Joseph Taylor

Joseph Taylor (3 May 1858 – 24 July 1942) was an English-born mining engineer and Unitarian minister. After emigrating to New Zealand in 1894, he discovered a coal field and established a coal mine at Pūponga in Golden Bay. In 1902, he was sentenced to two years' imprisonment for fraudulently altering his mining company's books of account.

Early life

Taylor was born in Audley, Staffordshire, England, in 1858, the son of George Taylor and Martha Dodd. His father was a coal miner who later became a farmer. As a youth, Joseph Taylor worked in the coal mine where his father was foreman. they would go on to have four sons and two daughters.

Taylor was trained as a minister of the United Methodist Free Church but converted to Unitarianism in 1882. He served as minister of the Unitarian churches in Barnard Castle, Durham (1882–1884) and in South St. Mungo Street, Glasgow (1884–1885). He did not find favour with either congregation, and in 1885 the Glasgow church passed a resolution that Taylor's services be dispensed with. His career as a Unitarian minister ended shortly afterwards, and he and his family returned to Audley in Staffordshire. Taylor appears to have reverted to theism soon afterwards. He also developed a philosophy which he called "Absolutism" or "Absolute Philosophy", which he regarded as his life's most important work.

Taylor returned to the study of mining engineering and geology, and by 1892 was lecturing on the subject. In 1893 he was described as a certified teacher of mining, and a mining lecturer under the Staffordshire County Council. He read a newspaper account of coal production in New Zealand, which may have influenced his decision to emigrate there. Taylor soon discovered a coal field in the settlement of Pūponga, and established the Puponga Coal & Gold Mining Company.

In 1902, by which time Taylor and his family had moved to Nelson, he was prosecuted on several charges of fraudulently altering his mining company's books of account. Although his defence was that the problems were due to disorganised bookkeeping practices rather than dishonesty, he was found guilty on one charge and was sentenced to two years' imprisonment with hard labour. A petition seeking early remission of his prison sentence attracted several hundred signatures from Nelson residents, but was unsuccessful. He built onto his house in Nelson a hall which he called the "Universal Institute", where he gave lectures on these topics. He also patented a design for an airship that was never built.

Death Taylor died in Wellington on 24 July 1942, aged 84.