Henry Taylor

Sir Henry Taylor KCMG (1800 –1886) was an English dramatist and poet, Colonial Office official, and man of letters.

Taylor was highly esteemed as a poet and dramatist. Modern literary historians, however, tend to overlook Taylor's accomplishments in verse and drama and emphasize his importance as a literary critic, pointing out that he was a strong advocate for stylistic simplicity, subject matter rooted in common life, and intellectual discipline in poetic composition, placing special importance on clear and reasoned structure.

Sir Henry Taylor as Rembrandt. By Julia Margaret Cameron

Taylor published his Autobiography in 1885, which contains portraits of Wordsworth, Southey, Tennyson and Walter Scott. In it, on his own account, he gave Richard Whately's opinion of him as a "resuscitated Bacon", who had better things to do than write verse (which could be left to women).