George Watson-Taylor

George Watson-Taylor (1771 – 6 June 1841), of was a British-born Jamaican plantation owner, politician and art collector. In 1810, he married into the family of the planter Sir John Taylor, 1st Baronet, in time adding the Taylor surname to his own, and becoming the richest planter on Jamaica. He bought houses in Cavendish Square, London, and Erlestoke Park, near Devizes, Wiltshire. As MP for a number of constituencies, where he was brought in without contests, he supported the Tory administration, and campaigned for the retention of slavery.

Watson-Taylor was a renowned fine art collector. His finances later collapsed, and he died on 6 June 1841, in Edinburgh.

Early life and education He was the fourth son of George Watson of Saul's River, Jamaica and was educated at Lincoln's Inn from 1788. He matriculated at St. Mary Hall, Oxford in 1791.

Political career In 1815, George Watson changed his surname to Watson-Taylor. He was a Member (MP) for Newport, Isle of Wight, 15 April 1816 – 1818. There the seat was controlled by Sir Leonard Worsley-Holmes, 9th Baronet, who returned family members and "friends of government". On arrival in the House of Commons, Watson-Taylor was immediately elected to the standing committee of the Society of West India Planters and Merchants. Next was East Looe, controlled by the Buller family. In 1820, Sir Edward Buller, 1st Baronet, retired as MP, bringing in Watson-Taylor, with Thomas Potter Macqueen, as loyal to the Liverpool administration. He was there until the 1826 general election, when he made way for Lord Perceval. He was in that election unopposed at Devizes, where Bucknall Estcourt was moving to Oxford and backed him. He remained there until 1832.

He began his career as a member of the committee of West India planters and merchants, and opposed the abolition of slavery. When the slaves were emancipated in the 1830s, he received compensation exceeding £20,000 for over 1,000 slaves in Jamaica.

Later life and death With inherited wealth from his wife's family, Watson-Taylor was spendthrift and failed to live within his means. By 1832, he was heavily in debt, and was compelled to auction off his personal property. He died, still in financial difficulties, in Edinburgh, on 6 June 1841, aged 69 or 70. His estates at Erlestoke and in Jamaica were passed to his wife. She died in 1853. Also in 1816, living at 5 Savile Row, he bought eight more pictures from the further sale of Hope's collection, including the group portrait of the family of Everhard Jabach acquired in 2014 by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (inv. no. 2014.250); and in 1820 he moved into Hope's former home on Harley Street. There he was a neighbour of Henry Philip Hope. From his collection of old master paintings, Watson-Taylor held a major sale in 1823. This was of 131 paintings from this London house. In 1830, he arranged to have privately printed Pieces of Poetry: With Two Dramas, a collection of his short poems, some of them humorous or parodies of other works.

In 1832, Watson-Taylor was forced by further financial difficulties to sell the contents of Erlestoke House. His collection of objets de vertu was also sold that year, to some mockery. Considerable wealth came to him from the Jamaican sugar cane plantations of Sir John's brother Simon Taylor, who died in 1813. He was granted the additional surname of Taylor by royal licence of 19 June 1815, following the death earlier that year of Sir Simon Richard Brissett Taylor, 2nd Baronet, whom his wife, the eldest niece, had succeeded.

The inheritance made George and his wife wealthy. The couple bought a landed estate in Wiltshire for £200,000, and a house in London which they renovated, the total cost coming to £68,000. They socialised with King William IV, and hosted the future Queen Victoria.

Of their sons:

Simon Watson Taylor (born 1811) sat as MP for Devizes for a brief period. John Walter Watson-Taylor was born 1813, died 1832. John Gibson made a bust of him, in 1816, now in the Victoria & Albert Museum. Further busts from that year attributed to Gibson are of his younger brother George (as George Jerome) and sister Isabella. George Graeme Watson-Taylor, third son, married 1847 Victorine Joudioux, died 1865. Emelius Watson-Taylor, youngest son, died 1879. Edward Hodges Baily made a bust of him, in 1825.

The daughter was Isabella. It had previously been owned by her brother Emilius, who bought it in 1867.