Thomas Edward Taylor

: "For the New Zealand politician see" T. E. TaylorThomas Edward Taylor (March 17, 1811 – February 3, 1883), was a British Conservative Party politician.

Taylor was the eldest son of Reverend Edward Taylor, fourth son of Thomas Taylor, 1st Earl of Bective (whose eldest son was created Marquess of Headfort in 1800). His mother was Marianne St Leger, daughter of Hon. Richard St Leger. He was educated at Eton and commissioned into the 6th Dragoon Guards in 1829. He was promoted Lieutenant in 1831 and Captain in 1838, but retired from the army in 1846.

In 1841 he was elected Member of Parliament for Dublin County, a seat he would hold for the rest of his life. Taylor was an Opposition Whip from 1855 to 1858, and then served as a Lord of the Treasury (Government Whip) from 1858 to 1859 in the second administration of the Earl of Derby. When the Conservatives returned to power in 1866, Derby appointed Taylor Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury, a post he held until 1868. He then served briefly under Benjamin Disraeli as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster from November to December 1868. The latter year he was also admitted to the Privy Council. In the 1874 General Election Taylor decisively defeated Charles Stewart Parnell, and was again appointed Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster by Disraeli, which he remained until the Conservatives fell from power in 1880.

In 1862 Taylor married Louisa Tollemache, daughter of Hugh Francis Tollemache. They had five children, three sons and two daughters. Taylor died on February 3, 1883, aged 71.

ee also

*Marquess of Headfort
*Baron Langford