William Henry Taylor (born 23 December 1956) was the last provost (and first

dean Dean may refer to: People * Dean (given name) * Dean (surname), a surname of Anglo-Saxon English origin * Dean (South Korean singer), a stage name for singer Kwon Hyuk * Dean Delannoit, a Belgian singer most known by the mononym Dean Titles * ...

) of

Portsmouth Cathedral The Cathedral Church of St Thomas of Canterbury, commonly known as Portsmouth Cathedral, is an Anglican cathedral church in the centre of Old Portsmouth in Portsmouth, England. It is the cathedral of the Diocese of Portsmouth and the seat of ...

. He was educated at the

University of Kent , motto_lang = , mottoeng = Literal translation: 'Whom to serve is to reign'(Book of Common Prayer translation: 'whose service is perfect freedom')Graham Martin, ''From Vision to Reality: the Making of the University of Kent at Canterbury'' ...

, Tübingen, Lancaster and London, from where he was awarded a PhD (SOAS) in Ottoman Syriac Studies. He was

ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the denominational hierarchy composed of other clergy) to perform va ...

in 1984 and began his career as

Assistant Curate A curate () is a person who is invested with the ''care'' or ''cure'' (''cura'') ''of souls'' of a parish. In this sense, "curate" means a parish priest; but in English-speaking countries the term ''curate'' is commonly used to describe clergy w ...

at All Saints,

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, situated in the heart of the City of Canterbury local government district of Kent, England. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour. ...

. After this he was the

Archbishop of Canterbury The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. The current archbishop is Justi ...

Advisor An adviser or advisor is normally a person with more and deeper knowledge in a specific area and usually also includes persons with cross-functional and multidisciplinary expertise. An adviser's role is that of a mentor or guide and differs categor ...

on Orthodox Affairs at

Lambeth Palace Lambeth Palace is the official London residence of the Archbishop of Canterbury. It is situated in north Lambeth, London, on the south bank of the River Thames, south-east of the Palace of Westminster, which houses Parliament, on the opposite ...

and then senior curate at

All Saints, Margaret Street All Saints, Margaret Street, is a Grade I listed Anglo-Catholic church in London. The church was designed by the architect William Butterfield and built between 1850 and 1859. It has been hailed as Butterfield's masterpiece and a pioneering buil ...

, Westminster. He was CMS chaplain in

Jordan Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...

from 1988-91, and then

Vicar A vicar (; Latin: ''vicarius'') is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior (compare "vicarious" in the sense of "at second hand"). Linguistically, ''vicar'' is cognate with the English pref ...

St Peter's Church, Ealing St Peter's Church, Ealing, is an Anglican parish church in Mount Park Road, North Ealing, in the Diocese of London, regarded by Sir John Betjeman as being amongst "the noblest churches we possess". Held to be one of the premier architectural ...

, and Area Dean of Ealing, 1993-98. From 2000-02 he was provost (subsequently dean) of

. He resigned after two years following a dispute with the then Bishop.Taylor forced to quit as dean of Portsmouth Cathedral over job deception
''Lancashire Telegraph'', 5 April 2002. Since 2002, he has been Vicar of St John's, Notting Hill, and Chairman of the

Anglican and Eastern Churches Association The Anglican and Eastern Churches Association is a religious organisation founded as the Eastern Church Association in 1864 by John Mason Neale and others and of which Athelstan Riley was a leading member. The purpose for which it was founded is to ...

. He edited, together with the Roman Catholic priest, Father Michael Prior (1942-2004), ''Christians in the Holy Land'' (1994), and is the author of ''Antioch and Canterbury'' (Gorgias Press, 2005). He is a director of Jerusalem and the Middle East Church Association (JMECA) and a Freeman of the City of London.

Notes

1956 births Alumni of the University of Kent Provosts and Deans of Portsmouth Living people {{ChurchofEngland-dean-stub