Author: Taylor, Jefferys
Biography:
TAYLOR, Jefferys (1792-1853: ODNB)
He was born in Lavenham, Suffolk, the youngest boy in the group of six children of Ann (Martin) and Isaac Taylor (q.v.) who survived early childhood. Like his siblings Ann and Jane Taylor (qq.v.) he was educated at home and trained as an engraver by his father; like them, he became a writer, primarily for children, his best-known work being Fables from Aesop. He also produced educational works and prose fiction, for instance Harry's Holiday (1818), The Little Historians (1824), and A Month in London (1832). His lameness is said to have inspired one of Ann Taylor's early contributions to the Minors' Pocket Book, "The Crippled Child's Complaint," but family memoirs do not dwell on his physical condition. From the family home at Ongar in Essex he married Sophia Mabbs (1788-1854) of a neighbouring village, Mountnessing, in 1826; they had at least one son, Edward. The Census of 1851 shows them as resident in Thanet, Kent, a district that includes Broadstairs, where he died. ("Taylor [née Martin], Ann," "Taylor, Isaac," "Taylor, Jane," ODNB 13 Nov. 2020; ancestry.com 13 Nov. 2020; findmypast.com 13 Nov. 2020; Darton; Isaac Taylor, The Family Pen [1867]) HJ
Other Names:
- Jeffreys Taylor