Basil Kirke Taylor Sr MA (1831 - 1876)

Born 11 Sep 1831 in Coveney Rectory, Isle of Ely, Cambridgeshire, England

Ancestors

Husband of Edith Palmer (Tylee) Taylor — married 3 Dec 1863 in Taurarua Chapel, St Stephen's Church, Parnell, Auckland, New Zealand

Descendants

Died 3 Nov 1876 at age 45 in the residence of Rev Robert Burrows, St Stephen's Road, Parnell, Auckland, New Zealand

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Biography

Church of England Missionary and Clergyman, Vicar of St Paul's Church, Putiki, Whanganui, New Zealand, Curate of Cossington Parish, Leicestershire (1858-60); of "Cossington", 9 Campbell Street, Whanganui.

Background

He was the 2nd son of Rev Richard Taylor and Mary Caroline Fox. He was baptised on 17 October 1831 at Coveney, Isle of Ely, Cambridge.[1] He was named after his great-great grandmother Mary Taylor née Kirke.

Australia and New Zealand

In 1836 with his parents, elder brother and two younger sisters, the family sailed onboard the Prince Regent to Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

In 1839 with his father and brother, they went to the Bay of Islands, New Zealand, onboard the Nimrod, his mother and younger siblings following later. In 1843 the family settled at Whanganui.

Education

In 1850 he returned to England and attended Islington College. In 1853 he entered as an undergraduate of Queen's College, Cambridge. In 1857 he graduated BA and in 1860 MA. He was Ordained in 1858.

Career

Curate at Cossington Parish in Leicestershire until his departure for New Zealand in 1860.

In 1860 he returned to New Zealand and assisted with and eventually took over his father's Mission at St Paul's Church, Putiki.

Marriage and family

In 1863 at St Stephen's Church, Parnell, Auckland, he married Edith Palmer Tylee, daughter of John Palmer Tylee and Mary Perry, of Bath, Somerset, with issue six children.

After their marriage they lived at "Cossington", 9 Campbell Street, Whanganui, which was named after his first Parish in Leicestershire where he was Curate from his ordination until his departure for New Zealand.

In 1872 with his mother, he was injured in a trap accident at Turakina. He was thrown out and a wheel passed over his chest, which subsequently caused his death.

After the death of his father in 1873 he was the sole Missionary in the large mission district of Whanganui.

Last years

"In August 1876 after suffering considerably from ill health, he went to Auckland to recover and for a change. He stayed with Archdeacon Dudley but became very ill. He then went to stay with Rev Robert Burrows, Vicar of St Stephen's Church, in Parnell.

"He had an attack of paralysis, and in October his wife Edith was sent for, although she was in a delicate state of health, their youngest son, Basil Jr, being then only six weeks old. She had to travel from Whanganui to Auckland in a very small boat, and his sister Laura accompanied her, being very devoted to her brother."

Death and burial

He died on 3 November 1876 at the residence of Rev Robert Burrows, St Stephen's Road, Parnell, Auckland, aged 45. He was buried on 4 November 1876 in St Stephen's Churchyard, Parnell.

Obituary

"Death. Taylor. At Auckland, on the 3rd inst, at the residence of the Rev R Burrows, the Rev Basil K Taylor, MA, late of Putiki, Wanganui, aged 45 years. Deeply Regretted." WC, 6 Nov 1876, Papers Past, NLNZ.

Probate: Will filed 26 Jan 1877 in Wellington Court, Clerk of Holy Orders, Whanganui. Probate No 1013, Wellington Archives.

Monument

"Sacred to the Memory of Revd Basil Kirke Taylor MA, Many Years Missionary at Wanganui Who Ceased From His Labours 3 November 1876, Aged 45 Years." Transcribed by Randal Springer.

Acknowledgements

Randal Springer, Whanganui Historian (correspondence: 2001).

Sources

'Recollections of Rev Richard Taylor' and genealogical notebooks, compiled by Cranleigh Harper Barton BEM, which form part of the Cranleigh Barton Bequest (1975), Whanganui Regional Museum, New Zealand.

1831 Baptism, Family Search: https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/sources/24B3-9SB.

Descendants of Nicholas Spencer, compiled by Howard Ulph Smith and Sylvia Taylor Robertson (2003).

Obit 6 Nov 1876, WH, Papers Past, NLNZ.

Obit 1 Dec 1876, Church Gazette, Diocese of Auckland and Melanesia, Vol V, No 54.

Obit "The Rev Basil Taylor." (1876) Unknown publication.

Death reg 1876/3580, age 45, NZBDM: https://www.bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz/Search/Search?Path=querySubmit.m%3fReportName%3dDeathSearch%26recordsPP%3d30#SearchResults.

Find A Grave: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/196332959/basil-kirke-taylor.