The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1880-07-17 00:00:00

DEATH OF MR. TOM TAYLOR.

The Times of Tuesday had an obituary notice of Mr. Tom
Taylor, from which we make the following extract :
It is with deep regret that we announce the death
of Mr. Tom Taylor, which occurred yesterday after-
noon at his residence, Lavender Sweep, Wandsworth-
road. Though he had been ill several weeks, his
death occurred at last suddenly and unexpectedly.
By this melancholy event, which will cast a shade of
sorrow over a large circle of friends, a busy and
honourable career is brought to a premature close—
premature because Mr. Taylor had but just entered
upon what Victor Huge describes as the youth of old
age, and because his intellectual energy had seemed
to increase rather than diminish with lapse of time.

Tom Taylor was born near Sunderland in 1817, his
father who became one of the first aldermen of that
town, 'being-a moderately prosperous brewer, and his
mother of German parentage. His early life, accord-
ing to an article which appeared some years ago in
the Illustrated Review, affords yet another verification
of Wordsworth's phrase as to the child being father of
the man. Long before it was thought necessary to
tie him down to his school books he wrote several
little melodramatic pieces. These were performed
by a number of children in a loft over the brewer's
stables, the youthful dramatist at once re-
serving the most important characters to him-
self and looking after the stage management. Un-
fortunately, however, he could not be induced to dis-
pense with the aid of thunder and lightning, and, as
the use of resin in such a place was attended with
some risk, the performances were abruptly stopped.
Then, like Hans Christian Andersen, but at an earlier
age than the poor unlettered Dane, he conceived a
passion for writing plays in which a set of puppets,
rudely contrived by himself, might figure to advan-
tage. "I set up," he once wrote, as a manager
of marionettes—happy manager' who could make
his own actors and yet get all the credit for
it without earning their ill-will! My sister was
my costumier; I was builder of my own theatre,
painter of my own scenes, writer of ray own
plays, as well as maker of my own actors."
Having learnt his classical rudiments at the Grange
School in Sunderland, he proceeded to Glasgow
University, where he received three gold medals,
and thence, in 1837, to Trinity College, Cambridge.
The hopes centred on him by his parents as to his
progress here were not disappointed, although he
devoted much time to writing articles in the Liberal
interest for the Independent, to practical studies in
painting and sculpture, and to getting up many of
the theatrical entertainments iiveit at that period
in the spacious stable-loft belonOng to Jobmaster
Jordan. He was elected a } ellow of Trinity,
having taken his degree as a Junior Optime
and in the first class of the Classical Tripos.
He was also one of the leading spirits of the
Cambridge "Apostles." In 1843, giving up
in favour of his brothers the allowance hitherto
made him by his father, he came to London,
and in due time was called to the Bar. For two years
he was Professor at University College, London, of
English language and literature. The law was not to
number him among its votaries. In 1850 he was ap-
pointed Assistant Secretary, and in 1854 Secretary-in-
Chief, of the Board of Health. The functions of this
body were eventually transferred to the Local Govern-
ment Acts Office, which in its turn was merged in the
Aocal Government Board. The office held by Mr.
Taylor was then abolished, and in recognition of
many services he had rendered in the way of sani-
tary improvement a liberal pension was bestowed
upon him. In the meantime he had so far profited
by the little leisure left to him as to win a promi-
nent place among men of letters as a dramatist,
critic, biographer, and humorist. To the drama as
was to be expected, he devoted himself with particular
ardour. In or about 1846, after taking part with
Albert Smith and Mr. Charles Benny in producing a
'rhymed fairy tale," or rather extravaganza, he
wrote for Mr. Alfred Wigan, in whose house he then
lived, the broadly comic Trip to Sissengen, the story
of which had been suggested to him by an old col-
lege friend. From this time until 1875 he contributed
in rapid succession more than a hundred pieces to the
stage' the majority being adaptations of or indirectly
from French plays or stories.

_
The Times _ then enumerates Mr. Tom Taylor's
principal literary productions, mid thus continues:
—His early passion for acting continue 1 unabated to
the last; indeed, it may be taken for granted that had
not better opportunities fallen to his lot he would
have become an actor by profession. For example, in
1879, when As You Like It was played at Manchester
in memory of Mr. Charles Calvert, he played Adam—
orignally represented, according to tradition, by Shake-
speare himself, with unusual effect. He was also much
commended as Jasper Carew in A Shew in Wolf's
Clothing. From the time of his arrival in London, it
remains to be said, he was associated with Punch, and
about seven years ago, on the death of Mr. Shirley
Brooks, he became the editor of that periodical. His
work as such was a heavy tax upon his energies—so
much so, in fact, that except as a critic he thencefor-
ward put down his pen.