TAYLOR, Hugh (1817-1900), of Backworth House, Northumb.

A descendant of a Northumbrian family with a stake in the region’s coal trade, Hugh Taylor was born at Shilbottle, the son of John Taylor, a noted mining engineer. He was named after his uncle, Hugh Taylor (1789-1868), an estate commissioner for the duke of Northumberland, with whom he has been confused.1Boase, Mod. Eng. Biog., (1901), iii. 1892, and M. Stenton, Who’s who of British Members of Parliament, 1832-1885 (1976), 372-3, incorrectly state that Taylor (1817-1900) died in 1868. The mistake stems from his uncle’s (1789-1868) obituary in T. Cooper (ed.), The register and magazine of biography (1869), 360, which incorrectly states that he served as MP for Tynemouth. After a short spell at sea with a merchant fleet, he became a partner in collieries at Backworth, West Cramlington, Haswell, Shotton and Ryhope, in the north-east of England, and acquired shares in extensive mines in the south Wales coalfield. He quickly accumulated ‘considerable wealth’, and became a leading shipowner at Tynemouth.2R. Fynes, The miners of Northumberland and Durham: a history of their social and religious progress (1873), 296-7; Newcastle Weekly Courant, 10 Nov. 1900. A popular local figure, one contemporary lauded him as ‘a perfect Midas’ who ‘possesses an art … of turning everything he touches into gold’.3J. Ewing Ritchie, About London (1860), 36.

At the 1852 general election, Taylor came forward in the Conservative interest for Tynemouth. Exploiting local resentment at the repeal of the navigation laws, he claimed that he ‘identified’ with the borough ‘as a ship-owner, as a coal-owner, and in every possible way one of themselves’, and narrowly defeated his Liberal opponent.4Quotation taken from N. McCord and A.E. Carrick, ‘Northumberland in the General Election of 1852’, Northern History, i (1966), 104. He had little time, however, to establish himself in Parliament. After dividing in the minority for Disraeli’s budget, 16 Dec. 1852, and attending occasionally thereafter, his election was declared void on petition after ‘his agents’ were found ‘guilty of bribery and treating’, 15 Apr. 1853.

His popularity undiminished, Taylor was returned unopposed at the 1859 general election following the retirement of the sitting Liberal member, William Lindsay, from whom the local shipping interest switched their allegiance.5Newcastle Courant, 15 Apr. 1859. In favour of protection for the shipping industry and a supporter of civil and religious liberties, he entered Parliament as a ‘Liberal-Conservative’.6Morning Chronicle, 18 Apr. 1859. An occasional speaker, Taylor mainly addressed shipping and mining issues. A champion of the sailing collier, he called on the government to establish school ships to ‘educate lads for sea’, 31 Jan. and 16 Feb. 1860, and stressed the importance of harbours of refuge, 19 June 1860. He also served on a select committee on merchant shipping, where he was an assiduous questioner on the impact of the repeal of the navigation laws.7PP 1860 (530), xiii. 2. His loyalty to his fellow coal owners was apparent in his contributions to the debate on the mines regulation bill. He objected to a proposal for the compulsory provision of education for boys working in mines, as ‘coalowners do everything to promote the child’s education and welfare’, and rejected the need for an amendment to limit working days to ten hours, 13 June 1860.

A steady attender during his second parliament, Taylor upset his Conservative friends in Tynemouth by ‘the liberality of his views and his repeated appearance in the Liberal lobby’.8Fynes, The miners of Northumberland and Durham, 247. Although he was in the minority with the Conservative ministry for the address, 10 June 1859, he divided with the new Liberal government on endowed schools, 6 July 1859, and for church rate abolition, 13 July 1859 and 8 Feb. 1860. He was also in favour of a £10 county and £6 borough franchise, and supported the Maynooth grant.9Dod’s parliamentary companion (1861), 294.

On the death of his older brother, Thomas John Taylor, a prominent mining engineer and colliery manager, in 1861, Taylor decided to devote his attention to his family’s interests in the coal industry and his own proprietorship of ‘a very considerable tonnage of steam shipping’.10Fynes, The miners of Northumberland and Durham, 297. Consequently, he took the stewardship of Hempholme, 15 Apr. 1861. The following year, he purchased Chipchase Castle in the north Tyne valley, and established his family there.11F.M.L. Thompson, ‘Taylor, Hugh (1789-1868)’, Oxf. DNB, www.oxford.dnb.com. In 1866 he became president of the Coal Trade Association, and was ‘esteemed for his conciliatory disposition’.12Newcastle Weekly Courant, 10 Nov. 1900. He died at his London home in Finchley in November 1900 and was succeeded by his only son, Thomas.