George Watson-Taylor

George Watson-Taylor (1771–1841), of Cavendish Square, Middlesex and Erlestoke Park, near Devizes, Wiltshire, was an English sugar plantation owner and politician.

Early life and education

He was the fourth son of George Watson of Saul's River, Jamaica and was educated at Lincoln's Inn from 1788 and St. Mary Hall, Oxford from 1791.[1]

Political career

He was a Member (MP) for Newport, Isle of Wight 15 April 1816 – 1818, Seaford 1818–1820, East Looe 1820 – 23 February 1826 and for Devizes 1 March 1826 – 1832.[2] On arrival in the House of Commons he was immediately elected to the standing committee of the Society of West India Planters and Merchants.[3]

He began his career as a member of the committee of West India planters and merchants, and opposed the abolition of slavery.[4] When the slaves were emancipated in the 1830s, he received compensation to the tune of over £20,000 for over 1,000 slaves in Jamaica.[5]

He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1826.[6]

Marriage into the Taylor family

In 1810, Watson married Anna Susanna, daughter of Sir John Taylor, 1st Baronet of Lysson Hall, Jamaica,[2] and thus gained considerable wealth from the Jamaican sugar cane plantations of Sir John's brother Simon Taylor (d.1813).[3] He was granted the additional surname of Taylor by royal licence of 19 June 1815, following the death earlier that year of Sir Simon Richard Brissett Taylor, 2nd Baronet, whom his wife (as eldest niece) had succeeded.[7]

The inheritance made George and his wife as wealthy as practically anyone outside of the Royal Family and the aristocracy. The couple bought a large landed estate in Wiltshire for £200,000, and a house in London which they renovated, the total cost coming to £68,000. This wealth allowed them to socialise with King William IV, and to host the future Queen Victoria.[8]

Death

Despite inheriting great wealth from his wife's family, Watson was a spendthrift. He failed to live within his means, and by 1832 he was heavily in debt, and was compelled to auction off his personal property, having squandered much of the family fortune.[9] He died in financial difficulties in Edinburgh in 1841, his estates at Erlestoke and in Jamaica having passed to his wife. His son Simon Watson-Taylor was also briefly a member of parliament for Devizes.

References
  1. "George Watson Taylor (1771-1841)". A Web of English History. Retrieved 14 January 2017.
  2. "WATSON TAYLOR, George". History of Parliament. Retrieved 16 December 2016.
  3. Ide, Isabel (2000). ""A Very Pretty Seat": Erlestoke Park, 1780-1999". Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Magazine. 93: 9–19. Retrieved 16 December 2016.
  4. Petley, White Fury, p. 214.
  5. University College London, Legacies of British Slave-Ownership https://www.ucl.ac.uk/lbs/person/view/-1221895888 Retrieved 1 September 2020.
  6. "Fellows Details". Royal Society. Retrieved 14 January 2017.
  7. "No. 17029". The London Gazette. 24 June 1815. p. 1220.
  8. Christer Petley, White Fury: A Jamaican Slaveholder and the Age of Revolution (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2018), p. 214.
  9. Petley, White Fury, p. 214.


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