Hugh Taylor (1817–1900) was a British Conservative Party Member of Parliament, a colliery owner with interests in the shipping industry.

Early life

Hugh Taylor was born in Shilbottle in Northumberland in 1817. He was partly educated at the Royal Jubilee School, New Road, Newcastle. His first career as a mariner was short-lived and he became a became a partner in a house of coal factors, in London; and, subsequently, in several very extensive collieries in the North of England, including Haswell,

Ryhope Ryhope ( ) is a coastal village along the southern boundary of the City of Sunderland, in Tyne and Wear, England. With a population of approximately 14,000, measured at 10.484 in the 2011 census, Ryhope is 2.9 miles to the centre of Sunderland ...

Backworth Backworth is a village in the metropolitan borough of North Tyneside in the county of Tyne and Wear, England, about west of Whitley Bay on the north east coast. It lies northeast of Newcastle upon Tyne. Other nearby towns include North Shie ...

, Holywell near

Seaton Delaval Seaton Delaval is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Seaton Valley, in Northumberland, England, with a population of 4,371. The largest of the five villages in Seaton Valley, it is the site of Seaton Delaval Hall, comple ...

, and East and West

Cramlington Cramlington is a town and civil parish in Northumberland. It is north of Newcastle upon Tyne. The name suggests a probable founding by the Danes or Anglo-Saxons. The population was 28,843 as of 2021 census data from Northumberland County Cou ...

, as well as in many mines in South Wales.

Personal life

In 1842 Taylor married Mary, the daughter of Thomas Taylor of Cramlington Hall. In 1862 Taylor bought Chipchase Castle in Northumberland, which in 2014 is still owned by his descendants.It may well have been his father, also called Hugh Taylor, that bought the estate but this Hugh Taylor was resident from 1870. Research ongoing. The above Hugh Taylor’s father was John Taylor of Shilbottle, who died in 1825 aged 46. Hugh Taylor (1789-1868; he never married) was the brother of the deceased John Taylor.

Political career

In 1852, he successfully contested the borough of

Tynemouth Tynemouth () is a coastal town in the metropolitan borough of North Tyneside, in Tyne and Wear, England. It is located on the north side of the mouth of the River Tyne, England, River Tyne, hence its name. It is east-northeast of Newcastle up ...

for the Conservative party, defeating Ralph Gray (the sitting Whig MP) by 12 votes. However it was found his supporters had been bribing the voters, and he was duly unseated the following year. He won the seat in 1859 but it seems his political sympathies were certainly leaning towards the Liberal Party, as he voted with them on a number of issues.

Hansard ''Hansard'' is the transcripts of parliamentary debates in Britain and many Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth countries. It is named after Thomas Curson Hansard (1776–1833), a London printer and publisher, who was the first official printe ...

records a couple of contributions to maritime debates. He resigned in 1861 and returned to business.

George Hudson

Taylor and George Elliot were both friends of the Railway King

George Hudson George Hudson (probably 10 March 1800 – 14 December 1871) was an English railway financier and politician who, because he controlled a significant part of the Railway Mania, railway network in the 1840s, became known as "The Railway King"—a ...

. By 1869 Hudson was deeply in debt, in bad health and living in exile, so Taylor and Elliot started a subscription fund which they launched with donations of 100 Guineas each. When this closed it was converted into a trust fund (legally protected from Hudson's creditors) which provided Hudson with an income. Hudson returned to England in 1870, and visited Taylor at Chipchase Castle in April that year.

References

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Taylor, Hugh 1817 births 1900 deaths UK MPs 1852–1857 UK MPs 1859–1865 Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies