He was born on 21 March 1805 at Letwell, Yorkshire, England, one of four children of Richard Taylor and his wife, Catherine Spencer.

[1] He attended Queens' College, Cambridge and after graduating BA in 1828, he was ordained as a priest on 8 November 1829.

[3][4] By 1844 the brick church built by the Revd John Mason was inadequate to meet the needs of the congregation and it had been damaged in an earthquake.

A new church was built under the supervision of the Revd Richard Taylor with the timber supplied by each pā on the river in proportion to its size and number of Christians.

[14] After his death on 19 October 1873, his son, the Revd Basil Kirke Taylor, took over the Whanganui mission.