Family background Tayler was born in
Devizes, Wiltshire, the youngest son of Samuel Tayler and Sally Needham. His father was a senior member of the
Corporation of Devizes, served six times as
Mayor, and also formed and commanded the Devizes
Loyal Volunteers. and the niece of Henry Needham, a co-partner with his uncle, Robert Rogers, in the bank of
Child & Co. His eldest brother, also Samuel, was a lieutenant in the
13th Light Dragoons, and was killed in Portugal; another brother, Thomas, was a major in the
Bengal 9th Native Infantry, and died in India. and on 31 March captured the
Lightning. In early May 1813,
Sir George Collier commander of the British squadron operating on the north coast of Spain, sent the
brig-sloops , Commander Robert Bloye; , Commander
Gordon Bremer, and
Sparrow, Commander Tayler, to assist the Spanish at the town of
Castro Urdiales, which was under siege from a force of 13,000 French troops. The British ships arrived there on 4 May, landing guns and manning batteries for the defence of the town, whose
garrison numbered no more than 1,200. Tayler used an improved gunsight, of his own design, which combined
elevation and line of sight in one focus, and enabled him to fire shells with such precision that two out of every three burst in the French batteries. Tayler's persistence and evident expertise eventually led to his final naval appointment, to the ship , where between July 1838 and August 1841 he established a naval gunnery school. with seniority dating from 1 October.
Inventions Tayler was also an inventor and innovator. During the siege of Copenhagen in 1807 he improvised a new means of landing the ship's guns from boats, and also a gun carriage. In 1808 he devised an improved compass mounting.
Innovations in naval gunnery Tayler was a regular correspondent with the Admiralty on the subject of his innovations in naval gunnery. In February 1815 he wrote concerning his improved gun-sight, which he had used with great effect during the defence of Castro Urdiales, and was informed that his
"plans had been laid before the Board". In February 1822, he wrote again pointing out that Colonel
Howard Douglas' work on naval gunnery, published in 1817, contained a design for new gun-sight that was very similar to his own, which he had used in 1812. In reply the Admiralty pointed out that Douglas' book
"was not under the sanction of the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty." In January 1824 Tayler wrote to the Admiralty again this time with a model of an improved naval gun-carriage, which allowed all the guns of a broadside to be concentrated on a single point, and in January 1828 another with a design for an improved
bomb vessel. In September 1829 he drew their attention to his various inventions, again offering to demonstrate them at his own expense. In December 1830 he wrote requesting acknowledgement as the inventor of the system of directing a broadside to a single point, following the demonstration of a similar system devised by a Mr. Kennish aboard . In January 1831 he reminded the Admiralty that he was asking for recognition not money, and in November the same year wrote
"with some surprise and great regret", that a Captain Smith of the Royal Artillery was now being credited with the invention of a means of concentrating a ship's broadside to a single point. In February 1832 Tayler submitted another design and model for a traversing gun-carriage, which required half the number of men to work, and did away with the handspike, tackles, and crowbar used to train the gun. In reply he was informed that
"their Lordships could not order any trial of his improved gun-carriage to be made at the expense of Government", to which he replied offering a trial at his own expense at Portsmouth. After this offer was again turned down, Tayler abandoned his correspondence with the Admiralty on the subject. His gun-carriage model was donated to the
United Service Museum. He was also a founder member of the Devizes Literary and Scientific Institution in 1833,
Death During the later part of his life Tayler resided in
Brixton,
South London, and died there on 18 March 1864. ==References==