Isaac Taylor (1759–1829)

The son of Isaac Taylor (1730–1807) by his wife Sarah, daughter of Josiah Jefferys of Shenfield, Essex, he was born in London on 30 January 1759.

With his elder brother Charles Taylor, after some education at Brentford grammar school, he was brought up as an engraver in the studio of his father, and worked both in landscape and portraiture.

In 1783 he moved from Islington to Red Lion Street, Holborn, and in June 1786 he left London for Lavenham in Suffolk, where he rented a house and a large garden.

Taylor, who had acquired some fame locally as a preacher, moved to Colchester in 1796 on receiving a call to act as pastor to the independent congregation in Bucklersbury Lane.

She corresponded with her children during their absences from home, and this correspondence was the nucleus of a series of short manuals of conduct: Helen Taylor, the daughter of Martin Taylor of Ongar (1788–1867), by his first wife, Elizabeth Venn, made contributions to 'Missionary Hymns' and the 'Teacher's Treasury,' and, besides a short devotional work, 'Sabbath Bells' was author of 'The Child's Books of Homilies' (London, 1850).