Peter Taylor

Peter Taylor (1714–1777) was a British administrator and politician who made a fortune as paymaster during the Seven Years' War and sat in the House of Commons between 1765 and 1777.

Taylor was the second son of Robert Taylor, a grocer of Wells, Somerset and was born on 11 November 1714. In 1728 he was apprenticed to Charles Lewis, a goldsmith of Wincanton, Somerset. He married Jane Holt, probably at the non-conformist Somerset House chapel, on 22 April 1740. In 1755 he was a silversmith at Cecil Street on the Strand, London.

By 1756 he knew politicians Henry Fox and John Calcraft and was making himself useful to Fox. When the Seven Years' War broke out in 1757 he was appointed Deputy Paymaster in Germany where he spent five years. He was at times dealing with £150,000 a month and questions were raised about his conduct. He returned to England in 1763 with poor reputation but possessing a large fortune. He acquired an estate at Burcott, near Wells, and in 1764 another at Purbrook Park, near Portsmouth. He wanted a seat in Parliament but this was to crown his success rather than to do anything useful there.