Jefferys Taylor was a member of a dynasty of writers and artists who flourished in the first half of the 19th century. He was born on 30 October 1792 and died on 8 October 1853

Life and work

Jefferys Taylor was the youngest son of

Isaac Taylor Isaac Taylor (17 August 1787 – 28 June 1865) was an English philosophical and historical writer, artist, and inventor. Life He was the eldest surviving son of Isaac Taylor of Ongar. He was born at Lavenham, Suffolk, on 17 August 1787, and m ...

by his wife, Ann Martin, and was born at

Lavenham Lavenham is a village, civil parish and electoral ward in the Babergh district, in the county of Suffolk, England. It is noted for its Guildhall, Little Hall, 15th-century church, half-timbered medieval cottages and circular walks. In the medie ...

. Soon after his birth, he was pictured as a nursling in his mother's arms in the background of his father's painting of the family, now in the

National Portrait Gallery, London The National Portrait Gallery (NPG) is an art gallery in London housing a collection of portraits of historically important and famous British people. It was arguably the first national public gallery dedicated to portraits in the world when it ...

. He was educated under his father as an engraver and apprenticed at Lavenham. Possessed of considerable ingenuity, he eventually profited from the invention of a machine for engraving parallel lines. Many of his brothers and sisters became writers, and Jefferys followed them, particularly as a children's author. His subjects were varied and distinguished by humour and fancy. His first novel, ''Harry's Holiday or the doings of one who had nothing to do'' (London, 1818), went through several editions. Two centuries on, its unsentimental view of childhood has been perceived as a forerunner of ''

Lord of the Flies ''Lord of the Flies'' is a 1954 novel by the Nobel Prize-winning British author William Golding. The plot concerns a group of British boys who are stranded on an uninhabited island and their disastrous attempts to govern themselves. Themes i ...

''. His next publication was self-illustrated and in verse, ''Æsop in Rhyme, with some originals'' (London, 1820), and also saw many editions. Other books were deliberately educational and included ''The Little Historians: a new Chronicle of the affairs of England in church and state'' in three volumes (London 1824); ''Parlour Commentaries on the Constitution and Laws of England'' (London, 1825); ''The Forest, or rambles in the woodland'' (London, 1831); and ''The Farm, a new account of rural toils and produce'' (London, 1832). Some of these also carried his own illustrations and were published in the U.S. as well. On 20 June, 1826, Jefferys married Sophia Mabbs, by whom he had a son, Edward, who died young. He himself died at

Broadstairs Broadstairs is a coastal town on the Isle of Thanet in the Thanet district of east Kent, England, about east of London. It is part of the civil parish of Broadstairs and St Peter's, which includes St Peter's, and had a population in 2011 of ...

as the result of a stroke on 8 October, 1853.''The Gentleman’s Magazine''
October 1853, p.424
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Taylor, Jefferys 1792 births 1853 deaths English engravers 19th-century English writers Children's poets English children's writers People from Lavenham