page_title: Mary Taylor (women's rights advocate)
section_title: Early life
hierarchical_section_title: Mary Taylor (women's rights advocate) / Early life
caption_attribution_description: English: Roe Head, Mirfield. This now is part of Hollybank Special School, and the modern chapel is on the right. The blue plaque reads: Roe Head - Built on land bought from the Armytage Kamily of Kirklees Hall in the mid-17C and rebuilt in 1740. The building became a school in 1830, attended by the Brontë sisters, Charlotte, 1831-32, Emily, 1836, Anne 1836-7. Charlotte returned in July 1835 as a teacher. Headmistress of the school was Margaret Wooler (Mrs Prior in Shirley) and Charlotte's Friends at school were Ellen Nussey and Mary Taylor (Caroline Helstone and Rose Yorke in Shirley).
context_page_description: Mary Taylor an early advocate for women's rights, was born in Gomersal, in the West Riding of Yorkshire, England.
context_section_description: Mary Taylor's father Joshua, a cloth manufacturer, and his wife Anne had six children of which she was the fourth. Her father, a radical and member of the Methodist New Connexion, was bankrupted in 1826, but determined to repay his creditors.
  Mary was an impulsive, clever child who shared her father's independent traits. She met Ellen Nussey and Charlotte Brontë in 1831 at Roe Head School in Mirfield where they became firm lifelong friends despite having opposing views. At school Taylor, while quiet, was defiant, standing by her opinions and practising what she preached. Brontë, a visitor to the Taylor's home, Red House, described the family's company as 'one of the most rousing pleasures I have ever known'.
caption: Roe Head School in Mirfield
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