Alexander Burt Taylor, (6 June 1904 – 13 March 1972) was a Scottish civil servant and author who served as the

Registrar General for Scotland The General Register Office for Scotland (GROS) ( gd, Oifis Choitcheann a' Chlàraidh na h-Alba) was a non-ministerial directorate of the Scottish Government that administered the registration of births, deaths, marriages, divorces and adoptions ...

Life

Alexander Burt Taylor was born 6 June 1904 at

Earlston Earlston ( sco, Yerlston; gd, Dùn Airchill) is a civil parish and market town in the county of Berwickshire, within the Scottish Borders. It is on the River Leader in Lauderdale, Scotland. Early history Earlston was originally called ''Arc ...

, Berwickshire, Scotland, the son of Rev A. B. Taylor of the

United Free Church of Scotland The United Free Church of Scotland (UF Church; gd, An Eaglais Shaor Aonaichte, sco, The Unitit Free Kirk o Scotland) is a Scottish Presbyterian denomination formed in 1900 by the union of the United Presbyterian Church of Scotland (or UP) and ...

. Following schooling at the

Hamilton Academy Hamilton Academy was a school in Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, Scotland. The school was described as "one of the finest schools in Scotland" in the Cambridge University Press County Biography of 1910, and was featured in a 1950 Scottish Seconda ...

his father moved to the Paterson United Free Church in

Kirkwall Kirkwall ( sco, Kirkwaa, gd, Bàgh na h-Eaglaise, nrn, Kirkavå) is the largest town in Orkney, an archipelago to the north of mainland Scotland. The name Kirkwall comes from the Norse name (''Church Bay''), which later changed to ''Kirkv ...

Orkney Orkney (; sco, Orkney; on, Orkneyjar; nrn, Orknøjar), also known as the Orkney Islands, is an archipelago in the Northern Isles of Scotland, situated off the north coast of the island of Great Britain. Orkney is 10 miles (16 km) north ...

in 1919, so he completed his schooling at

Kirkwall Grammar School Kirkwall Grammar School is a secondary school in Kirkwall, Orkney, Scotland. It was established in . The current school building was opened in 2014. History Kirkwall Grammar School was established in 1200 when Bishop Bjarni established a cathed ...

. Taylor matriculated at the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...

and graduated MA in 1925. He taught at schools in

Stirling Stirling (; sco, Stirlin; gd, Sruighlea ) is a city in central Scotland, northeast of Glasgow and north-west of Edinburgh. The market town, surrounded by rich farmland, grew up connecting the royal citadel, the medieval old town with its me ...

and

Falkirk Falkirk ( gd, An Eaglais Bhreac, sco, Fawkirk) is a large town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland, historically within the county of Stirlingshire. It lies in the Forth Valley, northwest of Edinburgh and northeast of Glasgow. Falkirk had a ...

in Scotland, then at

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

, New York.Archives Hub, University of Manchester. Papers of Dr. Alexander Burt Taylor
. Retrieved 2011-04-16 In 1933 he became a School Inspector for the

Scottish Education Department The Scottish Government Education Directorates were a group of the civil service directorates in the Scottish Government. The Directorates were titled Children, Young People and Social Care; Schools; and Lifelong Learning. They were responsible ...

, a branch of the Scottish Civil Service. New Register House

At the beginning of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

he was seconded to the Scottish Department of Health and in 1947 was promoted to Assistant Secretary. In 1959 Taylor was appointed

Registrar-General General Register Office or General Registry Office (GRO) is the name given to the civil registry in the United Kingdom, many other Commonwealth nations and Ireland. The GRO is the government agency responsible for the recording of vital record ...

of Births, Deaths and Marriages for Scotland, a post he held until his retirement in 1966. During his term of office he was responsible for the administration of two censuses, the Scottish full census of 1961 and the ten per cent sample in 1966. In 1961 Taylor was invested

Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

and elected a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Edinburgh The Royal Society of Edinburgh is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was established i ...

on 6 March of that year. His proposers were

James Norman Davidson James Norman Davidson CBE PRSE FRS (5 March 1911 – 11 September 1972) was a British biochemist, pioneer molecular biologist and textbook author. The Davidson Building at the University of Glasgow is named for him. Life He was the only child o ...

John Ronald Peddie Sir John Ronald Peddie FRSE FEIS LLD DLitt (1887–1979) was a 20th-century Scottish educational administrator and author. He was both Secretary and Treasurer of the Carnegie Trust for Scotland. Life He was born on 5 January 1887 the son of R ...

, Sir

Michael Swann Michael Meredith Swann, Baron Swann, FRS, FRSE (1 March 1920 – 22 September 1990) was a British molecular and cell biologist. He was appointed chairman of the BBC, awarded a knighthood and subsequently a life peerage. Early life Swann was b ...

Norman Feather Norman Feather FRS FRSE PRSE (16 November 1904 – 14 August 1978), was an English nuclear physicist. Feather and Egon Bretscher were working at the Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge in 1940, when they proposed that the 239 isotope of element 9 ...

, George Montgomery, and

John McQueen Johnston John McQueen Johnston FRSE CBE FRCPE FRCSE LLD (1901–1987) was a Scottish physician and pharmacologist. He served as the Principal Medical Officer for the Department of Health in Scotland until 1968. History He was born in Falkirk in central Sc ...

. He was succeeded in his role as Registrar General in 1955 by

James Allan Ford James Allan Ford CB MC (10 June 1920 – 30 March 2009) was a Scottish writer, soldier and senior civil servant. Born in Auchtermuchty, Fife, Ford was brought up in Edinburgh and educated at the Royal High School. In 1938 he entered the civil ...

. He died at 35

Balgreen Balgreen ( or ) (Scottish Gaelic: ''Baile Griain)'' is a suburb of Edinburgh, located approximately two miles west of the city centre, most commonly known for its primary school, Balgreen Primary. It is located to the west of Murrayfield ...

Road, a modest semi-detached house in western Edinburgh on 13 March 1972.

Publications

Taylor was also a Scandinavian

philologist Philology () is the study of language in oral and written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defined as th ...

and author of a translation of ''The Orkneying Saga: A new translation with introduction and notes (1938)'', and ''British and Irish place-names in Old Norse literature (1953)''. He was awarded the degree of

Doctor of Letters Doctor of Letters (D.Litt., Litt.D., Latin: ' or ') is a terminal degree in the humanities that, depending on the country, is a higher doctorate after the Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) degree or equivalent to a higher doctorate, such as the Doctor ...

by the

. Taylor died on 13 March 1972 at the age of 67.

Family

He married twice: firstly to Jean Allardyce, and, following Jean's death in 1959, he married Elizabeth.

References

External links

General Register Office for Scotland
{{DEFAULTSORT:Taylor, Alexander Burt 1904 births 1972 deaths Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Old Norse studies scholars People educated at Hamilton Academy People from Berwickshire Scandinavian studies scholars Scottish civil servants Scottish philologists Scottish schoolteachers