John Taylor

John Taylor (baptised 1711 – 1788) of Ashbourne, Derbyshire was an English lawyer and cleric, known as a wealthy landowner and stockbreeder. He was at school with Samuel Johnson, and they became lifelong friends.

Early life Baptised at Ashbourne, on 18 March 1711, he was son of Thomas Taylor (1671–1730?) of Ashbourne and his wife Mary, daughter of Thomas Wood. His father was a wealthy country attorney. He was educated with Samuel Johnson by the Rev. John Hunter at Lichfield grammar school; he and Edmund Hector were the last survivors of Johnson's school friends. He left without taking a degree, and apparently for some years practised as an attorney. In July 1740 he was presented, on the nomination of Sir Wolstan Dixie, 4th Baronet, to the rectory of Market Bosworth in Leicestershire. The duties were performed by a curate. This preferment he retained for the rest of his life; he was unpopular with his parishioners. His interests included the Hubberdale mine, near Monyash.

A Whig in politics, Taylor became chaplain to William Cavendish, 3rd Duke of Devonshire; who was lord-lieutenant of Ireland from 1737 to 1745.

The Mansion, Ashbourne was a family property that came to Taylor. Taylor spent much time there. He became a J.P. for Derbyshire on 6 October 1761, and was known as "the King of Ashbourne."

Death Taylor died at Ashbourne on 29 February 1788, and was buried in Ashbourne church, on 3 March. After Taylor's death there appeared Sermons on Different Subjects, left for publication by John Taylor, LL.D. (two vols., 1788–9), edited by the Rev. Samuel Hayes. They were often reprinted.

James Boswell's Life of Samuel Johnson incorporated material dictated to him by Taylor. Numerous letters from Johnson to Taylor were printed in Notes and Queries (6th series); three of them were known to Boswell, and about a dozen were printed by Sir John Simeon, 3rd Baronet, their owner in 1861, for the Philobiblon Society. With others, those were included in George Birkbeck Norman Hill's edition of Johnson's letters; other letters are in Hill's Johnsonian Miscellanies.

Family On 9 April 1732 Taylor married at Croxall, Derbyshire, Elizabeth, daughter of William Webb of the parish. She was buried at Ashbourne on 13 January 1746. His second wife was Mary, daughter of Roger Tuckfield of Fulford Park, Devon. They did not live together happily, and in August 1763 she left him.