Taylor White

Taylor White (1701–1772) in his robes as Puisne Justice of Chester. Taylor White (21 December 1701 – 27 March 1772) was a British jurist, naturalist, and art collector. A Fellow of the Royal Society, he was the patron of several prominent wildlife and botanical artists including Peter Paillou, George Edwards, Benjamin Wilkes, and Georg Dionysius Ehret. He was also a founding governor of the Foundling Hospital in London and served as its treasurer for many years.

Early life and legal career Taylor White was born at his family's seat in Wallingwells, a hamlet in northwest Nottinghamshire. He was one of the five children, and the second son, of Thomas and Bridget (née Taylor) White. His father was for many years the Member of Parliament for East Retford and in 1717 was appointed Clerk of the Ordnance. His maternal grandfather, Richard Taylor, was the High Sheriff of Nottinghamshire and had also served as the Member of Parliament for East Retford. White was admitted to Lincoln's Inn in 1720 where he studied law and was called to the bar in 1727. He practised as a barrister on the Northern Circuit (Yorkshire, Northumberland, Cumberland and Westmoreland) and eventually received several judicial appointments including Circuit Judge on the North Wales Circuit (1750) and Puisne Justice of Chester (1760). In 1737 he had also been one of the four counsels retained by Georgia (then a British colony) in a dispute with its neighbouring colony South Carolina over trade with the Indians. He became a key figure in running the institution, serving as its treasurer from 1745 until his death, and was largely responsible for the establishment of the hospital's branch in Ackworth, West Yorkshire. A portrait by Francis Cotes of White working on his ledgers hung in the Committee Room of the Hospital along with works by William Hogarth and George Lambert, and is now in the care of the Foundling Museum.

Private life He succeeded his unmarried elder brother John White to the substantial family estates, including Wallingwells, in 1769.

Taylor married Anne, daughter of Thomas Errington on 1 May 1729. She died just seventeen months later in October 1730, leaving no children.

On 18 September 1739 he remarried. His new bride was Frances, the third daughter of Major-General John Armstrong.