Richard Taylor (21 March 1805 – 10 October 1873) was a

Church Missionary Society The Church Mission Society (CMS), formerly known as the Church Missionary Society, is a British mission society working with the Christians around the world. Founded in 1799, CMS has attracted over nine thousand men and women to serve as mission ...

(CMS)

missionary A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group which is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Tho ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

. He was born on 21 March 1805 at

Letwell Letwell is a rural village and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Rotherham in South Yorkshire, England, on the border with Nottinghamshire. It lies between Dinnington, South Yorkshire, Dinnington and Langold, ...

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, one of four children of Richard Taylor and his wife, Catherine Spencer. He attended

Queens' College, Cambridge Queens' College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Queens' is one of the oldest colleges of the university, founded in 1448 by Margaret of Anjou. The college spans the River Cam, colloquially referred to as the "light s ...

and after graduating BA in 1828, he was ordained as a priest on 8 November 1829. In 1835, he was conferred MA and appointed a missionary in New Zealand for the CMS.

Church Missionary Society

He was present at the signing of the

Treaty of Waitangi The Treaty of Waitangi ( mi, Te Tiriti o Waitangi) is a document of central importance to the history, to the political constitution of the state, and to the national mythos of New Zealand. It has played a major role in the treatment of the M ...

on 6 February 1840. In 1840 he was appointed as head of the school at Te Waimate mission, then in 1842 posted to the CMS mission station at

Whanganui Whanganui (; ), also spelled Wanganui, is a city in the Manawatū-Whanganui region of New Zealand. The city is located on the west coast of the North Island at the mouth of the Whanganui River, New Zealand's longest navigable waterway. Whangan ...

. By 1844 the brick church built by the Revd John Mason was inadequate to meet the needs of the congregation and it had been damaged in an earthquake. A new church was built under the supervision of the Revd Richard Taylor with the timber supplied by each pā on the river in proportion to its size and number of Christians. His travels as a missionary extended into the

Taranaki Taranaki is a region in the west of New Zealand's North Island. It is named after its main geographical feature, the stratovolcano of Mount Taranaki, also known as Mount Egmont. The main centre is the city of New Plymouth. The New Plymouth Dist ...

and Taupo regions to the north of Whanganui. In March 1846 he hosted Governor

George Grey Sir George Grey, KCB (14 April 1812 – 19 September 1898) was a British soldier, explorer, colonial administrator and writer. He served in a succession of governing positions: Governor of South Australia, twice Governor of New Zealand, Go ...

when he visited Whanganui. In 1848, Taylor wrote ''A Leaf from the Natural History of New Zealand'' (1848). In 1849 he travelled back to Whanganui via Taupo from meeting of CMS missionaries in

Tauranga Tauranga () is a coastal city in the Bay of Plenty region and the fifth most populous city of New Zealand, with an urban population of , or roughly 3% of the national population. It was settled by Māori late in the 13th century, colonised by ...

. His missionary travels include travelling up the

Whanganui River The Whanganui River is a major river in the North Island of New Zealand. It is the country's third-longest river, and has special status owing to its importance to the region's Māori people. In March 2017 it became the world's second natura ...

to settlements such as

Pipiriki Pipiriki is a settlement in New Zealand, on the east bank of the Whanganui River, due west of the town of Raetihi and upriver from Whanganui; it was originally on the opposite bank. It is the home of Ngāti Kura, a hapū of the Ngāti Ruanui iwi ...

and to

Lake Rotoaira Lake Rotoaira (sometimes written ''Lake Roto-aira'') is a small lake to the south of Lake Taupō on the North Island Volcanic Plateau in New Zealand. It covers an area of 13 km². Lake Rotoaira is one of the few privately owned lakes in New Z ...

at the base of

Mount Tongariro Mount Tongariro (; ) is a compound volcano in the Taupō Volcanic Zone of the North Island of New Zealand. It is located to the southwest of Lake Taupō, and is the northernmost of the three active volcanoes that dominate the landscape of the ...

. He named settlements along the Whanganui River Ātene (Athens), Koriniti (Corinth), Hiruhārama (

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

) and Rānana (London) and the

Wanganui Whanganui (; ), also spelled Wanganui, is a city in the Manawatū-Whanganui region of New Zealand. The city is located on the west coast of the North Island at the mouth of the Whanganui River, New Zealand's longest navigable waterway. Whangan ...

suburb of Taylorville is named after him. After his death on 19 October 1873, his son, the Revd Basil Kirke Taylor, took over the Whanganui mission. He wrote numerous books about the natural and cultural environment of New Zealand in his time.

Gallery

File:-Butterflies- (48753093116).jpg, Illustrations of

Apollo Apollo, grc, Ἀπόλλωνος, Apóllōnos, label=genitive , ; , grc-dor, Ἀπέλλων, Apéllōn, ; grc, Ἀπείλων, Apeílōn, label=Arcadocypriot Greek, ; grc-aeo, Ἄπλουν, Áploun, la, Apollō, la, Apollinis, label= ...

Polygonia c-album ''Polygonia c-album'', the comma, is a food generalist ( polyphagous) butterfly species belonging to the family Nymphalidae. The angular notches on the edges of the forewings are characteristic of the genus ''Polygonia'', which is why species i ...

and a

Swallowtail butterfly Swallowtail butterflies are large, colorful butterflies in the family Papilionidae, and include over 550 species. Though the majority are tropical, members of the family inhabit every continent except Antarctica. The family includes the large ...

File:489 of 'Te Ika a Maui, or, New Zealand and its inhabitants, etc' (11046158666).jpg, Plate 1 of ''Te Ika a Maui''. File:Dactylanthus taylorii01.jpg, ''

Dactylanthus taylorii ''Dactylanthus taylorii'', commonly known in English as wood rose and in Māori as te pua o te rēinga, is a fully parasitic flowering plant, the only one endemic to New Zealand. The host tree responds to the presence of ''Dactylanthus'' by form ...

'' named after its discoverer, Richard Taylor. File:George Sherriff - Untitled (Procession with Rev Richard Taylor, Hoani Wiremu Hipango and his family walking by the third Putiki Mission Station church) - Sarjeant Gallery.jpg, The Rev Richard Taylor with

Hoani Wiremu Hīpango Hoani Wiremu Hīpango ( 1820 – 25 February 1865) was a Māori tribal leader, teacher and assessor of the Whanganui River area of New Zealand. He was a leader of Ngāti Tumango, of the Te Āti Haunui-a-Pāpārangi iwi. He converted to Christianit ...

and family walking by the third Putiki Mission church.
Artist: George Sherriff

Works

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Taylor, Richard (missionary) 1805 births 1873 deaths Clergy from Yorkshire Alumni of Queens' College, Cambridge English Anglican missionaries Anglican missionaries in New Zealand 19th-century New Zealand Anglican priests Treaty of Waitangi Signatories of the Treaty of Waitangi Missionary botanists Botanists active in New Zealand New Zealand naturalists

Church Missionary Society

Gallery

Works

Further reading

References