Identity:

Peter Taylor was an MP, Unitarian and social reformer, and a partner in Courtauld & Taylor, silk manufacturers. He was the brother-in-law of James Stansfield M.P. for Halifax and related to Emilie Venturi (d. 1893), née Ashurst, wife (1) of Sydney Hawkes, and (2) Carlo Venturi [more].

Life:

In 1849 Taylor joined his father in Courtauld & Taylor as a partner. However he eventually abandoned business for politics and in 1860 was elected a Radical MP for Leicester. With John Stuart Mill and Henry Fawcett, Taylor was a keen supporter of universal suffrage and had as a young man been involved with Giuseppi Mazzini's People's International League and its campaign for universal suffrage. His wife Clementia Taylor was also an active suffragist and philanthropist. He published many speeches - on censorship, the opening of public museums and on vaccination and was proprietor of the Examiner newspaper. He served as an MP until his resignation in 1884.

The Taylors owned works by JW including Symphony in Grey and Green: The Ocean (YMSM 72) and The Lily (M.364).

Bibliography:

Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford, 2004; Crawford, E., Enterprising Women. The Garretts and their Circle, London 2000.