Telford, Thomas (1757–1834)

Thomas Telford (1757–1834): Civil engineer and architect. The son of a shepherd from Eskdale, Dumfriesshire, he was apprenticed to a stonemason at the age of fourteen and taught himself how to design and manage building projects. Telford made his name as Surveyor of Public Works in Shropshire, where he built the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct over the River Dee (1805).

Taylor, William (1765–1836)

William Taylor (1765–1836): Reviewer and translator. Born in Norwich, the only child of William and Sarah Taylor. Taylor’s interest in German culture culminated in his Historic Survey of German Poetry (1828–1830). He was also a prolific contributor to the Annual Review, The Athenaeum, Monthly Magazine, and Monthly Review. Southey and Taylor met in 1798, whilst the former was on a visit to Great Yarmouth, where his brother Henry Herbert Southey was being tutored by George Burnett.

Taylor, John (1781–1864)

John Taylor (1781–1864): Publisher and writer. Born in Retford, Nottinghamshire, he was the son of the bookseller James Taylor (1752–1823) and his wife Sarah (b. 1760). Educated at Lincoln and Retford grammar schools, he moved to London in 1803, where he worked in the publishing and bookselling trade. In 1806 he set up his own business with James Augustus Hessey (1785–1870). The firm’s staple fare was sermons, moral tracts and homilies.

Taylor, Henry (1800–1886)

Henry Taylor (1800–1886): Poet and civil servant. The son of the gentleman farmer and classicist George Taylor. Southey became acquainted with the Taylors in the early 1810s via his brother Tom, who lived near them in County Durham. Taylor joined the Colonial Office in 1824, eventually rising to be senior clerk for the Carribean colonies. He married Theodosia (1818–1891), daughter of the politican Thomas Spring Rice in 1839. Taylor was a successful civil servant, knighted for his service to the Colonial Office in 1869. He managed to combine his job with a literary career.

Taylor, George (1772–1851)

George Taylor (1772–1851): Gentleman farmer, classicist and occasional contributor to the Quarterly Review. Taylor lived in County Durham and became acquainted with Southey through the latter’s brother, Tom. His son, Henry Taylor, later became a close friend of Southey’s and his literary executor.

Tate, James (1771–1843)

James Tate (1771–1843): Schoolmaster, clergyman, and classicist. Educated at the Grammar School in Richmond, Yorkshire, and Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge. In 1796 he became headmaster of Richmond School and transformed it into an educational powerhouse. He rejected corporal punishment and instead attempted to enthuse pupils with his own love of learning. He published textbooks on the classics and also Horatius Restitutus (1832), which attempted to arrange the works of Horace in chronological order. Politically he was a Whig and a proponent of Catholic Emancipation.

Swan, Charles (b. 1797–?1838)

Charles Swan (b. 1797–?1838): Writer and clergyman, whose works included Gesta Romanorum; or Entertaining Moral Stories (1824). From Morton, near Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, he attended Catherine Hall, Cambridge, matriculating in 1817. He was ordained as a deacon in 1820 and, in 1824, took up the post of Chaplain on HMS Cambrian. He published an account of his experiences as Journal of a Voyage Up the Mediterranean, Principally Among the Islands of the Archipelago and In Asia Minor, Including Many Interesting Particulars Relative to the Greek Revolution.

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