
her  presence  amongst  us  '?  You  her  nephew,  and 
not  at  once  say  so  !  '      '         2347378 

My  business  was  transacted  with  the  greatest 
facility,  and  I  passed  some  pleasant  days  with  the 
old  friends  of  my  aunt. 

Curiously  enough,  I  renewed  acquaintance  with 
H.M.S.  •  Vernon '  the  other  day  (1884)  at  Ports- 
mouth, when  I  was  the  guest  of  my  old  friend 
Captain  Drury  of  the  'Excellent.'  The  '  Vernon  '  is 
now  the  torpedo  school  ship,  and  was  commanded 
by  another  old  friend.  Captain  Markham,  of  Arctic 
renown. 

Mr.  Austin  suffered  from  attacks  of  hypochon- 
driasis, which  interfered  with  his  completing  his 
writings  on  law  and  jurisprudence.  His  lectures 
were,  however,  very  remarkable,  and  he  was  much 
occupied  with  the  reform  of  legal  procedure.  At 
,  Mr.    Austin's    death,    his    papers,    including   the 

D   2 


H^*'<f*r*t 


^:- '*.;-! 


.(.e  IJ  ^(l; 


,..  II      ■    0 


36  A  MEMOIR  OF  THE 

preparatory  notes,  were  in  sad  confusion ;  bis 
willow  undertook  the  task  of  arranging  and 
putting  them  into  shape  for  pubhcation,  and,  as  the 
'  Times  '  said  in  a  review  of  the  work,  never  did  wife 
raise  a  nobler  monument  to  the  memory  of  her 
husband— it  may  be  added,  nor  show  her-  own  re- 
markable literary  power. 

Mr.  Austin's  brother  Charles  was  the  celebrated 
parliamentary  counsel. 

John  Austin  died  in  18G5,  and  my  aunt  in  1867 
at  the  age  of  73.  Their  only  child,  Lucy,  beautiful 
and  accomphshed,  was  well  known  in  society  as  the 
wife  of  Sir  Alexander  Duff  Gordon,  Bart.  She  too 
translated  and  wrote.  '  The  Amber  Witch,' '  Letters 
from  the  Cape,'  and  '  Letters  from  Egypt '  are 
favourite  books  with  all  who  have  read  them. 
Failing  health  took  her  to  Africa,  and  among  strange 
races  and  stranger  ways  she  showed  her  sym- 
pathetic nature,  learning  theii-  language,  studying 
their  manners,  helping  them  in  their  troubles. 
Poor  Prevost-Paradol  speaks  of  her  conduct  when 
a  pestilence  broke  out  on  the  banks  of  the  Nile :  ill 
as  she  was  herself,  she  stood  forth  among  the  terror- 
stricken  population  as  doctor,  nurse,  consoler,  and 
her  noble  self-sacrifice  was  repaid  by  the  devotion  of 
the  Arab  tribes. 

Lady  Duff  Gordon   died   at   Thebes  in    18G9, 


'  .  J-      .  ^  '.■■•'    '.;     !■ 


1  . '  ( ; 


,..■>    ");'» 


TAYLOR  FAMILY   OF  NORWICIL  37 

Sir  Alexander  in  1872.  lie  was  succeeded  by 
their  son  Maurice,  born  1849.  Janet,  the  eldest 
daughter,  married  Henry  Ross  18(30,  and  lives  in 
Italy,  where,  like  her  mother,  she  loves  to  study  and 
describe  the  habits  and  dialects  of  the  peasantry. 
Urania,  the  youngest  child,  who  was  brought  up  by 
her  great-aunt,  Miss  Charlotte  Austin,  died  in  her 
sixteenth  year. 

I  now  revert  to  the  children  of  Eichard  and 
Margaret  Taylor  (born  Meadows).  The  fourth  son, 
Meadows,  lived  at  Diss,  and  succeeded  his  uncle, 
Philip  Meadows,  as  a  solicitor.  His  grandson, 
Francis  Taylor,  was  elected  in  1885  to  represent 
the  Diss  division  of  the  county  of  Norfolk  in  the 
House  of  Commons. 

The  lifth  son,  Samuel,  lived  at  New  Buckenham, 
in  Norfolk,  and  devoted  himself  to  agriculture.  His 
neighbours  looked  up  to  him  as  a  practical  farmer, 
and  his  journals  of  farming  operations  are  quoted 
with  high  praise  in  the  '  British  Farmer's  Magazine.' 
It  is  interesting  to  note  some  of  his  facte.  In  1779 
the  Norfolk  labourer  received  a  shilling  a  day  and  a 
pint  of  beer.  In  1770  it  was  usual  to  sow  six 
pecks  of  wheat  per  acre  ;  now  on  Lord  Leicester's 
and  Lord  Western's  land  at  least  three  bushels  are 
sown  or  drilled.  In  the  disastrous  year  1800 
wheat   fetched  6/.  10s.  per   quarter ;    in  1803  an 


,  l.ti     .•>;(   » 


■  ( :        '  I-  >  , 


r.'i 


I  :-,M: 


38  A   MEMOIR   OF   THE 

abundant  harvest  sent  down  the  price  to  21.  lis.  ; 
in  1818  the  tod  (28  lbs.)  of  wool  sold  for  4/.  4s., 
that  is,  3s.  a  pound. 

Mr.  Samuel  Taylor  lost  his  wife  in  1795. 
Though  only  thirty-four,  she  was  the  mother  of 
seven  children ;  and  his  sisters  Margaret  and  Sarah 
henceforth  took  charge  of  their  education  and  the 
management  of  his  household.  Small  of  stature, 
but  full  of  energy,  were  those  prim  ladies,  with  their 
precise  ideas  and  modes  of  life,  and  rigid  views  on 
the  education  of  children.  "Well  do  I  remember 
their  enforcing  them  on  my  juvenile  mind  when  I 
was  staying  at  Buckenham,  perched  up  in  my  small 
chair  at  table.  I  was  given  a  piece  of  plum-cake ; 
1  pulled  out  the  plums,  and  made  a  little  heap,  to 
be  able  to  eat  them  all  together  as  a  honne  louche, 
and  was  going  on  with  the  dough,  when  a  voice 
was  heard  to  say,  '  Children  must  not  be  greedy,' 
and  invading  my  platter  with  her  spoon,  my  aunt 
conveyed  the  plums  to  her  own  mouth.  I  may 
have  been  wrong,  but  was  she  right  ? 

Samuel  Taylor's  eldest  son — also  a  Samuel,  and 
a  farmer  -  took  great  interest  in  local  politics,  wrote 
squibs  and  songs,  and  was  active  at  elections,  of 
course  on  the  Whig  side.  He  became  manager  of 
Whitbread's  malting  establishment,  near  Thetford. 


1  ^    .: !!.,    -^i.^;'   ;f  ■■;"!_,!.      n. 


.'-/.!-■  '■     vi 


!    .•  I   . 


!^ ,  ,1   :■;''  k/  .  '^■'■''''  M 


TAYLOE  FAMILY   OF  NORWICH.  39 

Mr.  S.  Taylor  married  Miss  Newson,  but  of  this 
raarriage  there  was  no  issue. 

The  third  son,  Eiehard  CowUng  Taylor,  born  in 
1789,  was  brought  up  to  be  a  land  surveyor.  He 
was  a  first-rate  geologist,  and  constantly  associated 
with  Mr.  William  Smith,  the  father  of  English 
geology.  But  before  railroad  enterjirise  existed, 
there  was  little  employment  for  a  man  like  him  ; 
and  just  before  Stephenson's  genius  opened  up  a 
career  for  civil  engineers,  E.  C.  Taylor  accepted  a 
mining  post  in  the  United  States.  Pity  he  should 
have  quitted  England,  for,  besides  his  professional 
acquirements,  he  was  no  mean  antiquarian.  His 
'  Index  Monasticus  of  the  Diocese  of  Norwich  and 
the  Kingdom  of  East  Anglia '  is  a  work  of  great 
research,  and  was  thus  acknowledged  by  Sir  Walter 
Scott:— 

Edinburgh,  16th  April,  1821. 

'  Without  such  a  work  the  study  of  history  is  a 
labyrinth  without  a  clue ;  while,  on  the  contrary, 
the  guidance  which  your  work  affords  facilitates  at 
once  the  acquisition  of  truth  and  the  detection  of 
error."  I  remain,  with  a  deep  sense  of  obligation, 
'  Sir, 
'  Your  very  obedient  servant, 

'  Walter  Scott.' 


40  A  MEMOIR  OF  THE 

In  1848,  Mr.  E.  C.  Taylor,  then  living  at 
Philadelphia,  published  his  important  work  on  the 
statistics  of  coal.  He  collected  and  classified  all 
the  information  from  all  parts  of  the  world  on  this 
subject,  reducing  the  various  weights  and  measures 
to  English  standards.  To  proprietors  of  mines  and 
collieries  this  work  is  essential  for  reference  and  in- 
formation, whilst  to  the  general  reader  it  is  full  of 
interest  as  giving  an  account  of  what  forms  the 
basis  of  the  industrial  prosperity  of  each  country. 
He  was  a  member  of  various  learned  societies  in 
Europe  and  America.  His  death  took  place 
whilst  carrying  out  some  surveying  operations  near 
Chagres. 

Mr.  R.  C.  Taylor  married,  in  1820,  Miss 
Errington,  of  Great  Yarmouth.  There  were  four 
daughters  of  this  marriage. 

Thomas,  the  fourth  son  of  Samuel  Taylor,  was 
a  sufferer  from  poor  health,  and  sought  the  climate 
of  the  south  of  France  and  then  of  Pisa,  where  he 
died  in  1838. 

Edgar,  the  fifth  son,  was  a  lawyer.  I  quote 
from  the  '  Legal  Observer,'  1839,  the  following 
eulogium  : — 

'  To  his  professional  talents  it  is  not  easy  to  do 
justice.     He  was  a  man  of  a  very  acute  mind,  and 


TAYLOR  FAMILY   OF  NORWICH.  41 

/remarkable  for  his  foresight  and  generalship.  His 
o^Yn  personal  practice  was  principally  in  the  equity 
courts.  In  the  early  stages  of  the  most  complicated 
suit  he  dehghted  to  look  for^Yard  and  to  provide  for 
contingencies  which  could  not  occur  till  the  cause 
had  advanced  to  stages  requiring  years  to  arrive  at. 
His  memory  was  such  that,  on  the  contingency 
taking  place,  he  had  the  whole  previous  arrangement 
in  his  mind.  Though  latterly  the  suits  under  his 
charge  were  very  numerous,  yet  he  always  bore 
the  particulars  of  each  in  his  mind  :  the  object  of 
the  suit,  the  parties  to  it,  and  the  state  in  which  it 
was.  He  rarely  had  to  give  two  readings  to  any 
cause,  however  long  its  duration.  Altogether,  a 
man  better  fitted  to  the  management  of  the  most 
extensive  business,  even  in  its  minutest  details,  can 
scarcely  be  conceived.' 

To  this  notice  of  his  professional  talents  I  must 
add  my  tribute  to  his  generous  nature  and  his  true 
friendship.  When  my  father  was  attacked  by  a 
company  ready  to  sacrifice  an  honest  man  to  their 
greed,  Edgar  came  to  his  help,  unravelled  the  web 
they  sought  to  spin  round  their  victim,  and  finally 
triumphed  over  his  assailants,  and  showed  my  dear 
father's  character  to  be  unl^lemished. 

Mr.  Edgar  Taylor's  professional  labours,  heavy 


42  A   MEMOIR   OF   THE 

as  they  were,  did  not  preclude  his  indulging  his 
strong  hterary  tastes.  In  1833  he  published  '  The 
Book  of  Plights,'  a  digest  of  constitutional  law  from 
Magna  Charta  downwards.  He  was  an  accomplished- 
antiquarian  and  a  fine  Greek  scholar  ;  in  his  will 
he  leaves  to  his  widow  his  manuscript  translation 
of  Griesbach's  edition  of  the  New  Testament.  He 
was  a  great  lover  of  German  literature.  Children 
delighted  in  his  '  German  Popular  Tales,'  older 
readers  in  his  '  German  Minnesingers,'  his  transla- 
tion of  Master  Wace's  Chronicles  of  the  Norman 
Conquest,  from  the  *  Eoman  de  Ron,'  His  anony- 
mous contributions  to  periodical  literature,  legal, 
theological,  literary,  were  very  numerous.  I  here 
break  off  to  give  another  letter  from  Sir  Walter 
Scott. 

'  I  have  to  return  my  best  thanks  for  the  very 
acceptable  present  your  goodness  has  made  me  in 
your  interesting  volume  of  German  tales  and  tra- 
ditions. I  have  often  wished  to  see  such  a  work 
undertaken  by  a  gentleman  of  taste  sufficient  to 
adapt  the  simplicity  of  the  German  narrative  to  our 
own,  which  you  have  done  so  successfully.' 

I  have  heard  my  father  say  that  Lord  Brougham, 
then  Chancellor,  tried  to  induce  Edgar  Taylor  to 
enter  public  life.    Several  reasons  were  given  for  his 


':.  Ui' 


"I'l  r   ''i;!'i 


TAYLOR  FAMILY   OF  NORWICH.  43 

refusal ;  that  he  gave  my  father  was,  he  did  not 
wish  to  he  tied  to  the  tail  of  a  comet. 

Edgar  Ta3dor  married  in  1823  Anne,  daughter 
of  S.  Christie,  Esq.,  a  wealthy  merchant.  It  was 
said  that,  after  the  engagement  was  declared,  Mr. 
Christie  sustained  great  losses  from  speculations 
in  indigo,  and  friends  of  Mr.  E.  Taylor  suggested 
he  should  throw  over  the  lady;  Edgar's  answer  was, 
'  I  marry  the  lady,  not  her  fortune.' 

Mr.  Edgar  Taylor's  health,  always  infirm,  gave 
serious  cause  for  anxiety  in  1832,  and  in  1839  he 
died.  His  industry  was  never  checked,  whatever 
his  hodily  sufferings  miglit  he.  His  memory  is  held 
in  honour  by  all  who  knew  him.  His  widow  sur- 
vived him,  and  there  was  one  daughter. 

A  sister,  Jane,  married  Mr.  John  Martineau, 
later  on  a  partner  of  my  father.  Another  sister, 
Emily,  was  herself  an  authoress  and  a  poet. 
Her  '  England  and  its  People,'  for  children,  a 
volume  of  poems  selected  with  great  taste,  as  welj 
as  some  of  her  own  composition,  are  well  known, 
and  in  her  correspondence  with  my  mother  I  find 
proofs  of  her  reading,  her  taste,  and  her  judgment 
of  literary  subjects.     Emily  Taylor  died  in  1873. 


.^■'■T'.j) 


■  >■  Mji;;.'   ,',     (   / 


\j        :     ■) 


,.!     ."•'!)     ''i   -, 


r    .  .r   n    >  ' 


44  A   MEMOIR   OF   THE 


PART   11. 

My  father,  Philip  Taylor,  the  fourth  son  of  John 
and  Susannah  Taylor  of  Norwich,  was  born  in  1786, 
and  received  his  earliest  training  under  the  eye  of  ■ 
his  excellent  mother.  He  was,  after  due  considera- 
tion, educated  for  the  medical  profession,  and  at 
fifteen  he  was  sent  down  to  live  with  his  brother 
John  at  Tavistock,  and  to  study  surgery  and 
medicine  under  Dr.  Harness,  a  relation  of  Mrs. 
John  Taylor.  From  London,  where  he  stopped  on 
his  way  to  Cornwall,  he  writes  to  his  mother  that 
he  had  breakfasted  with  Mr.  Denman,  had  been  to 
the  theatre,  but  disapproved  of  the  play,  which  was 
one  of  Lewis's,  and  that  Mrs.  Jordan  had  not  a 
proper  part  assigned  to  her.  I  do  not  understand 
why  my  father  was  not  articled  to  one  of  his 
kinsmen,  distinguished  surgeons  in  Norwich  ;  his 
medical  education  under  Dr.  Harness  was  very 
desultory,  and  he  took  more  interest  in  the  mineral 
and  engineering  works  of  Taylor  and  Wolffe  than  in 
Dr.  Harness's  surgery,  and  after, a  few  years  re- 
turned to  Norwich.  There  he  joined  Mr.  Fitch  in 
a  large  business  as  chemist  and  druggist,  and  set 


I     1 .  J . 


i.il   i' 


n    ■''■   ■.!;">'■'■ 


•UJ'  ;    J.v.        ■,;.'      J:-. 


■;      J    »  ''IT' 


TAYLOR  FAMILY  OF  NORWICH.  45 

up  a  factory  for  making  ^YOoden  pill-boxes  by 
machinery  ;  and  in  181'2,  in  concert  with  his  brother, 
he  started  chemical  works  at  Stratford  in  Essex. 
Some  capitalists  were  associated  with  the  Taylor 
brothers  :  1  infer  from  letters  now  in  my  possession 
that  the  Eicardos  were  among  them. 

A  fine  field  seemed  opened  to  practical  chemists, 
for  the  manufacture  of  '  chemicals '  was  in  a  very 
rudimentary  state.  John  Taylor  gave  his  attention 
chiefly  to  metallurgical  chemistry,  Philip  to  the 
mechanical  side,  notably  to  the  reorganisation  of 
apparatus.  The  inventive  spirit  of  these  young 
men  was  sometimes  held  in  check  by  their  moneyed 
partners,  as  may  be  inferred  from  a  note  at  the 
foot  of  an  elaborate  notice  on  the  manufacture  of 
oil  of  vitriol  (now  called  sulphuric  acid)  in  1815  : — 

184G. — These  experiments  were  made  by  me  imme- 
diately after  Davy  had  published  his  theory  of  the 
formation  of  sulphuric  acid.  My  reasoning  on  the 
subject  was  better  than  the  apparatus  at  my  command, 
and  yet  my  apparatus  was  better  than  the  partners  I 
had  then  to  deal  with  ;  they  not  encouraging  me,  I  let 
the  things  drop,  and  many  years  after  others  reaped  the 
profit  and  the  credit  of  the  process  herein  suggested. 

These  checks  did  not,  however,  arrest  the  inven- 
tive efforts  of  the  brothers;  in  1810  and  1818  my 


jt:  .« 


.;>.     J.  I.., 


f  c:   '".'■!.'  o  .  iLl'': 


■  '-"I:." 


._  ■;  .;  .',    _;.;     ...y.iH 


>'>:*■  li 


46  A   MEMOIR   OF   THE 

I 

father  took  out  his  patent  for  the  apphcation  of 
high-pressure  steam  to  the  purpose  of  evaporation  ; 
and  about  the  same  time,  in  concert  with  his 
brother,  he  Launched  the  idea  and  project  of  using 
oil  for  the  production  of  gas.  These  inventions 
were  independent  of  the  chemical  factory. 

In  1813  my  father  married  Sarah,  only  daughter 
of  Eobert  Fitch,  a  surgeon  at  Ipswich.  The  Fytche 
family  in  the  sixteenth  century  were  owners  of 
Little  Canfield  Hall.  At  the  coronation  of  George  II. 
William  Fytche,  lord  of  the  manor  of  Fingreth, 
Essex,  claimed  the  office  of  Chamberlain  to  the 
Queen  on  the  coronation  day,  with  H.M.'s  bed  and 
furniture  as  a  fee,  but  this  claim  was  not  allowed. 
My  grandmother's  name  was  Borett.  Her  brother 
had  a  mechanical  genius,  and  was  the  inventor  of 
that  apparatus  which  has  become  a  necessity  in  the 
houses  of  all  civilised  countries.  It  is  recorded  in 
the  family  that  Borett  was  Artificer  to  the  Royal 
Palaces,  and  that  George  III.  was  very  fond  of 
watching  him  adjust  the  valves  and  traps.  One  night 
at  the  play,  the  king  was  in  his  royal  box,  Borett 
in  the  pit,  when  a  man  sitting  next  to  him  started 
to  his  feet  and  levelled  a  pistol  at  the  monarch's 
head.  Borett,  seeing  the  movement,  struck  up  the 
madman's  arm,  and  the  ball  went  through  the  ceil- 


TAYLOR  FAMILY  OF  NORWICH.       47 

ing.  A  great  uproar  ensued  ;  then  His  Majesty 
came  forward,  bo^Yed  to  the  excited  audience,  and 
in  a  loud  voice  said,  '  Tliank  you,  Borett ;  thank  ye, 
thank  ye.'  In  France  a  decoration  and  a  coat  of 
arms  would  have  been  given  Borett,  with  heraldic 
pistols,  pistons  and  pans,  *  armes  parlantes,'  as  the 
phrase  goes. 

In  the  year  1815  my  father  settled  at  Bromley 
near  Bow,  and  soon  after  I  was  born,  a  sister  being 
the  first  child. 

Three  events  marked  the  four  years  of  my 
infancy  :  the  first  misadventure  was  near  akin  to 
sacrilege  ;  the  second  well-nigh  sent  me  to  an  early 
grave  ;  the  third  was  a  charge  of  murder  and  the 
loss  of  a  fortune.  Number  one  was  at  my  christen- 
ing, which  took  place  in  our  drawing-room  on 
account  of  my  mother's  health  being  delicate. 
After  the  service  there  was  to  be  'a  tea.'  The 
servant  brought  in  an  urn  with  boiling  water,  but 
the  pastor,  who  was  seated  near  my  mother,  and 
who  was  very  near-sighted,  jumped  up,  said,  *  Ah  ! 
here  comes  the  dear  child  again,'  and  threw  his 
arms  round  the  scalding  urn — a  loud  howl  was  the 
result.  The  second  was  my  being  taken  out  driving 
by  my  cousins  ;  they  were  discussing  what  road  they 
should  take,  but  not  minding  that  on  which  they 


iA 


1   V 


48  A  MEMOIR  OF  THE 

were  driving — result,  an  upset,  and  little  Phil  being 
pitched  ou  his  head  on  the  sharp  angle  of  a  broken 
stone  step.  It  was  touch  and  go  with  little  Phil, 
and  who  knows  whether  the  *  arraignee  dans  son 
plafond  '  does  not  date  from  that  day  ? 

My  third  adventure  was  indeed  tragical.  There 
dwelt  in  Abingdon  Street  an  old  aunt  of  my  mother, 
the  widow  of  an  Indian  colonel.  Mrs.  Robertson 
had  ample  means,  was  very  fond  of  her  niece,  and 
very  kind  to  her  little  •  great-nephew.'  I  often 
was  taken  to  the  house  and  allowed  to  sit  up  at  the 
dinner-table.  Mrs.  Robertson's  hall  was  adorned 
with  Indian  trophies ;  there  were  tigers'  heads  with 
real  eyes,  there  were  skins  of  all  manner  of  ferocious 
beasts ;  but  among  these  dead  creatures,  slain  by 
the  defunct  Colonel,  there  was  one  living  creature, 
the  favourite  of  his  mistress.  Now  either  Poll  was 
jealous  of  me,  or  he  had  a  special  love  of  my  small 
white  legs ;  for  one  day  as  I  toddled  upstah-s  chng- 
ing  to  my  mother,  and  trembling  at  the  big  game, 
Poll,  without  one  warning  croak,  sprang  at  my 
uncovered  calf.  Frantic  with  pain  and  fright,  I 
clutched  his  neck,  and  over  we  rolled  to  the  foot  of 
the  stairs.  I  was  picked  up  and  taken  to  the  kitchen, 
where  my  tears  were  dried,  my  hands  washed,  and 
many  caresses  were  lavished.     No   caresses  could 


TAYLOR    FAMILY  OF  NOEWICH.  41> 

bring  Poll  to  life,  but  as  the  noise  had  not  reached 
the  dining-room  I  took  my  seat  as  if  nothing  had 
occurred.  Now  my  great-aunt's  butler  *  Smart ' 
was  a  surly  fellow,  not  approving  small  boys  and 
their  ways.  On  this  particular  day  Smart's  shoes 
creaked,  his  mistress  complained,  he  growled  out 
he  *  couldn't  help  new  shoes  creaking,'  and  there 
was  a  tilf,  then  a  silence,  and  Mrs.  Eobertson  asked 
to  have  '  her  pretty  Poll '  brought  in.  No  answer. 
Then  she  turned  to  Smart.  '  Where  is  Poll  ?  '  'Ask 
young  master,'  the  fellow  cried,  with  a  hideous 
grin,  and  the  murder  was  out.  The  old  lady  looked 
aghast  for  a  moment,  then  collecting  her  ideas  she 
said,  '  CaU  a  coach.'  The  coach  came,  she  pointed 
to  the  door,  and  in  solemn  tones  gave  sentence  : 
*  Madam,  I  allow  no  murderers  in  my  house,'  My 
frightened  mother  hauled  me  away,  and  she  left, 
never  to  re-enter  the  house.  Mrs.  Eobertson  de- 
clined all  overtures,  and,  dying,  left  her  large  fortune 
to  some  people  named  Garlic  :  they  did  not  come 
forward  to  claim  it,  and  the  Crown  stepped  in. 

I  return  to  my  father's  schemes  for  gas  made 
from  oils.  In  1739,  Clayton  first  drew  attention  to 
the  fact  that  gas  for  Hghting  purposes  was  to  be 
obtained  from  coal;  in  1792,  Murdoch,  who  was 
Watt's   right-hand  man,  made    great   advance   in 


50  A   MEMOIR   OF  THE 

the  practical  application,  and  lit  up  his  house  at 
liedruth  with  gas.  The  Cornish  miners  told  a 
story  that  Murdoch,  who  was  in  the  hahit  of 
carrying  a  bladder  of  gas  as  his  lantern,  was 
waylaid  one  dark  night,  on  his  way  to  his  lonely 
house,  by  highwaymen.  He  gave  the  bladder  a 
squeeze,  sent  a  jet  of  flame  on  thek  faces,  which 
singed  their  whiskers,  and  then  exploded,  and 
before  they  could  recover  from  the  fright  Murdoch 
had  made  good  his  escape.  He  had  a  curious  gift 
of  estimating  work,  and  would  say  to  Mr.  Watt, 
•  Now,  sir,  you  please  to  see  what  it  comes  to  with 
your  figures  ;  I'll  just  step  down  and  chalk  it  out  on 
a  bit  of  board.'  When  the  results  were  compared  a 
discrepancy  would  appear.  '  Ah  ! '  paid  Murdoch, 
'  you  have  figured  too  fine,  sir,  you  have  not  taken 
into  account  casualties.' 

I  must  pause  here  to  observe  that  eighty  years 
ago  the  mechanical  engineer  had  none  of  the 
splendid  self-acting  machines  or  tools  which  now 
exist.  Whitworth,  Maudslay,  Fox,  Nasmyth,  had 
not  yet  arisen ;  the  hammer,  the  chisel,  the  file,  were 
the  only  implements ;  the  very  lathes  were  in  their 
infancy,  the  slide  rest  was  hardly  thought  of ;  yet 
from  these  rude  beginnings  sprang  the  splendid 
science   of    mechanical    engineering.     I   will   now 


TAYLOR  FAMILY   OF  NORWICH.  51 

quote  from  Mr.  Frederic  Acciim's  work  on  coal-gas, 
of  which  he  was  a  strong  partisan,  the  following 
report  (published  1819) : — 

Messrs.  J.  and  P.  Taylor  are  the  first  persons  who 
have  resorted  to  oil  as  a  substance  from  which  gas  lor 
illumination  can  be  easily  and  cheaply  prepared.  The 
apparatus  for  the  purpose  is  much  smaller,  much  simpler, 
and  yet  equally  effectual  with  the  best  coal-gas  appara- 
tus. The  retort  is  a  bent  cast-iron  tube,  which  is  heated 
red  by  a  small  convenient  furnace,  and  into  which  oil  is 
allowed  to  drop  by  a  very  ingenious  apparatus  ;  the  oil 
is  immediately  volatilised,  and  the  vapour  in  traversing 
the  tube  becomes  perfectly  decomposed  ;  a  mixture  of 
inflammable  gases  which  contains  a  great  proportion  of 
defiant  gas  passes  off;  it  is  washed  by  being  passed 
through  a  vessel  of  water  (which  dissolves  a  little  sebacic 
acid,  and  which  seldom  requires  changing),  and  is  then 
conducted  into  the  gasometer.  The  facihty  and  clean- 
liness with  which  gas  is  prepared  from  oil  in  the  above 
manner  may  be  conceived  fi'om  the  description  of  the 
process.  A  small  furnace  is  lighted,  and  a  sufficient 
quantity  of  the  commonest  oil  is  put  into  a  small  iron 
vessel;  a  cock  is  turned,  and  the  gas,  after  passing  through 
water  in  the  washing  vessel,  goes  into  the  gasholder. 
The  operation  may  be  stopped  by  shutting  oft'  the  oil,  or 
to  a  certain  extent  hastened  by  letting  it  move  freely  on  ; 
the  small  quantity  of  charcoal  deposited  in  the  retort  is 
drawn  out  by  a  small  rake,  and  the  water  in  the  washer 
is  very  rarely  changed. 

E  2 


■J„M     -.';.    '-ii/     ,;>    c 


J-  .1'  lli-' 


52  A  MEMOIR   OF  THE 

This  new  process  attracted  public  notice,  and 
my  father  visited  many  towns  to  plan  and  erect  the 
necessary  apparatus.  Covent  Garden  Theatre  and 
several  large  factories  and  breweries  were  lit  by  this 
gas. 

The  Emperor  of  Russia  ordered  the  Taylor 
apparatus  to  be  used  in  the  Imperial  Library  at 
St.  Petersburg,  and  for  a  few  years  its  triumph 
seemed  secure. 

Meanwhile,  the  coal-gas  makers  saw  their 
danger,  and  set  to  work  to  improve  the  process  of 
manufacture  and  the  system  of  purifying.  They  sold 
their  gas  for  fifteen  shillings  the  thousand  cubic 
feet,  the  oil-gas  was  charged  fifty  shillings  the 
thousand  cubic  feet,  whereas  only  thii'ty-four 
shillings  should  have  been  the  price,  and  it  should 
have  been  made  clear  to  the  public  that  five 
hundred  cubic  feet  of  oil-gas  gave  as  much  light  as 
a  thousand  feet  of  coal-gas.  Five  years  after  the 
discovery,  in  1823,  the  battle  of  the  gases  took  place  ; 
but  the  combat  was  unequal,  large  companies  had 
been  formed,  large  sums  subscribed  to  manufactm-e 
coal-gas  ;  applications  were  made  to  the  House  of 
Commons  for  charters,  committees  of  investigation 
were  formed,  the  Taylors  had  to  stand  alone 
against  the  combination  of  the  wealthy  promoters 


r.        ■;!• '   ■"'  ■    -Ml 


,'  iS'W    •     '/[-j  ,/r>lu    ,  iU'i 


,.1 

:..     ill 


TAYLOR  FAMILY   OF  NORWICH.  53 

of  these  companies,  and  the  engineers  and  managers 
to  whom  they  held  out  hope  of  employment,  and 
they  were  heaten. 

The  evidence  given  on  behalf  of  coal-gas  was 
hardly  honest,  but  my  father  accei:)ted  the  decision 
and  gave  up  his  plans,  consoled  to  a  certain  extent 
by  the  sympathy  of  such  men  as  Brand,  Charles 
Macintosh,  Eicardo,  Clement  Desormes,  the  French 
chemist,  and  others. 

Now  I  revert  to  the  patents  for  the  application 
of  high-pressure  steam  for  evaporating  processes, 
taken  out  in  1818.  It  became  desirable  to  con- 
struct the  apparatus  on  their  own  premises,  and 
for  this  purpose  the  brothers  acquired  some  buildings 
in  White  Cross  Street  formerly  occupied  by  Koenig. 
My  father  had  a  high  opinion  of  his  printing- 
press  inventions,  and  vindicated  poor  Koenig's 
claims  in  a  paper  contributed  to  the  '  Philosophical 
Magazine '  in  October  18-17.  John  Taylor's  real 
interest  was  mining  engineering,  and,  as  I  have 
stated  in  the  sketch  of  his  life,  he  separated  from 
my  father  in  1820. 

Up  to  this  period  the  only  known  application  of 
steam  to  boiling  or  evaporating  purposes  was  by  apply- 
ing the  vapour  to  the  external  surfaces  of  the  vessel 
contaming   the   hquid ;  this   led   to  an   enormous 


n-,     ;.)ia    .IciJ. 


■  .J    »A/     V 


v  r  :^  *• 


;)    '/.: 


54  A   MEMOIR   OF   THE 

waste  of  caloric.  Philip  Taylor  introduced  the  steam 
in  coils  of  pipes  into  the  body  of  the  liquid.  Messrs. 
Whitbread  at  once  adopted  this  plan  for  their 
brewery ;  sugar  refiners  at  home,  sugar  planters 
in  the  West  Indies,  beetroot  sugar  growers  in 
France,  applied  for  the  apparatus,  recognising  its 
great  superiority  to  the  old  processes. 

The  soap-works  of  Messrs.  B.  Hawes  were  the 
scene  of  a  difficulty  and  a  triumph.  The  curd 
completely  stopped  the  passage  of  the  heat  by 
coagulating  round  the  steam  coil.  My  father  was 
awake  one  night  turning  the  matter  over ;  next 
morning  he  sought  the  soap-makers,  told  them  the 
mode  of  dealing  with  the  problem,  and,  with  a 
promise  of  secrecy  on  their  part,  allowed  them  to 
purchase  his  invention — a  very  simple  one  when 
put  in  practice — a  small  pipe  wdth  minute  perfora- 
tions to  allow  the  escape  of  steam  was  introduced 
when  the  soap-curd  became  too  consistent,  a  jet  of 
high-pressure  steam  was  injected  by  the  means  of 
these  perforations,  and  the  coil  was  cleared.  That 
Messrs.  Hawes  thought  the  secret  well  worth  keeping 
I  had  an  opportunity  for  judging  in  1833.  I  called 
at  the  works  ;  the  reception  was  courteous,  but  I  was 
not  allowed  to  see  the  boilers.  Mr.  Hawes,  however, 
asked  mo  to  breakfast  with  him  next  day,  a  pleasure 


■'•■I    ■" 


..■I  ".   :!. 


,  .,t 


;r.j. 


TAYLOR  FAMILY   OF  NORWICH.  55 

which  was  not  to  be  mine,  as  it  turned  out.  On 
Saturday  evening  I  went  to  Mr.  Babbage's  conver- 
sazione, where,  after  watching  him  grind  his 
calculating  machine  and  explain  its  functions  to 
two  old  maids,  I  was  carried  off  to  speak  French 
with  Lady  Morgan,  by  whose  side  I  took  my  place, 
having  Lady  King  (Lord  Byron's  daughter)  on  my 
left.  Mr.  Hawes  sauntered  past  us,  and  as  soon 
as  it  was  decorous  to  move,  I  followed  him  ;  then 
Michael  Faraday  seized  me  to  ask  news  of  his  old 
friend,  my  father.  On  my  return  home  (that  is,  to 
uncle  John's),  I  found  a  note  from  Mr.  Hawes 
expressing  his  regret  at  not  being  able  to  receive 
me,  as  he  had  to  leave  town  suddenly. 

A  year  before  uncle  John  retired  a  new  partner 
joined  the  firm,  John,  son  of  John  Martineau,  one 
of  the  partners  in  ■\Vhitbread'8  Brewery.  My  father 
writes  of  this  arrangement :  '  I  can  truly  say  I  engage 
in  my  new  partnership  with  every  desire  to  be 
happy,  and  to  contribute  to  the  happiness  and 
prosperity  of  my  comrades,  but  I  may  be  excused  if 
I  have  doubts  and  fears.'  Partners  and  patents 
rarely  brought  luck  to  my  father. 

The  premises  in  White  Cross  Street  were  not 
large  enough  for  the  constantly  increasing  J^usiness, 
and  the  large  factory  in  the  City  Eoad  was  opened. 


[    ;.:,      --'.i' 


ft-:i^''  .<:::r^ 


I .. ;.j  ..!' ;     /.  .?       Y  ""'    ■■• 


56  A   MEMOIR   OF   THE 

Bromley  House  became  a  centre  of  attraction  for 
men  of  science  of  all  nations  ;  it  was  lit  with  oil-gas, 
the  laboratory  was  admirably  equipped,  and  steam 
power  was  at  hand  for  experiments  and  demonstra- 
tions. There  were  gardens  and  paddocks,  whilst 
access  to  London  was  made  easy  by  a  stage-coach 
twice  a  day.  True,  there  was  an  Irish  colony  in 
the  lanes  near,  turbulent  neighbours,  but  the 
venerable  priest  who  had  charge  of  them  was  a 
French  emigre  of  noble  birth,  and  from  him  I 
learned  the  rudiments  of  the  language  I  have 
spoken  for  sixty  years  ;  and  I  see  now  his  silver 
locks  as  he  sat  with  my  mother  and  heard  her  read 
French,  which  she  too  was  destined  to  use  in  her 
daily  intercourse  for  many  a  long  year. 

I  see,  too,  the  hatchet  face  of  MacAdam,  the 
road  maker ;  the  cheery  countenance  of  Captain 
Mac  Arthur,  who  first  introduced  sheep  into  Australia 
(Botany  Bay  in  those  days) ;  and  pleasant  Charles 
Macintosh,  my  father's  chemical  crony  ;  ]\Iichael 
Faraday,  always  modest  and  retiring,  whose  Cornish 
blood  was  recognised  as  well  as  his  genius  ;  Dr. 
Wollaston,  who  cut  jokes  at  my  father's  expense, 
'  a  man  who  pretends  to  persuade  gas  to  walk 
through  pipes ; '  Brunei  of  block-making  fame,  the 
future  tunneiler,  then  struggling  with  the  Admu'alty  ; 


,  •? 


*  '0    Oi   .■■    .1',.  •■    ;i:, 

■i  ■■    ■■■■>:  ■     'v..  ■ 


TAYLOR   FAMILY   OF  NOEWICH.  57 

Professor  Clement  Desormes,  one  of  the  most 
eminent  iiractical  chemists  France  has  produced  ; 
Biot  the  biologist ;  Gay  Lussac  ;  Mallet  of  the  Fonts 
et  Chaussees,  afterwards  Chief  Inspector,  who  was  so 
fond  of  England — he  always  began  his  lectm'es  with 
*  Nos  voisins  d'outremer  ; '  Paul  Seguin,  who  made 
the  first  railway  in  France  (Lyon  et  St.-Etienne), 
Baron  von  Humboldt,  and  many  German  professors. 
Then  there  were  chance  visitors  who  came  to 
ask  technical  advice.  On  one  occasion  my  father 
and  a  few  friends  were  making  experiments  with 
protoxide  of  azote,  otherwise  laughing  gas,  and  a 
bladder  full  with  a  quid  attached  was  just  got  ready 
when  one  of  these  visitors,  a  future  Chief  Baron, 
came  in.  He  was  so  interested  in  the  explanation  of 
its  properties  that  he  insisted  on  trying  in  person 
what  were  its  effects.  He  took  a  pull  at  the  bladder, 
imbibed  a  tremendous  dose,  dropped  on  all- fours 
and  careered  round  the  laboratory  table.  My  mother 
and  I  were  in  the  garden,  and,  hearing  a  hubbub, 
went  to  see  what  had  happened.  My  father  and  bis 
friends  were  frantically  pursuing  the  lawyer,  who 
was  still  running  round  and  round  on  all-fours, 
barking  like  a  dog.  At  last  the  bladder  was  wrenched 
from  his  mouth,  but  hours  elapsed  before  the  effects 
of  the  dangerous  dose  ceased. 


1/  f  i     ■:.   I 


:k.-    ..I; 


\i:  .    .J. 


1.  V/    ^         M 


■■.i»v>  1     .>.ii    ^    LUi 


58  A   MEMOIR   OF   THE 

Many  a  tale  of  those  days  and  those  men  linger 
in  my  memory.  Here  is  one  of  Maudslay.  In  his 
youth  he  was  a  private  in  an  infantry  regiment. 
His  colonel  had  scientific  tastes  and  scientific 
instruments ;  one  of  these  was  given  hy  the  nurse 
to  little  master,  who  dashed  it  out  of  the  window, 
and  it  fell  in  pieces  before  the  colonel's  eyes,  to  his 
unutterable  dismay.  The  stalwart  sentry  looked  at 
the  bits,  and,  saluting,  said,  '  Weel,  colonel,  I  think  I 
could  set  it  to  rights.'  '  You  ? '  *  Oh  yes,  colonel,  if 
you  will  let  me  try.'  The  colonel  ordered  the 
sentry  to  be  relieved,  entrusted  him  with  the  broken 
instrument,  and  rewarded  his  skill  by  obtaining  the 
soldier's  discharge  and  starting  him  on  that  path  of 
life  in  which  he  obtained  such  eminence. 

I  must  not  omit  an  anecdote  of  Eennie.  He,  like 
Michael  Faraday,  was  a  blacksmith  in  his  youth. 
Wlien  a  successful  engineer  he  was  invited  by  a  great 
Scotch  noble  to  visit  him  at  his  Highland  castle. 
Mr.  Eennie  set  forth  from  Edinburgh  in  a  post- 
chaise,  and  was  struggling  along  over  the  bad  roads 
of  those  pre- ]\Iac Adamite  days,  when  he  perceived 
a  carriage  which  had  broken  down  ;  he  courteously 
invited  the  two  travellers  (they  also  were  bound  for 
the  castle)  to  share  his  chaise,  and  on  they  went.  A 
rougher  road  and  a  deeper  rut  caused  such  a  jolt  that 


\ 


TAYLOR  FAMILY  OF  NORWICH.  59 

one  of  the  tires  broke.  Lucidly  a  Highland  black- 
smith was  at  hand.  '  I  could  mend  it,  but  I  have  no 
one  to  strike  to  me.'  '  Is  that  all '? '  said  Eennie. 
'  Come  on ; '  and  in  a  minute  he  had  taken  off  his 
coat,  tucked  up  his  shirt-sleeves,  and  with  a  '  Now, 
my  man,  set  on,'  was  at  work.  The  fastidious  young 
dandies  looked  with  disgust  at  their  fellow-traveller 
blowing  the  bellows  and  then  lifting  the  ponderous 
hammer  and  dealing  well-directed  blows  on  the  red- 
hot  metal.  *  'Gad,  man,  but  ye  know  ye'r  trade,' 
quoth  the  Highland  smith.  The  work  was  done,  on 
went  the  chaise,  but  no  longer  did  the  dandies 
converse  affably ;  indeed,  their  demeanour  became 
hardly  civil.  At  length  the  chaise  drew  up  at  the 
castle,  and  out  rushed  the  Duke  with  both  hands  ex- 
tended, *  Ah,  Mr.  Rennie,  how  glad  I  am  to  see  you  !  ' 
The  young  swells  shook  their  curly  heads,  and 
uttered  that  society  and  the  constitution  were 
going  to  the  dogs. 

There  are  stories,  too,  of  French  friends.  My 
mother  had  sitting  on  each  side  at  her  dinner-table 
a  great  French  chemist,  when  one  of  her  sneezing  fits 
set  in ;  up  rose  each  gallant  Gaul  with  his  hand  on 
his  heart :  '  Dieu  vous  benisse,  madame  ! '  and  then 
a  profound  bow,  further  sneezing,  '  a  vos  souhaits, 
madame,'  and  deeper  bows,  and  so  on,  whilst  my 


60  A  MEMOIR  OF  THE 

father  stared  at  his  over-courteous  guests,  and  I, 
seated  on  his  knee,  made  free  use  of  the  glass  of 
port  just  poured  out.  Then  burly  Clement  Desormes 
would  show  his  friendly  feelings  by  taking  my 
father  in  his  arms  and  kissing  him  on  both  cheeks. 
It  was  Desormes  who,  with  Brunei,  and  J,  B.  Say,  the 
French  ambassador,  a  frequent  visitor  to  the  City 
Eoad  wor.ks,  urged  my  father  to  visit  France,  hold- 
ing out  hopes  that  the  Government  might  adopt 
oil-gas  for  public  buildings.  So  in  April  1822  my 
parents  made  their  first  visit  to  Paris,  where 
Desormes,  Breguet,  Arago,  Firmin  Didot,  J.  B.  Say, 
and  their  wives  did  everything  to  make  their  stay  a 
pleasant  one.  My  mother  spoke  French,  my  father 
at  the  end  of  fifty  years  in  the  country  had  not 
mastered  the  language.  '  Je  n'ai  jamais  connu 
personne  qui  eut  eu  le  don  de  massacrer  le  fran9ais 
du  Roi  comme  votre  bon  pere,'  said  Admiral 
Charles  Baudin  to  me  one  day. 

Whilst  my  father  was  in  Paris  he  received  some 
letters  from  ]\Iarc  Brunei,  which  I  shall  now  give. 
They  show  the  friendship  as  well  as  the  business 
relations  which  existed  between  the  two  men. 

Chelsea  :  April  19,  1822. 
My  dear  Friend, — You  have,  I  have  no  doubt,  found 
plenty  of  employment  besides  your  business  in  the  great 


TAYLOR  FAMILY  OF  NORWICH.       61 

capital ;  if  the  weather  has  been  fine,  you  must  see 
everything  in  the  first  order,  and  in  the  most  striking 
colour,  for  nothing  can  be  so  delightful  as  the  first  green 
of  spring,  which  in  Paris  must  be  the  more  beautiful  as 
the  atmosphere  is  free  from  that  foggy  tinge  which  spoils 
everything  here,  and  even  at  Bromley  or  Chelsea. 

I  have  not  troubled  you  with  anything  of  my  own, 
because  it  is  well  to  be  silent  until  something  is  done 
here.  The  French  are  not  so  very  enterprising  in  these 
matters  as  we  are  here,  therefore  if  a  thing  is  not  taken 
up  at  once  it  is  likely  to  retrograde  rather  than  advance. 
I  shall  be  glad  to  know  how  you  have  succeeded.  In 
case  you  wish  to  introduce  your  printhig-press  there, 
the  best  channel  I  think  is  that  of  M.  Firmin  Didot. 
He  was  here  the  week  before  last,  he  called  on  me  with 
the  view  of  seeing  my  stereotype,  but  I  would  not  gratify 
him,  nor  was  it  likely  to  be  interesting  to  him,  for  what- 
ever may  be  the  ultimate  degree  of  perfection  it  may 
reach,  it  is  now' limited  to  one  object  only. 

My  son  Isambard,  who,  I  am  told,  is  much  grown, 
wrote  me  he  had  seen  you  ;  I  hope  you  will  bring  me  a 
good  account  of  him. 

The  coal-trough  has  not  yet  come  to  Chelsea  ;  it  may 
reach  it  to-day,  however.  I  am  impatient  to  see  it  put 
up.  I  am  busy  preparing  two  bridges  for  the  French 
Government.  All  is  going  pretty  well.  The  press  is 
getting  on.     Best  regards  to  Mrs.  Taylor. 

Yours  very  truly, 

M^  I.  Bkunel. 


"x  ■:.;■-  "1  iioi:: 


•ff  ■■> 


t  , 


1  I .'ii  ./    -iivj-.  •■ 


62  A  MEMOIR   OF  THE 

April  26,  1822. 

My  dear  Sir, — I  have  received  your  letter  about 
M.  Laiue,  wlio  was  rflready  provided  with  leave  to  see 
the  dockyards,  with  good  recommendations  from  the 
Admiral  and  the  Commissioners  at  Portsmouth,  where 
he  is  gone  by  this  time. 

I  am  very  much  pleased  with  the  account  you  give 
me  of  your  intercourse  with  the  scientific  men  ;  I  don't 
know  hoAV  far  you  are  master  of  the  Fi'ench  language, 
without  which  you  must  lose  a  great  deal  of  the  enter- 
tainment which  such  society  must  afford.  Our  worthy 
M.  Breguet  is  a  man  whom  one  must  regi'et  not  to  be 
able  to  exchange  sentiments  with. 

I  do  hope  Mrs.  Taylor  is  able  to  enter  into  the  diver- 
sions which  the  capital  abounds  with.  The  eyes  may 
find  extensive  range  though  the  ears  may  prove  but 
helpless  interpreters. 

My  son  regretted  as  much  as  you  m^  have  done  in 
not  being  of  the  party  at  M.  Br^guet's  when  you  dined 
there.  I  learn  through  my  son  that  gas,  such  as  it  is 
established  in  Paris,  is  not  only  very  bad,  but  is  ex- 
tremely offensive.  I  do  hope  they  mil  have  sense 
enough  to  be  convinced  of  what  I  have  strenuously  re- 
commended, which  is  oil-gas.  It  was  my  opinion,  and 
that  opinion  was  conveyed  by  the  late  French  ambassa- 
dor, but  some  folks  only  looked  to  the  job,  without 
minding  the  consequence  under  the  specious  mark  of" 
economy. 

By  the  bye,  M.  Laine  had  a  letter  from  his  uncle,  the 
late  Minister,  to  me,  with  whom  I  have  had  much  to  do  in 

\ 


IM:, 


TAYLOR  FAMILY   OF  NORWICH.  63 

relation  to  the  waterworks.  He  expresses  his  regret 
that  the  negotiation  should  not  have  been  brought  to  a 
favourable  issue.  I  found  him  well  disposed  to  have 
countenanced  the  enterprise,  and  if  he  was  still  in  power 
you  might  have  found  an  able  administrator  in  him, 
and  with  hberal  views. 

The  coal-trough  is  just  up,  but  the  rack  and  pinions 
I  had  ordered  from  Maudslay  are  not'yet  come.  Patience 
is  necessary  in  all  schemes.  If  you  can  sell  some  of  the 
machines  in  Paris  they  had  better  be  sent.  The  direc- 
tions could  be  translated  there.  I  imagine  Isambard 
will  do  it  well.  How  do  you  find  him  ?  I  so  long  to 
have  him  back.     Best  regards  to  Mrs.  Taylor. 

Yours  very  sincerely, 

M".  BnuNEL. 

P.S. — What  do  they  do  in  the  steam-engme  line  ? 
Would  it  answer  to  bring  anytliing  forward  in  that  way  ? 
If  you  have  any  copying  presses  with  you  I  hope  they 
won't  omit  the  directions  and  the  dampers. 

In  a  memoii*  of  the  life  of  Sir  M.  I.  Brunei,  pub- 
lished in  1862,  my  father  made  a  note,  expressing 
his  surprise  at  finding  no  mention  of  their  joint 
labours  or  their  friendly  relations.  He  hints  that 
it  might  have  been  remembered  that  in  the  cata- 
strophe of  1821  he  was  one  oi  the  first  to  come  to 
his  friend's  aid.  He  states  that  in  1822  he  to 
out  a  patent  of  an  improved  press  (referred  to  by 
Mr.  Brunei  in  the  above  letters),  and  finally  he 


;.      ,ti  inn:  A'Ai'i  "" ,  ^><'.  ,•: 


■•'    ;v  •;;     -f'f  ch  •'  I, 


)!•     Ill 


J     .     0!    ■   :i.'     I    ■    :lVf 


,.     I 


64  A  MEMOIR   OF  THE 

writes,  *  Not  only  has  my  name  been  omitted  in 
connection  with  my  old  friend,  but  at  page  209  of 
the  book  the  writer  gives  my  brother  John's  name 
instead  of  mine  at  the  first  general  meeting  of 
the  Thames  Tunnel.  That  I  was  director,  and  I 
may  add  the  most  active  one,  up  to  1825,  the  fol- 
lowing document  shows  : — 

Thames  Tunnel  Office,  Walbrook  Buildings. 

Extract  from  the  minutes  and  resolutions  of  the 
Court  of  Directors,  held  April  26,  1825. 

'  No.  10.  A  letter  having  been  read  from  Philip 
Taylor,  Esq.,  expressing  a  wish  to  resign  his  appoint- 
ment of  director  in  this  company,  on  account  of  his 
numerous  professional  engagements  and  his  expected 
residence  chiefly  at  a  distance  from  London  : 

'  No.  11.  Resolved  that  Mr.  Taylor's  resignation  be 
accepted,  and  that  the  clerk  do  write  him  a  letter  ex- 
pressive of  the  regret  which  the  court  feels  in  being 
deprived  of  his  valuable  services  as  director  of  this  com- 
pany during  the  progress  of  the  works  of  the  tunnel.' 

(Extracted  by  Chas.  Butler,  clerk  to  the  Company.) 

I  believe  there  still  survive  two  watermen  (in 
sugar)  who  took  part  in  the  banquet  given  on  the 
occasion  of  laying  the  first  stone  of  the  tunnel  by 
W.  Smith,  Esq.,  M.P. ;  a*complete  model  in  sugar 
of  the  tunnel  decorated  the  table,  and  my  father 
brought  home  the  two  figures. 


■L    H 


'.  en 


iv        ".   ■;  :.. 


hi?. 


;      \  -I   ,m;!:'-vv 


TAYLOR  FAMILY   OF  NORWICH.      .  Qo 

In  1830  I  visited  Mr.  M.  Brunei  at  the  Thames 
Tunnel,  and  his  kind  reception  of  me  dwells  in  my 
memory.  It  was  soon  alter  one  of  the  great  erup- 
tions of  water,  I  was  taken  to  the  workings,  and 
when  I  reached  the  shield,  and  some  of  the  old  hands 
found  out  that  I  was  my  father's  son,  they  hoisted 
me  up  into  one  of  the  cells,  and  I  had  the  honour  of 
doing  a  hit  of  excavation. 

Isamhard  Brunei  was  at  school  with  Alfred  Say 
(son  of  J.  B.  Say,  and  uncle  of  my  wife)  at  the 
Institution  Massin,  Place  de  I'Estrapade,  Paris. 
After  the  custom  of  French  schools  the  hoys  were 
taken  for  a  walk  on  Thursdays  ;  they  passed  a  long 
deep  tub  set  out  to  water  the  cab-horses,  when  a 
mischievous  schoolfellow  jerked  up  the  horse's  nose; 
he  threw  up  his  heels,  hit  Isamhard  on  the  seat  of 
honour,  and  sent  him  head  foremost  in  the  dirty 
water,  from  which  his  comrades  dragged  him  half 
choked,  after  wasting  a  minute  or  two  in  laughing 
at  the  catastrophe. 

Before  leaving  Mr.  M.  Brunei,  I  wish  to  note  the 
constant  aid  and  friendship  shown  him  h}'  Sir 
Samuel  Bentham  during  those  vexatious  disputes 
with  the  Admiralty  when  he  was  emjjloycd  in 
erecting  his  bluuk-making  machinery.  Sir  Samuel 
was  one  of  my  father's  correspondents,  and  I  give 


■  )    --    '.n: 


■I'  /      :  i       ,:..       ■       i'      J  AC' 


■:  ii 


66  A  MEMOIR  OF  THE 

an  extract  from  one  of  his  letters  showing  his  active 
mind  on  various  subjects  :  — 

Montpellier:  Sept.  19,  1822. 

I  understand  that  grafted  are  to  be  preferred  to  un- 
grafted   mulberry  trees.     My   mulberry   trees   succeed 
exceedingly  well,  not  having  sufi'ered  from  the  great 
drought  of  the  year  ;  so  that  I  shall,  if  possible,  plant 
another  thousand  of  large  trees  in  a  state  not  to  suffer 
by   the    sheep,   and   perhaps   twenty   thousand  young 
ones  in  places  from  which  the  sheep  will  be  excluded. 
It  will  be  two  years  at  least  before  we  shall  have  leaves 
enough  to  feed  a  sufficiency  of  silkworms  for  it  to  be 
worth  while  to  engage  any  one  for  the  management  of 
them,  and  then  Ave  must  erect  a  building  for  that  pur- 
pose.    The  squash  or  vegetable  marrow  which  we  have 
cultivated  these  two  years,  besides  being  good  food  for 
ourselves  and  others,  we  find  so  very  prolific  that  we 
propose  cultivating  them  in  great  quantity  next  year  for 
pigs.   The  two  boars  we  brought  have  arrived  safe.    Not- 
withstanding the  general  prediction  of  their  failure,  they 
are  in  good  health,  but  as  yet  rather  too  young  to  be  of 
any  use.    All  our  men,  as  well  as  our  money,  have  been 
so  extensively  employed  in  planting  and  breaking  up 
new  ground  for  cultivation,  besides  the  necessary  repairs 
and  additions  to  buildings,  that  we  have  not  as  yet  been 
able  to  erect  the  pumping  machinery  from  England  ;  we 
hope,  however,  to  begin  it  in  about  a  month,  and  I  am 
determined  to  provide  means  of  working  the  pump  by 
wiiKl,  in   such  a  manner  as  to   work  night  and  day 
without  attendance. 


!    J  /      >    -v  I.:     )_  'S  /I    '.lo. 


U'     ,.;( 


Mff.     :"  . 


■!•  |.:; 


,:.:OtI 


TAYLOR  FAMILY  OF  NORWICH.  67 

Then  comes  a  long  disquisition  on  self-regu- 
lating windmills,  a  request  for  my  father's  opinion, 
and  a  promise  to  send  the  ounce  of  Chinese  silk- 
worm eggs,  already  announced.  I  can  only  guess 
that  my  father  was  to  make  experiments  with  the 
leaves  of  a  large  old  red  mulherry  tree  growing  in 
the  Bromley  garden,  and  said  to  have  heen  planted 
by  James  I.  to  supply  silk  for  the  Royal  hose— a 
mistake  to  plant  the  red  sort,  it  should  have  been 
the  white  mulberry. 

Sir  S.  Bentham's  ounce  of  seed  ought  to  have 
given  42,000  worms,  and  they  would  require  400  or 
500  square  feet  of  space,  and  in  the  fifth  period 
about  three  tons  of  leaves  per  diem. 

I  return  to  my  parents'  stay  at  Paris,  where  my 
mother  hstened  to  the  silvery  tones  of  Mademoiselle 
Mars  and  the  splendid  declamation  of  Talma.  My 
father's  business,  however,  made  no  progress  ;  here 
again  coal-gas  had  enlisted  the  support  of  important 
men,  and  when  it  was  suggested  that  some  opposition 
might  be  overcome  by  the  present  of  an  Indian 
shawl  to  a  ballet-dancer,  my  father's  Puritan 
principles  were  roused,  he  took  his  wife  by  the  arm, 
and  left  Paris  and  the  Parisians  to  their  darkness, 
their  dirt,  and  their  evil  ways.  But  one  incident 
which  befell  my  father  I  must  not  leave  out.     One 

F  2 


■:,'"      'li-i       .fc/iiVV 


t         *.  .. 


68  A  MEMOIR  OF  THE 

day  in  the  Tuileries  Gardens  he  spied  a  vacant 
chair  and  sat  down.  Now  when  a  French  lady  takes 
her  ease  she  requires  two  chairs  ;  one  to  sit  on,  the 
other  as  a  rampart  and  a  footstooh  My  father  had 
not  ohserved  that  two  dainty  feet  rested  on  the  chair 
he  had  appropriated,  and  he  could  not  understand 
the  loud  tones  and  fierce  gestures  of  '  le  mari  de 
madame.'  Fortunately  John  Bull  was  not  in  one  of 
his  irascible  moods,  still  he  kept  possession  of  his 
seat.  '  Monsieur  '  produced  his  card,  and  mischief 
might  have  ensued,  but  for  the  intervention  of  an 
officer  who  understood  English  and  soothed  the 
wounded  feehngs  of  his  countryman.  After  a  few 
minutes'  conversation  it  turned  out  the  young  officer 
was  a  near  relation  of  General  de  Bardelin,  who 
when  an  emigre  at  Norwich  had  given  French 
lessons  to  my  aunt. 

My  parents  travelled  home  by  the  Rhine  and 
Holland.  No  Damirfshiff  existed  in  those  days, 
a  boat  had  to  be  hired,  and,  moving  slowly  on  by  day, 
travellers  slept  on  shore.  One  evening  the  hostelry 
my  parents  stopped  at  had  a  sinister  look,  and  in 
the  middle  of  the  night*  my  mother  was  awakened 
by  a  noise  at  the  window ;  she  looked  and  saw  a 
man  trying  to  open  the  casement.  Without  disturb- 
ing her  sleeping  husband,  my  mother  got  out  of 


TAYLOR   FAMILY   OF   NORWICH.  69 

bed,  seized  a  log  of  wood  from  the  hearth,  and 
hurled  it  at  the  German  invader  ;  down  he  went,  and 
with  him  went  the  window. 

My  father's  efforts  to  interest  the  Dutch  in  oil- 
gas  had  been  no  more  successful  than  at  Paris  ;  they 
sailed  to  Harwich,  and  thence  came  to  Ipswich, 
where  I  was  staying  with  my  grandfather  Fitch.  Of 
course  the  first  thing  my  parents  were  asked  was  if 
they  had  eaten  frogs. 

I  now  pass  on  to  my  father  and  his  friend 
Charles  Macintosh's  experiments  in  the  preparation 
of  waterproof  textures,  the  dithculty  being  to  find  a 
cheap  solvent  of  the  india-rubber.  Mr.  Macintosh 
had  for  years  been  occupied  with  the  subject.  I 
will  give  extracts  from  his  letters  : — 

Cragsbasket     Ju]y  21,  1822. 

Our  friend  ^Ir.  Pi.  has  informed  me  of  your  return  to 
England.  During  your  Continental  tour  you  must  have 
amassed  much  valuable  as  well  as  much  amusing  matter, 
and  I  am  convinced  you  could  favour  the  world  with 
sketches  of  a  very  different  and  infinitely  more  amusing 
kind  than  any  that  have  yet  appeared  ;  perhaps  you 
have  something  of  the  kind  in  view,  a  comparative  view 
of  the  arts,  &c.,  as  at  present  in  actual  practice  in  France 
and  Britain.     I  hope  this  is  the  case. 

I  have  not  yet  proceeded  in  taking  out  the  patent  for 
my  coal-oil  caoutchouc  varnish — not  from  any  doubt  as 


70  A  MEMOIR  OF  THE 

to  its  importance,  or  the  many"valuable  purposes  it  is 
applicable  for,  but  because  patents  form  a  sort  of  pro- 
perty I  confess  I  am  by  no  means  partial  to,  having 
often  reflected  with  disgust  on  the  great  trouble  and 
vexation  as  well  as  loss  of  time  and  expenses  our  bleach- 
ing liquid  (oxymuriate  of  lime)  patent  cost  me,  which  I 
justly  considered  an  original  and  valuable  invention,  yet 
the  patent  was  set  aside.  Now  I  could  not  lay  claim  to 
the  discovery  of  caoutchouc  being  soluble  in  coal-oil, 
because  it  is  on  record  to  be  so,  and  possibly  it  may  be 
concluded  to  follow  from  inference,  at  least,  that  it  must 
have  been  tried  as  a  varnish  before  I  did  so  :  although  if 
such  is  the  case,  the  success  must  have  been  very  trifling, 
else  the  thing  would  have  been  persevered  in,  and  we 
should  have  heard  of  it. 

I  can  with  all  confidence  assure  you  that  coal-oil, 
when  properly  rectified,  dissolves  caoutchouc  vastly  more 
rapidly  than  ether  does,  employing  about  two  pounds 
of  caoutchouc  cut  in  shreds  to  four  gallons  of  coal-oil, 
by  which  means,  and  employing  frequent  agitation,  it  is 
soon  brought  into  a  pulpy  gelatinous  state,  to  be  after- 
wards diluted  to  any  degree  of  consistency  required.  It 
then  forms  an  admirable  elastic  varnish  for  cloth  of  all 
sorts,  as  well  as  for  metals,  &c.,  which  dries  almost  im- 
mediately, leaving  the  caoutchouc  altogether  unchanged, 
possessing  all  its  original  properties.  For  umbrella  cloths 
alone  it  will  prove  of  ^eat  importance. 

In  a  box  I  despatch  this  day  will  be  found  addressed 
to  you  two  quart  bottles,  one  filled  with  naphthalic  var- 
nish, the  other  with  coal-oil  for  diluting  the  former  to 


,'l  ''■ 


TAYLOR  FAMILY  OF  NORWICIL  7 1 

the  proper  state  for  use.  I  shall  certainly  feel  very 
greatly  obliged  by  your  making  at  once  some  trials,  and 
reporting  as  early  as  possible  your  opinion  of  them.  I 
need  hardly  add  to  you  that  rectified  coal-oil  dissolves 
common  resin,  camphor,  and  many  other  resinous  bodies 
with  the  greatest  facility.  I  pray  you  to  write  niu  soon, 
and  with  my  best  regards  to  Mrs.  Taylor,  in  which  Mrs. 
Macintosh  most  cordially  joins, 

I  remain,  truly  and  faithfully  yours, 

Chakles  Macintosh. 

This  letter  gives  not  only  an  account  of  the 
progress  of  an  invention  which  has  been  of  universal 
benefit,  it  shows  Mr.  Macintosh's  opinion  of  patent 
rights  ;  later  on  a  patent  was  well-nigh  his  ruin. 
About  1830  Messrs.  Neilson  and  Macintosh  dis- 
covered that  great  improvement  in  the  manufacture 
of  iron,  the  application  of  the  hot  blast — ^my  father 
joining  them ;  and  on  the  same  day  and  hour 
patents  were  taken  out  in  London  by  Neilson  and 
Macintosh,  in  Paris  by  Philip  Taylor.  This  in- 
vention brought  large  fortunes  to  the  ironmasters, 
whilst  to  the  patentees  it  brought  years  of  toil  and 
anxiety,  and  two  formidable  lawsuits  ;  I  shall  speak 
of  that  in  the  French  courts  later  on.  I  have  Uved 
with  and  among  inventors,  have  watched  them 
wprk  out  their  ideas  with  painful  labour  and  self- 
sacrifice  ;   at   last  the  moment   of  triumph   is   at 


..  .  •(  ■  ■  YA 


72  A   MEMOIR   OF   THE 

hand,  fame  and  competence  in  view ;  they  draw  up 
their  specifications  and  apply  for  a  patent,  pay  the 
fees,  and  receive  the  precious  document.  Meanwhile 
their  specifications  are  being  overhauled  by  dishonest 
rivals,  who  either  treat  the  invention  as  futile  or 
seize  on  it  for  themselves.  Then  begin  struggles  in 
law  courts  with  judges  and  juries  to  whom  chemistry 
and  engineering  are  mysteries.  Not  every  suitor 
could  command  the  services  of  such  a  counsel  as 
Edward  Sugden,  who,  when  he  had  to  defend  a 
patent  for  a  great  chemical  invention,  went  to  a 
laboratory,  worked  out  each  process  himself,  was 
a  complete  master  of  the  subject,  and  making  a 
speech  which  was  a  splendid  lecture  on  chemistry, 
won  his  cause.  But  too  often  the  inventor's  work 
is  filched,  and  the  jury,  who  could  understand  if  your 
purse  were  stolen,  are  utterly  unable  to  understand 
'  infringement  of  patent.' 

I  will  give  another  extract  from  Mr.  Macintosh's 

correspondence  with  my  father : — 

Feb.  20,  1824. 
Dear  Sir, — I  saw  your  cousin,  Mr.  Fitch,  the  other 
day  when  I  called  at  your  works,  and  had  some  conver- 
sation with  him  about  preparing  the  waterproof  varnish 
for  me  to  be  produced  fi'om  the  tar  spirit  we  may  contract 
for  from  the  London  Chartered  Gas  Company,  and  which 
may  probably  be  only  300  gallons  a  week.  ...  It  would 


J.r;   ir   n 


^  t  '  ;  ii^ 


TAYLOR  FAMILY  OF  NORWICH.  73 

be  very  gratifying  to  me  if  you  would  examine  and  rectify 

the  samples  I  send  you  ;   .   .  .  possiljly  you  may  devise 

means  of  diminishing  the  smell,  which  would  be  a  great 

desideratum.  .  .  . 

Chaeles  Macintosh. 

It  was  whilst  my  father  was  intent  on  these 
experiments  that  he  met  with  an  accident  which 
was  nearly  fatal.  The  real  name  of  the  rectified 
coal-oil  was  naphtha,  one  of  the  most  volatile  and 
inflammable  substances  known.  Late  one  night, 
having  rectified  the  oil,  he  was  going  on  with  his 
experiment,  and,  in  so  doing,  he  decanted  the  liquid 
into  a  Florence  flask  which  he  very  imprudently  had 
laid  on  a  warm  sand  bath.  The  naphtha  was  instantly 
volatilised.  An  unfortunate  gas-burner  was  alight 
near ;  the  inflammable  vapour  ignited,  the  flask 
exploded,  and  every  particle  of  hair  and  skin  on  my 
poor  father's  head  was  destroyed — that  his  eyes  did 
not  suffer  was  a  miracle ;  he  was  a  dreadful  sufferer 
for  some  days.  His  friend  Macintosh  was  full  of 
sympathy,  and  he  ought  to  have  been  consoled  by 
thinking  of  the  millions  who  would  be  kept  dry  and 
warm  by  his  discovery. 

Professor  Cleanent  Desormes  sent  a  specimen  of 
petroleum  about  this  time  to  my  father,  with  the 
suggestion  that  it  might  be  of  use  for  making  oil-gas, 


/J  •'  \ 


.  KSOr/ 


,,'■     '   'U      ^hlxl:    *j.;V/    «■ 


•rjil      ii--' 


ml:      \  -*J 


iP, 


::(.:>^' 


ri'C 


74  A  MEMOIR   OF  THE 

but  the  supply  was,  he  went  on  to  say,  hmited— 
thmgs  have  changed  now  that  Eussia  and  the 
United  States  can  furnish  any  quantity  of  petroleum. 

The  3'ears  1823  and  1824  were  a  very  busy  time 
for  Philip  Taylor.  First  comes  his  application  of 
high-pressure  steam  to  sugar-filtering— this  was 
largely  used  by  foreign  sugar-refiners  and  beet-sugar- 
makers.  French  writers  give  it  high  praise  for  its 
compact  yet  enormous  filtering  surface;  English 
writers  seem  silent  on  the  subject.  The  other  filter 
used  in  France  is  that  by  Dumont,  a  very  clever 
construction  ;  it  is  used  alternately  with  the  filter 
'  Taylor  ' ;  often  have  I  heard  the  foreman  issue  the 
order,  '  Charge  the  Taylor,'  '  Empty  the  Dumont.' 

About  this  time  my  father  made  his  experiments, 
and  pubhshed  his  tables  on  the  elastic  force  of 
steam.  Mr.  Dalton  had  compiled  his  table  from 
32  degrees  of  temperature  to  212  degrees,  and  from 
0-200  force  in  inches  of  mercury  to  30  inches. 
Phihp  Taylor  started  from  Mr.  Dalton 's  finishing 
point,  and  carried  the  experiments  from  212  degrees 
to  320  degrees,  and  from  30  inches  of  mercury  to 
179-40. 

MM.  Arago*and  Dulong  repeated  these  experi- 
ments, and  I  had  the  pleasure  of  hearmg  from  M. 
Ai-ag^,  that  only  a  slight  difference  existed  between 


■\.  :>'■'.■       ' :'  /'■^■'•''' 


'lOi.''.      !''■■'     ;    J    '     !■■':» 
■■A       ■■  !         V.         "     '      '- , 

'!        ■  '       ■       .      i  T-ii'  ;  ■'^  f«<  lO 


'J    ')       wl. 


TAYLOR   FAMILY   OF   NORWICH.  75 

their  results  and  my  father's  ;  their  experiments  were 
carried   higher    than    my   father's,    but   the   three 
tables  are  published  in  France  in  juxtaposition.     It 
is  somewhat  strange  that  Fairbairn,  in  his  '  Useful  J 
Information  for  Engineers '  publislied  in  1856,  does  J 
not  notice  Philip  Taylor's  tables,  though  he  does 
those  of  Dalton,  Arago,  Dulong,  Eegnault,  and  De  ' . 
Pambour. 

The  apparatus  used  by  my  father  was  a  clever 
combination  :  the  boiler  was  heated  by  oil-gas  jets, 
the  lofty  manometer  went  through  the  floor  of  our 
nursery,  as  well  as  I  remember.  The  quantity  of  gas 
consumed  was  noted  down  with  the  other  results. 

A  new  subject  of  study  was  the  water  suj^ply  of 
London.  My  father  proposed  starting  from  a  point 
between  Brentford  and  Richmond,  constructing  a 
tunnel  or  waterway  of  six  feet  diameter  and  about 
nine  miles  length,  to  the  foot  of  Hampstead  Hill  ; 
from  thence  the  water  was  to  be  raised  by  a  per- 
pendicular lift  to  the  reservoirs,  and  the  splendid 
working  of  the  Cornish  pumping  engines  would  have 
been  brought  into  play.  By  this  project  the  great 
loss  occasioned  by  forcing  water  through  a  long  range 
of  pipes  would  have  been  avoided ;  it  was  calculated 
that  a  saving  of  three-fourths  of  the  coal  used  in  the 
working  of  the  steam  engines  would  be  effected. 


i/:    ..loi.j 


'(  ■>'  '■.■\  '1 


76  A   MEMOIR  OF  THE 

The  estimates  for  the  tunnel,  the  engines,  and 
the  reservoirs,  were  put  down  at  180,000/.  For  this 
sum  London  might  have  had  good  and  cheap  water ; 
hut  the  scheme  fell  through — I  know  not  why. 

A  Swiss  engineer,  M.  Bodmer,  a  man  of  inven- 
tive if  not  practical  genius,  came  to  England  and 
claimed  my  father's  good  offices  to  extricate  from 
the  clutches  of  the  Custom  House  authorities  the 
drawings  and  instruments  he  had  brought  from 
Ziirich  and  Aarau,  then  famed  for  these  things. 
Through  the  help  of  Sir  Samuel  Bentham,  M.  Bod- 
mer got  back  his  property.  He  settled  at  Manchester, 
and  was  very  intimate  with  my  father.  Another 
engineer  with  whom  my  father  corresponded  was 
Fawcett  of  Liverpool.  He  wished  my  father  to  join 
his  house  ;  perhaps  it  is  to  be  regretted  that  he 
refused.  Subsequently  my  brother  Piobert  was  a 
pupil  and  a  favourite  of  Mr.  Fawcett.  It  may  be 
remembered  that  the  engines  of  the  '  President,'  lost 
in  1841,  were  built  by  Fawcett. 

Well,  besides  experiments  in  the  realm  of  science 
there  were  experiments  in  education,  and  I  was  sent 
to  a  school  at  Bromley  kept  by  Mr.  Deane.  Even  now 
I  see  the  long  room,  in  each  corner  a  high  desk,  at 
these  desks  masters  for  separate  subjects,  Latin  and 
\Freiich,  &c. ;  at  the  end  a  throne,  where  was  installed 


;--...'i    /:;;'i.    ' 


II        •!  ;', 


f     ';         ,' 


TAYLOR   FAMILY   OF  NORWICH.  77 

the  pedagogue  himself.  Eachmoi'iiing  at  eight  o'clock 
he  opened  the  doors  of  a  big  stand  which  was  part 
of  his  throne,  and  displayed  an  assortment  of  canes  ; 
then  he  blew  his  nose,  and  in  a  stentorian  voice  read 
the  reports  of  the  masters,  the  names  of  the  culprits, 
and  proceeded  to  inflict  punishment  ■  the  more 
numerous  the  culprits,  the  better  pleased  he  seemed, 
retiring  to  his  breakfast  rather  sadly  if  the  canes 
had  not  been  used.  There  were  whippings  at  home 
also.  M}'  father  always  rode  to  and  from  London, 
and  entered  the  house  with  his  riding-whip  under 
his  arm.  '  Oh,  my  love,'  said  my  dear  mother, 
*  Phil  has  been  so  naughty  ; '  then  I  found  myself 
athw^art  my  father's  knee,  down  came  the  whip,  and, 
howling,  aM'ay  I  went  to  the  nursery  to  meditate 
some  future  misdemeanour. 

Dear  old  father  !  when  he  had  passed  eighty  and 
I  w^as  near  sixty  we  had  a  talk  over  those  days. 

Fatlier.  '  Yes,  you  were  an  unruly  child  !  what 
trouble  you  did  give  ! ' 

Son.  '  No  doubt,  sir,  but  you  should  not  have 
used  that  riding-whip  so  lavishl}'  on  my  hide.' 

FatJicr.  '  You  don't  mean  to  say,  3'ou — you  re- 
collect that '? ' 

Son.  '  Don't  I  !     Why,  those  lashes  for   years 
rankled  in  my  mind  ;  I  believe  each  stripe  made  me 


,  :j     1     ■  ■■     f 


J   i  Lj'  I 


f,  /,. 


,:   (,.  r 


78  A  MEMOIR  OF  THE 

worse  than  before.  It  is  my  misfortune  to  appear 
to  forget,  but  ahva5^8  to  recollect.' 

Father.  '  ^Yell,  you  are  a  perverse  sample  of 
human  nature.  Now,  you  can't  say  that  you  did 
not  merit  punishment.' 

Son.  '  Not  always.' 

Father.  '  Now,  now,  for  instance,  I  recollect  when 
you  behaved  so  ill  about  that  glass  of  rhubarb  and 
magnesia.  You  were  sick,  stomach  out  of  order, 
and  I  prepared  a  nice  little  dose  to  set  you  right. 
What  did  you  do '?  Why,  sir,  you  upset  it.  I  mixed 
another.  What  did  you  do,  you  young  imp  ?  You 
threw  it  at  me,  all  over  my  shirt  front  and  waist- 
coat.    Did  you  deserve  no  whipping  then  ?  ' 

I  am  unable  to  discover  when,  or  with  whom,  my 
father  went  to  Newcastle  to  see  and  report  on  the 
first  locomotive  of  George  Stephenson,  though  his 
description  of  the  first  attempts  is  still  vividly 
before  my  mind. 

My  father's  examination  before  a  committee  of 
the  House  of  Commons  is  to  be  found  in  the  Blue- 
book. 

In  1823  he  took  out  the  patent  for  his  horizontal 
steam  engine.  He  had  dared  to  take  the  steam 
cylinder  out  of  its  vertical  position,  and  put  it  in  a 
horizontal  position,  and  was  for  this  assailed  by  the 


TAYLOR   FAMILY   OF   NORWICH.  79 

jokes  and  gibes  of  his  brother  engineers.     Brunei 
suggested  various    ditiiculties,  customers    dc-cHned 
new-fangled  notions.    Maudslay,  however,  ui  1824  or 
1825,  erected  an  engine  for  pumping  water  out  of  the 
Thames  Tunnel,  of  wliich  the  cylinders  were  at  an 
angle  of  45°  (the  pumps  were  made  by  Taylor  and 
Martuieau).     My  father's  specifications  being  for 
horizontal  cylinders,  the  patent  was  easily  infringed 
by  keeping  a  little  clear  of  the  horizontal.     The 
wording   should  have  been  '  for  all    cylinders  not 
vertical ; '  as  it  was,  though  Taylor  and  Martineau 
made  a  considerable  number  of  these  machines,  my 
father  received  no  direct  benefit  from  his  invention. 
In  the  year  1824  we  left  Bromley  House  for 
Abercarn  House  (hi  South  "Wales),  the  property  of 
Sir  Benjamin  Hall,  afterwards  Lord  Llanover.    The 
house  stood  in  a  lonely  vahey ;  oi^posite  were  the 
wooded  chffs  of  Craig  Darren  ;  the  gardens  sloped 
down  to  the  rushing  waters  of  the  Ebbw.  There  was 
a  village  green,  one  quaint  old  pubhc-house,  a  chapel 
in  which  a  Welsh  parson  preached  in  his  native 
tongue,  and  I  had  a  Welsh  pony  called  'Ross,'  on 
which   I   scampered   about,   and  was    occasionally 
greeted  as  a  young  dog  of  a  Sassenach  by  the  sur- 
,  rounding   Celts.     We  were  joined  here  by  young 
Alfred  Say,  son  of  the  Professor  of  Political  Economy, 


80  A  MEMOIR  OF  THE 

Jean  Baptiste  Say,  and  destined  to  be  my  uncle 
by  marriage.  We  had  very  kind  neighbours  in  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Hanbury  Leigh,  of  Pontypool  Park.  But 
our  stay  was  not  to  be  long  in  this  peaceful  spot ;  my 
father  had  come  there  in  connection  Nvith  the  works 
of  the  British  Iron  Company,  and  he  had  to  move  to 
Corngreaves  for  the  same  reasons.  I  forbear  to  enter 
into  any  particulars  of  this  company,  and  its  dis- 
astrous influence  on  my  father's  affairs  ;  enough  to 
say  his  character  was  vindicated  by  Lord  Lynd- 
hurst's  decision  in  1832. 

In  1827  my  father  discovered  that  his  own 
business,  which  he  had  left  thriving,  had  got  into 
difficuhies,  and  it  required  all  his  courage  to  look 
matters  in  the  face.  Amongst  other  incidents  Mr. 
John  Martineau,  his  partner,  had  hstened  to  a 
German  chemist  who  professed  to  convert  pig-iron 
at  once  into  steel ;  yet  the  scheme,  which  then  was 
a  failure,  was  an  anticipation  of  that  which  in 
Bessemer's  hands  became  a  splendid  success. 

A  few  months  before  the  catastrophe,  Marc 
Seguin,  the  well-known  French  engineer  who  made 
the  first  railway  in  France  (that  from  Lyons  to 
St.  Etienne),  came  over  to  England  to  consult  my 
father  on  the  form  of  the  rail  to  be  adopted.  In 
the  correspondence  which  ensued  on  the  fish-belly 


TAYLOR  FAMILY  OF  NORWICH.  81 

rail,  Seguin  writes  of  *  your  parallel  rail,'  and  I 
possess  a  wooden  model  of  a  parallel  rail  which  my 
father  always  kept,  though  I  am  unahle  to  verify  his 
claim  to  be  the  originator  of  this  form,  now  in 
universal  use. 

M.  Seguin  learned  through  this  correspondence 
the  position  in  which  my  father  found  himself,  and 
he  wrote  asking  him  to  come  at  once  to  France  to 
organise  a  large  iron  factory  to  he  erected  near 
Lyons.  At  the  same  time  my  father's  staunch 
friends,  Clement  Desormes  and  J.  B.  Say,  urged 
him  to  come  to  Paris ;  the  Duke  Decazes,  Louis 
XVIII. 's  minister,  wanted  to  start  iron  works  in  his 
department,  the  Aveyron,  whilst  M.  Berard  wished 
to  form  a  company  for  the  same  purpose  at  Alais 
near  Nismes.  By  the  desire  of  Clement  Desormes 
a  complete  model  of  the  Abersychan  works  had 
been  made  and  sent  to  the  museum  of  the  Conser- 
vatoire des  Arts  et  Metiers.  This  model  established 
my  father's  reputation  as  an  iron-maker  in  France. 

Whilst  friends  in  France  pressed  him  to  come 
among  them,  one  of  my  father's  truest  friends  at 
home,  Edgar  Taylor,  advised  him  to  leave  the  care 
of  his  defence  in  his  hands,  and  in  1828  my  parents 
withdrew  from  the  strain  and  anxieties  which  beset 
^  them,  and  began  life  again  in  France. 

a 


82  A  MEMOIR  OF  THE 

On  my  father's  arrival  in  Paris  he  looked  into 
the  various  offers  made  him  by  companies,  and 
decided  not  to  accept  any  of  them.  He  found  good 
and  remunerative  occupation  in  importing  Enghsh 
machinery.  He  fitted  up  several  large  sugar 
refineries  and  beet-sugar  factories,  amongst  others 
that  belonging  to  the  son  and  grandsons  of  Santerre 
the  Sansculotte.  The  first  ball  I  ever  went  to  was 
given  by  M.  Santerre  at  his  splendid  mansion  in 
the  Marais,  once  belongmg  to  a  great  French  noble. 

He  had  much  to  do  at  Chatillon,  formerly  the 
property  of  Marshal  Marmont,  Duke  of  Eagusa, 
then  the  marriage  portion  given  to  his  daughter  by 
Ouvrard,  the  army  contractor  and  speculator.  He 
put  up  a  large  beet-sugar  manufactory  there,  and 
many  others  for  people  without  historical  names. 

In  1831  my  father  took  his  old  pupil  and  young 
friend  Alfred  Say  into  partnership,  and  another 
person,  who  proved  so  unsatisfactory  that  the  firm 
was  dissolved. 

In  1829,  Neilson  and  Charles  Macintosh's  inven- 
tion of  the  hot  blast  for  iron-making  caused  a  revo- 
lution in  Great  Britain,  and  I  may  say  the  world. 
Mr.  Philip  Taylor  was  interested  in  the  French 
patent,  which  was  taken  out  in  his  name,  whilst 
that  in  England  was  in  the  name  of  Macintosh; 


;i        ■      I     -u    it-  /  .  I  iji    b 


TAYLOE  FAMILY  OF  NORWICH.  83 

this  was  in  1830.     The  French  iron-makers  were 
slow  in  recognising  the  value  of  this  invention. 

A  short  time  after  the  Revolution  of  July  1830, 
Mr.  Macintosh  asked  Philip  Taylor  to  take  as  a 
partner  a  young  Frenchman  whose  career  as  an 
officer  in  the  Guards  had  come  to  an  end  by  the 
exile  of  his  king.  He  had,  I  believe,  married  a 
connection  of  Mr.  Macintosh.  "Whilst  Mr.  Taylor 
was  engaged  in  plans  and  arrangements  for  the  ap- 
paratus, the  young  partner,  active,  intelligent,  and 
agreeable,  though  not  always  discreet,  travelled  all 
over  France  to  rouse  the  attention  of  the  ironmasters. 
The  new  process  gained  ground,  and  as  the  patentees 
took  a  royalty  on  every  ton  of  iron  made,  the  in- 
vention became  lucrative.  Some  of  the  smaller 
ironmasters,  however,  could  not  see  the  justice  of 
paying  for  '  warming  their  wind,'  and  a  squabble 
between  the  French  partner  and  a  customer 
coming  to  reinforce  the  discontent,  an  attack  on  the 
hot-blast  patent  was  set  on  foot.  The  French 
patent  law  declared  that  if  an  invention  had  been 
made  public  in  print  in  a  foreign  land,  a  patent 
could  not  be  obtained,  or  at  least  be  valid  in  France. 
The  paragraph  which  followed  escaped  the  observa- 
tion of  the  enemy,  who  sent  agents  to  Scotland  in 
search  of  printed  matter.     After  a  minute  search 

o  2 


■/■T 


TP-;        :      ' 


^T'T'..'' 


.)    7 


n_     .   •  U'^ 


84:  A   MEMOIR   OF   THE 

at  Glasgow,  they  found  an  obscure  working  men's 
paper  which  contained  a  short  notice  of  an  improved 
process  for  making  iron,  due  to  Mr.  Neilson.  It 
was  stated  that  he  used  warm  air  for  the  blast. 
Back  to  Franco  came  the  agents  with  this  precious 
document,  and  legal  proceedings  were  at  once  begun. 
The  cause  came  before  the  Tribunal  of  First 
Instance  at  Paris  in  April  1836.  The  judge,  aware 
that  the  suit  would  go  into  appeal,  and  unwilling  to 
go  into  scientific  evidence,  declared  the  patent  void 
and  unduly  obtamed.  The  cause  was  then  heard 
by  the  Court  of  Appeal  in  Paris  in  the  following 
month  of  August ;  again  Taylor  et  Cie.  were  beaten, 
the  patent  was  declared  abusive,  and  the  decision  of 
the  lower  tribunal  was  upheld;  but  the  *juge  rappor- 
teur,' in  framing  the  decree,  put  in  a  phrase  of  his 
own,  stating  that  the  court  found  the  invention  of 
too  great  national  importance  to  be  left  in  the  hands 
of  an  individual,  and  that  individual  a  foreigner. 
The  patentees  now  submitted  their  case  to  the  High 
Court  of  Cassation.  That  supreme  French  court  of 
justice  quashed  the  previous  judgments,  first  because 
the  Court  of  Appeal  had  no  mission  to  decide  on  the 
merits  of  an  invention,  but  merely  to  decide  if  the 
law  on  patents  had  been  complied  with ;  and  secondly, 
because   the   proof  proffered   in  the  shape  of  the 


■lO"  ,r  I  '•i;i»:  iiijK   Hi  .  .(■ 


^V     ;  [(•  -'■■'If!  i»v    ,  ■,)!  <  ;   ,,,... 


:,il'    :  i    ,.f'C(5-'     11'.    u.     .1:  ^    'a 


;  'U 


TAYLOR  FAMILY  OF  NORWICH.       85 

Glasgow  paper  was  not  sufficient,  the  law  in  one  of 
its  clauses  stating  that  the  mention  of  an  invention 
must  be  worded  so  as  to  enable  any  one  to  be  able 
to  put  it  into  use.  The  simple  enunciation  of  a  new 
theory  was  not  sufficient,  details  as  to  the  applica- 
tion must  follow  ;  and  the  Court  of  Cassation  sent 
the  case  to  be  tried  before  the  Court  of  Appeal  of 
Amiens.  On  May  18,  1839,  that  court  gave  judg- 
ment in  favour  of  Taylor  et  Cie. 

But  by  this  time  the  patent  was  within  a  few 
months  of  ex^Diring,  whilst  the  long  years  of  litiga- 
tion had  enabled  ironmasters  to  use  the  process 
free  of  royalty,  only  a  few  high-minded  men  send- 
ing in  statements  and  paying  what  was  due ;  even 
those  sums  in  the  management  of  the  young 
guardsman  seem  to  have  been  lost. 

I  must  not  omit  to  state  that  in  1834  my  father 
received  the  large  gold  medal  for  his  apparatus, 
which  was  m  the  great  exhibition  of  that  year. 

At  the  request  of  MM.  Arago  and  J.  B.  Say, 
Philip  Taylor  prepared  a  scheme  for  the  supply  of 
water  to  Paris  ;  few  cities  stood  in  greater  need,  as 
those  who  remember  the  Auvergnat  water-carriers 
in  the  streets  and  staircases  of  Paris  will  admit. 

The  project  was  to  bring  the  waters  of  the 
Marne,  a  tributary  of  the  Seme,  by  a  tunnel  under. 


IV 


86  A  MEMOIR   OF  THE 

the  centre  of  the  hill  of  Ivry,  which  stands  on  the 
left  bank  of  the  Seine  high  above  the  city,  then  to 
sink  shafts,  and  raise  it  to  the  top  of  the  hill  by 
means  of  Cornish  pumping-engines.  This  plan  was 
simple  and  easy  of  execution,  and  the  Marne  could 
furnish  a  large  body  of  water,  though,  as  the  name 
implies,  not  quite  clear.  To  remedy  this,  large 
filtering  beds  were  to  be  formed  on  the  crest  of  the 
hill.  These  projected  filters  were  on  a  new  system  ; 
they  were  to  be  low  arches  of  rubble  stone,  covered 
over  with  layers  of  coarse  gravel  and  fine  sand : 
the  water  introduced  underneath  would  have  risen 
through  the  gravel  like  natural  springs. 

One  remarkable  point  was  the  facility  of  cleans- 
ing the  filters  by  reversing  the  operation.  The 
complete  plans,  after  much  trouble  spent  in  pre- 
paring them,  were  submitted  to  the  Council  of  the 
city  of  Paris  ]by  the  two  members  Arago  and  J.  B. 
Say ;  but  the  Government  corps  of  engineers  had  a 
voice  in  the  matter,  and  they  objected  to  the  scheme 
of  an  outsider  and  a  foreigner. 

His  Majesty  Louis  Philippe,  having  heard  of  the 
proposal,  expressed  a  wish  to  see  the  plans,  and  my 
father  was  received  at  an  audience  in  the  palace  of 
the  Tuileries.  In  the  course  of  conversation  the 
King  showed  my  father  the  price  at  which  wine  for 


/ 


t !  r-»        '  ► 


-1"  '1.1  j<,.. 


'      ;]   (- 


TAYLOR  FAMILY  OF  NORWICH.  87 

the  royal  navy  was  supplied,  calculated  the  cost 
of  water  to  the  poorer  classes  in  Paris,  and  pointed 
out  that  wine  was  cheaper  than  water.  His  Majesty 
appeared  to  approve  highly  of  Mr.  Taylor's  views, 
and  went  on  to  converse  on  other  topics — the  difiQ- 
culty  of  making  the  Palace  comfortable,  above  all 
of  introducing  modern  sanitary  arrangements  (my 
great-uncle  Borett  should  have  been  present). 

The  King  spoke  of  the  lamented  Mr.  Huskisson 
and  the  great  esteem  he  felt  for  him,  adding, ,'  When 
he  was  last  in  Paris  he  came  to  see  me  at  Neuilly, 
and  I  asked  him  if  he  thought  that  the  French 
nation  had  improved.  "Well,  yes,"  replied  Mr. 
Huskisson,  "yes.  You  don't  wear  such  shocking 
bad  hats  as  you  did."  ' 

Altogether  a  gratifying  interview  with  Royalty ; 
but  it  was  all  the  reward  my  father  had  for  weeks 
of  labour  and  boxes  full  of  drawings  and  plans. 

Another  topic  of  interest  to  Mr.  Philip  Taylor 
was  the  projected  Canal  des  Pyrenees,  to  unite 
Bayonne  with  Toulouse  and  the  Mediterranean; 
but  the  new  railway  system  put  canals  out  of 
favour — a  mistake,  as  in  England,  with  much  heavy 
traffic,  people  are  finding  out. 

In  1833  my  mother's  health  gave  some  cause 
for  anxiety,  a  warmer  climate  than  that  of  Paris 


'»,.     :   .,f         ,1 


V    •..; 


'J'  7 


J    .  '  n\*    Uo'i 


V  ''M     ^  vO.l      i '  ' 


88  A  MEMOIR   OF  THE 

was  recommended,  and  my  parents  determined  to 
move  southwards.  For  many  years  my  father's 
attention  had  been  directed  to  the  future  of  the 
^lediterranean  Sea  as  the  promised  waters  of 
steam  navigation,  and  towards,  if  not  to,  Marseilles 
be  directed  his  steps.  Of  course  timid  persons 
tried  to  deter  him  ;  but,  as  if  to  ensure  decision,  the 
owners  of  large  corn-mills  at  Marseilles  for  whom 
he  had  erected  two  powerful  steam-engines  offered 
him  the  management  of  the  concern  and  a  share  in 
the  profits.  In  those  days  Marseilles  had  the 
privilege  of  grinding  wheat  in  bond  for  exportation, 
and  the  offer  made  my  father  sounded  very  advan- 
tageous. Shortly  before  accepting  the  offer,  he 
had  been  in  Italy  studying  both  in  Piedmont 
and  Lombardy  silk-spinning  and  winding  (an 
industry  to  which  his  correspondence  with  Sir  S. 
Bentham  when  he  was  at  Bromley  refers),  and 
making  friends  with  whom  he  could  easily  negotiate 
from  Marseilles. 

In  1833,  therefore,  my  father  joined  MM. 
Marliani  and  Labbey  at  Marseilles,  and  for  the 
first  year  the  corn-mills  ground  merrily  ;  then  the 
landed  proprietors  found  out  that  grinding  foreign 
wheat  in  bond  and  exporting  the  flour  was  the  de- 
struction of  wheat-growing  in  France,  and  agitated 


:  '     *. 


TAYLOR   FAMILY   OF   NORWICH.  89 

against  the  mills.  The  deputies  did  not  understand 
the  question,  but  they  did  understand  that  their 
elections  depended  on  destroying  the  bonding 
system.  The  Ministers  tried  to  resist  the  pressure 
put  on  them,  in  vain  ;  such  stringent  measures  were 
carried  that  the  manufacture  of  flour  had  to  be 
abandoned,  with  the  result  that  the  United  States 
took  it  up. 

And  so  once  again  Mr.  Philip  Taylor  experienced 
the  vicissitudes  caused  by  Government  interference, 
and  possibly  the  difficulty  of  partnership ;  but  he 
was  not  discouraged,  and  reverting  to  his  real 
vocation,  mechanical  engineering,  he  determined  to 
test  the  question  of  making  Marseilles  the  starting- 
place  of  steam  navigation.  His  two  eldest  sons 
were  now  of  an  age  to  help  him,  a  piece  of  land  was 
purchased,  and  in  the  last  month  of  the  year  1836, 
Philip  Taylor,  with  his  sons  Philip  Meadows  and 
Robert,  laid  the  first  stone  of  the  works  which 
became  the  important  and  extensive  Compagnie  des 
Forges  et  Chantiers  de  la  Mediterranee.  In  1845 
the  large  shipbuilding  establishment  of  La  Seyne 
opposite  Toulon  was  opened. 

Five  men  sufficed  for  the  business  when  first 
started,  now  it  gave  employment  to  more  than  two 
thousand,  and  the  Government  was  so  well  aware  of 


90  A  MEMOIR  OF  THE 

the  benefit  to  Marseilles  and  to  France  of  my  father's 
efforts  that  in  1846  he  was  made  a  Knight  of  the 
I^egion  of  Honour. 

It  was  in  this  year  that  my  father,  influenced  by 
the  wishes  of  M.  de  Cavour  and  M.  d'Azeglio,  went 
to  Genoa,  leaving  the  management  of  the  works  at 
Marseilles  to  his  sons,  where  he  planned  and  erected 
a  splendid  engineermg  establishment  at  San  Pier 
d'Arena.  Then  came  the  storms  of  1848,  the  battle 
of  Novara  was  fought  and  lost,  the  Piedmontese 
treasury  was  empty,  and  the  subsidies  promised  by 
the  unfortunate  King  Carlo  Alberto  were  not  forth- 
coming. I  shall  not  now  enter  into  the  complications 
and  troubles,  some  of  them  political,  which  ensued  ; 
enough  to  say  that  in  1850  Mr.  Philip  Taylor 
returned  to  his  peaceful  home  at  St.  Marguerite 
near  Marseilles,  receiving  before  he  left  Genoa,  at 
the  hands  of  General  La  Marmora,  the  cross  of 
St.  Maurice  and  St.  Lazarus,  which  King  Victor 
Emmanuel  conferred  on  him. 

But  now  came  a  blow  of  quite  a  different  kind, 
and  one  under  which  my  father's  heart  indeed  sank. 
In  the  short  space  of  two  years  four  of  his  much- 
loved  children  were  taken  from  him  by  sudden 
deaths,  three  sons  and  one  daughter.  ...  My 
brother  Robert,  his  father's  pride,  my  other  self. 


'■   <'L  <[    '     M.flJ 


TAYLOR  FAMILY  OF  NORWICH.       91 

only  so  far  above  me,  died  at  Pau,  of  consumption. 
Even  now,  when  thirty  years  have  elapsed,  I  cannot 
bear  to  dwell  on  the  sorrow  that  his  death  caused. 

The  weight  of  responsibility  was  now  all  on  my 
shoulders.  With  my  father's  consent  I  went  to  Paris ; 
and,  by  the  help  of  the  Say  family,  a  company  was 
formed  to  take  over  the  concern,  and  so  ensure  ease 
and  comfort  to  ray  father. 

Here  I  will  break  off,  as  my  own  life  had  become 
so  mingled  with  that  of  my  father  and  his  under- 
taking that  I  must  be  more  conspicuous,  and  give 
some  account  of  the  education  and  the  training 
which  was  to  fit  me  for  my  career. 


I-RIKTED    EV 

sroTriftWonUE  and  co.,  new-btiskit  sqi'aus 

LONDON 


:r  f_  (