Author: TAYLOR, William
Biography:
TAYLOR, William (1765-1836: ODNB)
Although Taylor is known for his translations and not for original poetry, he earns a headnote both by the influence of those translations and by the attribution of some very dubious original titles to him. He was a lifelong Unitarian, the son of Sarah (Wright) and William Taylor, born in Norwich, Norfolk, on 7 Nov. 1765 and baptised as a nonconformist on 21 Nov. To prepare him for the family’s mercantile business, he began to be taught modern languages in early childhood. In 1774 he was sent to the boarding school at Palgrave, Suffolk, recently established by Rochemont and Anna Letitia Barbauld (q.v.). Frank Sayers (q.v.), who later moved to Norwich, was a schoolmate and close friend; for Sayers’s Collected Works in 1823 Taylor wrote a short memoir. In 1779 he left the school and joined his father’s partner on a business tour of the Continent, after which he spent a year (1781-2) in Germany to master the language. While he was employed in business in the 1780s he spent much of his leisure time on literature and made his first translations—Goethe, Bürger, and Lessing (qq.v.)—which remained at first unpublished. The family gradually withdrew from trade. Taylor continued to live at home but worked for the periodical press, writing articles and reviews (on salary) for MR from 1793 to 1799, and for the Monthly Magazine from 1799; CR (for which he was recruited by Southey, q.v.), the Annual Review, and the Athenaeum also carried his work. In these years he published his translations, the most sensational of which was his version of Bürger’s “Lenore,” which first appeared in the Monthly in 1796. Financial distress brought about by unwise investments forced the family to retrench and move to a smaller house in 1811. Taylor’s mother and father died in 1812 and 1819 respectively. Taylor himself struggled with ill health. His last major achievement was the first history of German literature in English, based on his many essays, published in three volumes 1828-30. He died, unmarried, at his home on King St., Norwich, on 5 Mar. 1836 and was buried at the nonconformist Octagon Chapel there. Obituaries highlighted his expertise as a Germanist, his friendship with Sayers, and his association with Southey. (ODNB 7 Aug. 2024; findmypast.com 7 Aug. 2024; Bury and Suffolk Herald 16 Mar. 1836; Cambridge Chronicle and Journal 18 Mar. 1836)