Michael Angelo Taylor

Michael Angelo Taylor (1757 – 16 July 1834) was an English politician.

Life

He was a son of Sir Robert Taylor (1714-1788), the architect, and was educated at Corpus Christi College, Oxford, becoming a barrister at Lincoln's Inn in 1774. He entered the House of Commons as Member of Parliament (MP) for Poole in 1784, and, with the exception of the short period from 1802 to 1806, remained a member of parliament until 1834, although not as the representative of the same constituency.^[1]

In parliament Taylor showed himself anxious to curtail the delays in the Court of Chancery, and to improve the lighting and paving of the London streets; and he was largely instrumental in bringing about the abolition of the pillory. At first a supporter of the younger Pitt, he soon veered round to the side of Fox and the Whigs, favored parliamentary reform, and was a personal friend of the regent, afterwards King George IV. He was on the committee which managed the Impeachment of Warren Hastings; was made a privy councillor in 1831; and died in London in July 1834.^[1]

Taylor is chiefly known in connection with the Metropolitan Paving Act of 1817, which is still referred to as "Michael Angelo Taylor's Act." Often called "Chicken Taylor" because of his reference to himself as a "mere chicken in the law," he is described by Sir Spencer Walpole as "a pompous barrister, with a little body and a loud voice."^[1]

Michael Angelo challenged a codicil to his father's will, left unsigned when Sir Robert died in 1788, by means of which Sir Robert intended to gift £65,000 to the University of Oxford. The University did not receive the money, with which it built the Taylor Institution, until 1835, a year after Michael Angelo's own death.

Notes

1 2 3 Chisholm 1911.

References

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Taylor, Michael Angelo". Encyclopædia Britannica 26 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
"Taylor, Michael Angelo". Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.
Thorne, Roland. "Taylor, Michael Angelo (bap. 1757–1834)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/27067. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)

External links

Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Michael Angelo Taylor

Parliament of Great Britain
Preceded by Joseph Gulston William Morton Pitt	Member of Parliament for Poole 1784 – 1790 With: William Morton Pitt	Succeeded by Charles Stuart Benjamin Lester
Preceded by William à Court William Eden	Member of Parliament for Heytesbury Dec 1790 – Mar 1791 With: William Eden	Succeeded by Earl of Barrymore William Eden
Preceded by Charles Stuart Benjamin Lester	Member of Parliament for Poole 1791 – 1796 With: Benjamin Lester	Succeeded by Charles Stuart Benjamin Lester
Preceded by Thomas Grenville Lord Grey of Gorby	Member of Parliament for Aldeburgh 1796 – 1800 With: Sir John Aubrey, Bt	Succeeded by George Johnstone Sir John Aubrey, Bt
Preceded by Sir Henry Vane-Tempest, Bt Ralph Lambton	Member of Parliament for City of Durham March 1800 – Dec 1800 With: Ralph Lambton	Succeeded by Parliament of the United Kingdom
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Parliament of Great Britain	Member of Parliament for City of Durham 1801 – 1802 With: Ralph Lambton	Succeeded by Richard Wharton Ralph Lambton
Preceded by Sir Arthur Wellesley Sir Charles Talbot, Bt	Member of Parliament for Rye 1806 – 1807 With: Patrick Crauford Bruce	Succeeded by Earl of Clancarty Sir John Nicholl
Preceded by Nathaniel Saxon Sir William Manners, Bt	Member of Parliament for Ilchester 1807 – 1812 With: Richard Brinsley Sheridan	Succeeded by Hon. John Ward George Philips
Preceded by Sir Richard Bickerton, Bt Benjamin Lester	Member of Parliament for Poole 1812 – 1818 With: Benjamin Lester	Succeeded by John Dent Benjamin Lester
Preceded by Richard Wharton George Allan	Member of Parliament for City of Durham 1818 – 1832 With: Richard Wharton to 1820 Sir Henry Hardinge 1820–30 Sir Roger Gresley, Bt 1830–31 William Chaytor from 1831	Succeeded by Arthur Trevor William Chaytor
Preceded by Digby Cayley Wrangham Sir John Walsh, Bt	Member of Parliament for Sudbury 1832 – 1834 With: Sir John Walsh, Bt	Succeeded by Sir John Walsh, Bt Sr Edward Barnes

Authority control	WorldCat Identities VIAF: 66048140

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