Robert Taylor (British Army officer)

General Robert Taylor or Taylour (26 November 1760 – 23 April 1839)^[1] styled The Honourable from birth, was an Irish soldier and politician.

Background

He was the third son of Thomas Taylour, 1st Earl of Bective and his wife Jane Rowley, daughter of Hercules Langford Rowley and Elizabeth Rowley, 1st Viscountess Langford.^[2] His older brother was Thomas Taylour, 1st Marquess of Headfort and his younger brother was Clotworthy Rowley, 1st Baron Langford.^[3] Taylour died at Davestown unmarried and childless.^[4]

Career

Taylour entered the British Army as a cornet in the 5th Dragoons in 1783. He purchased his lieutenantcy in 1784 and captaincy in 1785. In June 1790 he purchased his commission as a major, and as a lieutenant-colonel in 1792.^[4] He served with his regiment first in Ireland, then from 1793 in the French Revolutionary Wars in Flanders and Germany, being breveted colonel in 1796.^[4] During the Irish Rebellion of 1798 Taylour was promoted to brigadier-general in Ireland, and was second in command in the Battle of Ballinamuck, where he was mentioned in despatches by his superior, General Lake^[4] In 1801, he became major-general, and saw service in Ireland from 1803 to 1808, when he became a lieutenant-general.^[4] Taylour was breveted a full general in August 1819^[5] and received the colonelcy of the 6th Regiment of Dragoons Guards two years later.^[6]

In 1790, he was elected to the Irish House of Commons for Kells, the same constituency his father and his older brother Hercules had represented before, and sat as Member of Parliament (MP) until 1800.^[7]

References

1. Johnston-Liik, Edith Mary (2006). MPs in Dublin: Companion to History of the Irish Parliament 1692–1800. Ulster Historical Foundation. p. 126. ISBN 1-903688-60-4.
2. Debrett, John (1828). Debrett's Peerage of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. vol. II (17th ed.). London: G. Woodfall. p. 629.
3. "ThePeerage - General Hon. Robert Taylour". Retrieved 21 February 2007.
4. Sylvanus, Urban (1839). The Gentleman's Magazine. London: John Bowyer Nicholls and Son. p. 315.
5. Haydn, Joseph (1851). The Book of Dignities: Containing Rolls of the Official Personages of the British Empire. London: Longman, Brown, Green and Longman's. p. 322.
6. Burke, John (1832). A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Peerage and Baronetage of the British Empire. vol. I (4th ed.). London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley. p. 596.
7. "Leigh Rayment - Irish House of Commons 1692-1800". Retrieved 6 May 2009.

• The Royal Military Calendar, Or Army Service and Commission Book, ed. John Philippart. p. 85-86, Vol II of V, 3rd edition, London, 1820. Online edition at Google Books