Susannah Taylor

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Susannah Taylor
Susannah Taylor.JPG
drawing by Henry Meyer
Born29 March 1755
Norwich, England
DiedJune 1823
NationalityBritish
Spouse(s)John Taylor
Children7, including John Taylor, Richard Taylor, Edward Taylor, Philip Taylor, Sarah Austin

Susannah Taylor or Susannah Cook (29 March 1755 – June, 1823) was a British socialite and correspondent.

Life[]

Susannah was the daughter of John Cook and Aramathea Maria Phillips. She was born in Norwich in 1755.[1]

In 1777 she married John Taylor who was a businessman and hymn writer. Their home was a radical social gathering. Guests included Sir James Edward Smith, the botanist, Henry Crabb Robinson, the barrister, Robert Southey, poet laureate, Cecilia Windham, wife of William Windham, and Sir James Mackintosh.[2] Mackintosh described the house as a "haven" with Susannah described as intelligent and knowledgeable.[3]

Others guests at the house were William Enfield, and some early supporters of the French Revolution: Edward Rigby, James Alderson and his daughter Amelia.[4] Susannah was said to have danced for joy when she heard of the storming of the Bastille.[1] Susannah was called Madame Roland by her close friends as she was said to look like the French revolutionist.[1]

John and Susannah raised seven children to be honest, to avoid debt, and to take control of their business dealings. Their children were John (1779–1863);,[5] Richard (1781–1858), Edward (1784–1863), Philip (1786–1870);[5] Susan (b. 1788), married , Arthur (b. 1790), a printer and F.S.A., author of The Glory of Regality (London, 1820), and Papers in relation to the Antient Topography of the Eastern Counties (London, 1869), and Sarah, wife of John Austin, the jurist.[6][7] Susannah was responsible for the education of her daughters.

Susannah died in June 1823 and there is a memorial to her and her husband inside the Octagon Chapel, Norwich.[1]

References[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b c d Charlotte Fell-Smith, ‘Taylor, John (1750–1826)’, rev. M. Clare Loughlin-Chow, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 accessed 9 May 2015
  2. ^ Janet Ross, Three Generations of English Women; memoirs and correspondence of Susannah Taylor, Sarah Austin, and Lady Duff Gordon (1893); archive.org.
  3. ^ Montagu, B (1835). Life of Sir James Mackintosh. ISBN 9780203211670.
  4. ^ Jenny Graham (2000). The Nation, the Law, and the King: Reform Politics in England, 1789–1799. 1. University Press of America. p. 107. ISBN 0-7618-1484-1.
  5. ^ Jump up to: a b "Taylor, Philip" . Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.
  6. ^ Philip Meadows Taylor, A Memoir of the Taylor Family of Norwich(1866), 2, 9–13.
  7. ^ "Taylor, John (1750-1826)" . Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.
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