Taylor was born in Verona, Mississippi, but moved to Pine Bluff, Arkansas, with his parents in 1887.

He attended the public schools in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, and studied law at Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, D.C. Taylor served one term as Deputy State Auditor from 1908 to 1910.

Taylor was elected as a Democrat to the Sixty-seventh Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the death of his father, serving from October 25, 1921 to March 4, 1923.

Taylor died in 1931 in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, and was interred in Bellewood Cemetery.

His son, Chester Jr., was superintendent of the Pasco County School District in Florida This article incorporates public domain material from the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress