Lieutenant-General Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a three-star military rank (NATO code OF-8) used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the ...

Sir Herbert Taylor (29 September 1775 – 20 March 1839) was the first Private Secretary to the Sovereign of the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

, serving

George III George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of the two kingdoms on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great Br ...

George IV George IV (George Augustus Frederick; 12 August 1762 – 26 June 1830) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and King of Hanover from the death of his father, King George III, on 29 January 1820, until his own death ten y ...

, and

William IV William IV (William Henry; 21 August 1765 – 20 June 1837) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and King of Hanover from 26 June 1830 until his death in 1837. The third son of George III, William succeeded h ...

Military career

Taylor was the son of Rev. Edward Taylor of Bifrons,

Patrixbourne Patrixbourne is a rural English village south-east of Canterbury in Kent. It is mostly taken up by agricultural hills and along with almost contiguous Bekesbourne to the north it makes up the civil parish of Bekesbourne-with-Patrixbourne in the ...

, Kent and his wife Margaret PaylerJohn Burke ''A genealogical and heraldic history of the commoners of Great Britain Volume 3''
/ref> daughter of Thomas Turner Payler of Ileden, who died at Brussels in 1780.''Parishes: Patrixborne'', The History and Topographical Survey of the County of Kent: Volume 9 (1800), pp. 277–286. Date accessed: 24 November 2010
/ref> The diplomat Sir Brook Taylor was his younger brother. He joined the 2nd Dragoon Guards as a

cornet The cornet (, ) is a brass instrument similar to the trumpet but distinguished from it by its conical bore, more compact shape, and mellower tone quality. The most common cornet is a transposing instrument in B, though there is also a sopr ...

in 1794.Herbert Taylor at Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
/ref> Later that year he was promoted to lieutenant and then the following year to captain. In 1795 he served as assistant secretary and aide de camp to the Duke of York, then commander-in-chief of the British Army. Taylor was later the Duke of York's assistant military secretary, an office he held until 1798. He was later a Major. In 1798 he was made Aide de Camp, Military Secretary and

Private Secretary A private secretary (PS) is a civil servant in a governmental department or ministry, responsible to a secretary of state or minister; or a public servant in a royal household, responsible to a member of the royal family. The role exists in ...

to the

Marquess Cornwallis Earl Cornwallis was a title in the Peerage of Great Britain. It was created in 1753 for Charles Cornwallis, 5th Baron Cornwallis. The second Earl was created Marquess Cornwallis but this title became extinct in 1823, while the earldom and its ...

Lord Lieutenant of Ireland Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (), or more formally Lieutenant General and General Governor of Ireland, was the title of the chief governor of Ireland from the Williamite Wars of 1690 until the Partition of Ireland in 1922. This spanned the Kingdo ...

. In the following year he returned to the Duke of York's service and remained there until 1805, although he was transferred to the

9th West Indian Regiment 9 (nine) is the natural number following and preceding . Evolution of the Arabic digit In the beginning, various Indians wrote a digit 9 similar in shape to the modern closing question mark without the bottom dot. The Kshatrapa, Andhra and ...

as a

lieutenant-colonel Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colonel. ...

in 1801. However, in the following year, with a period of relative calm in the midst of the

Napoleonic Wars The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fren ...

, he was placed on half pay. In that year he joined the

Coldstream Guards The Coldstream Guards is the oldest continuously serving regular regiment in the British Army. As part of the Household Division, one of its principal roles is the protection of the monarchy; due to this, it often participates in state ceremonia ...

, in which he became a brevet colonel in 1810. In 1805 he became private secretary to

King George III George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of the two kingdoms on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great Br ...

, and then, from 1811 private secretary to

Queen Charlotte Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (Sophia Charlotte; 19 May 1744 – 17 November 1818) was Queen of Great Britain and of Ireland as the wife of King George III from their marriage on 8 September 1761 until the union of the two kingdoms ...

, the queen consort. He retained that office until 1818. Taylor commanded a brigade at

Antwerp Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504,

1813–1814, and was sent on a diplomatic mission to Bernadotte of Sweden in 1814. He was Member of Parliament ( MP) for

Windsor Windsor may refer to: Places Australia * Windsor, New South Wales ** Municipality of Windsor, a former local government area * Windsor, Queensland, a suburb of Brisbane, Queensland **Shire of Windsor, a former local government authority around Wi ...

1820–23. From 1820 to 1827 he was Ambassador to Berlin and then Military Secretary, having become colonel for life of the 85th Foot Regiment in 1823. He was first and principal aide de camp to

King George IV George IV (George Augustus Frederick; 12 August 1762 – 26 June 1830) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and King of Hanover from the death of his father, King George III, on 29 January 1820, until his own death ten y ...

in 1827, and also deputy

Secretary at War The Secretary at War was a political position in the English and later British government, with some responsibility over the administration and organization of the Army, but not over military policy. The Secretary at War ran the War Office. Afte ...

. From 1828 to 1830 he was

Adjutant-General to the Forces The Adjutant-General to the Forces, commonly just referred to as the Adjutant-General (AG), was for just over 250 years one of the most senior officers in the British Army. The AG was latterly responsible for developing the Army's personnel polic ...

. He became private secretary to the new king,

, in 1830. On the death of the king in 1837 he retired, although he was first and principal aide de camp to

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 21 ...

1837–39. Taylor became a

Major-General Major general (abbreviated MG, maj. gen. and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. The disappearance of the "sergeant" in the title explains the apparent confusion of a ...

in 1813, and a

in 1825. He was Master of St Katherine's Hospital,

Regent's Park Regent's Park (officially The Regent's Park) is one of the Royal Parks of London. It occupies of high ground in north-west Inner London, administratively split between the City of Westminster and the Borough of Camden (and historically betwee ...

, and Master Surveyor and

Surveyor-General of the Ordnance The Surveyor-General of the Ordnance was a subordinate of the Master-General of the Ordnance and a member of the Board of Ordnance, a British government body, from its constitution in 1597. Appointments to the post were made by the crown under L ...

from 1828. He died in 1839. The monument to him at St. Katherine's is by the sculptor Peter Rouw.

References

, - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Taylor, Herbert 1775 births 1839 deaths British Army generals Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath UK MPs 1820–1826 2nd Dragoon Guards (Queen's Bays) officers Coldstream Guards officers Private Secretaries to the Sovereign Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom