Roger Taylor Papers

Roger Taylor was born January 24th, 1921, in Wigan, Lancashire, England to Harry B. and Edith Taylor. The only child of this union, Taylor lived with his mother for most of his childhood after his father abandoned them for America.

Taylor graduated from Wigan Grammar School in 1937, and then was employed as a certified Bookkeeper with the Lancashire Associated Collieries from 1937 to 1942. He enlisted with the Royal Air Force, serving in England, Canada, and Egypt from 1942 to 1947. Taylor attended Oak Hill Theological College and London University from 1947 to 1951, where his studies led to a Bachelors Degree in Philosophy, Theology, and History. Immediately following graduation in 1951, Taylor was ordained a minister of the Church of England, which led him to write his Masters Thesis entitled Methods of Religious Revivalism in 1959 at the University of Leeds. Taylor was the first member of his family to receive a university education as well as be a theologian.

Rev. Taylor's deep, long term interest in Charles Finney led him to focus on Finney for his doctoral thesis, entitled The Preacher and the Miller: What Charles Finney and Potto Brown Meant to Each Other. He received his Master of Philosophy in 1996 from Essex University. Taylor was especially interested in the time Finney spent in England, and his ministry there between 1849 and 1860. Taylor's interest in Charles Finney can also be seen in his 1995 essay entitled What Charles Darwin meant for Both Charles Finney and Potto Brown. This piece examined the correspondence of Finney and the Reverend John Moore, a Methodist Minister of Amphill and Manchester from around 1873. In addition, Taylor wrote an eighteen page unpublished piece in January 2000 entitled What Did Charles Darwin Mean to Charles Finney? in which he reconsidered his thesis to include Darwin's effect on Finney¹s religious beliefs and actions.

Taylor's posts have included being Organizing Secretary for the South-West Church Pastoral-Aid Society from 1963 to 1968; Vicar of Felixstowe from 1969 to 1981; and as the Rector of Hopton-by-Thetford from 1984 until his retirement in 1986. In his retirement, Taylor remains active, assisting in Diocese of St. Edmundsbury and Ipswich; serving on the Ipswich Circuit of the Methodist Church, from 1987 until the present; and acting as treasurer to Ipswich Concern Counselling, 1995 to 1999.

Taylor married Beryl Silver, a missionary in Egypt, in 1949. They had children, Martin (1951), Alison (1952), and Nicola (1957). Beryl died in December of 1988. Roger Taylor married Helen Wightwick in 1990, with whom he lived in Ipswich, England.

Roger Taylor died at his home in Lindsey, England on October 5, 2006 following an extended illness.

Sources Consulted

Biographical information provided by Reverend Roger Taylor (February 2000).