Joseph Taylor (c. 1693–1746) was a British politician who sat in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...

from 1739 to 1741. Taylor was the only son of Captain Joseph Taylor, RN of Plymouth, Devon and his wife Mary. He matriculated at

Exeter College, Oxford Exeter College (in full: The Rector and Scholars of Exeter College in the University of Oxford) is one of the Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England and the fourth-oldest college of the un ...

on 24 October 1710, aged 17; and was admitted at

Middle Temple The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's Inn an ...

in 1712. He married Rebecca Whitrow, daughter of John Whitrow of Dartmouth and his wife Mary Reynell, daughter of

Thomas Reynell Thomas Reynell (13 September 1625 – 1698) of East Ogwell, Devon, was an English lawyer and politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1654 and 1689. Reynell was the eldest son of Sir Richard Reynell of East Ogwell, ...

, MP on 16 August 1726. In. 1733, he succeeded his father At the 1734 general election Taylor stood for Parliament at Ashburton with his wife's uncle, Richard Reynell who had represented the seat continuously since 1711, but they were both unsuccessful. Reynell died in 1735, and instructed that his estates be sold for the benefit of his niece who was Taylor's wife. Taylor, in fact, in the following year purchased these estates, which under the terms of his marriage settlement he was then required to settle on his wife and eldest son. Taylor was returned unopposed as

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

for Ashburton at a by-election on 16 April 1739. As an anti-ministerial Whig, he was among those MPs who withdrew from the House before the vote on the motion for Walpole's dismissal in February 1741. He did not stand at the

1741 general election The 1741 British general election returned members to serve in the House of Commons of the 9th Parliament of Great Britain to be summoned, after the merger of the Parliament of England and the Parliament of Scotland in 1707. The election saw suppo ...

. Taylor died on 6 May 1746, leaving two sons and a daughter.

References

. {{DEFAULTSORT:Taylor, Joseph 1690s births 1746 deaths Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for Ashburton British MPs 1734–1741