TAYLOR, Michael Angelo (?1757-1834), of Bawtry, Yorks.

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1754-1790, ed. L. Namier, J. Brooke., 1964
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Constituency

Dates

1784 - 1790
22 Dec. 1790 - Feb. 1791
25 Feb. 1791 - 1796
1796 - Mar. 1800
17 Mar. 1800 - 1802
1806 - 1807
1807 - 1812
1812 - 1818
1818 - 1831
1832 - 16 July 1834

Family and Education

b. ?1757, s. of Sir Robert Taylor, architect.  educ. Westminster 1766; Ch. Ch. Oxf. 21 Oct. 1774, aged 17; I. Temple 1769; L. Inn 1770, called 1774.  m. 7 Aug. 1789, Frances Anne, da. of Rev. Sir Henry Vane, 1st Bt.  suc. fa. 1788.

Offices Held

Recorder, Poole June 1784- d.; P.C. 23 Feb. 1831.

Biography

In 1784 Taylor was returned after a contest at Poole, having been recommended by Lord Howe and William Pitt. He also contested Preston, but was unsuccessful both at the poll and on petition. In his first speech, during a debate on parliamentary reform, 16 June 1784, Taylor said that while he intended to support Pitt ‘on all great national points’ he would always judge for himself, and he did not think the people anxious for parliamentary reform, but being a new Member, would not vote. His first known vote was for Fox on the Westminster scrutiny, 9 Feb. 1785, but he again affirmed his support for Pitt ‘against whom he might never give another [vote]’.1 A fairly frequent speaker, he introduced two bills for the reform of ecclesiastical courts, 5 May 1785 and 7 Mar. 1786. He supported Pitt on his Irish commercial propositions, and on Richmond’s fortifications plan, 27 Feb. 1786, for which he was a Government teller.

On 1 June 1786 Taylor spoke in favour of Burke’s motion against Warren Hastings;2 became one of the managers of the impeachment; and, brought into close association with Fox and Burke, went into opposition, voting against Administration on Sir Elijah Impey’s impeachment, 9 May 1788, and over the Regency, 1788-9. He is said to have been the opposition candidate for Speaker in case of a change of Administration in 1789.

He died 16 July 1834.

Ref Volumes: 1754-1790

Author: Mary M. Drummond

Notes

  • 1. Debrett, xv. 193, xvii. 111.
  • 2. Stockdale, i. 21-22.