John Taylor

Who was John Taylor?

John Taylor was Master of the Rolls of the Court of Chancery from 1527 to 1534, following a successful career as a priest and civil servant. Taylor would have been notable just for the circumstances of his birth: he was the firstborn of healthy triplets who all survived to adulthood, which was virtually unheard of in the 15th century.

King Henry VII met John and his brothers Rowland and Nathaniel in their childhood, and undertook responsibility to educate the three boys if they came to manhood; this informal act, and others like it, later inspired Queen Victoria's Royal Bounty for Triplets which continued until the reign of Elizabeth II. There is note in the Royal Privy Purse expenses of 1498 "for the wages of the King’s Scoler John Taillor at Oxenford."

During his lifetime, Taylor donated money towards the building of St. James Church in Barton-under-Needwood, Staffordshire, the village where he grew up. Construction began in 1517 and was completed in 1533. The John Taylor High School, a specialty science school founded in Barton-under-Needwood in 1957, was named in his honor.