Silas Taylor (16 July 1624–4 November 1678) was an English army officer of the Parliamentarian forces, known also as an antiquary and musical composer.
The son of Silvanus Taylor, a parliamentary committee-man for Herefordshire and supporter of Oliver Cromwell, he was born at Harley, near Much Wenlock, Shropshire, on 16 July 1624.
[1] Initially the position was joint with Captain Benjamin Mason; after a sharp quarrel over the details of distraining money, and the accounts, Taylor emerged as the sole holder of the office.
Sir Edward Harley, appointed governor of Dunkirk in June of that year, took Taylor with him in the capacity of commissary for ammunition.
[1] Under the Commonwealth Taylor had access to the cathedral libraries of Hereford and Worcester for manuscripts; from the latter he copied an original grant of King Edgar dated 964, printed in John Selden's Mare Clausum.
His collections relating to Harwich fell into the hands of Samuel Dale, by whom they were published under the title of The History and Antiquities of Harwich and Dovercourt, … first collected by Silas Taylor alias Domville … and now much enlarged … in all its parts, with notes and observations relating to Natural History … by Samuel Dale, London, 1730 (second edition) 1732.
Taylor, his father and John Tombes took against Delamaine for religious and personal reasons, and some linked to the local politics of the quarrel with Benjamin Mason and Wroth Rogers.