Richard Chambre Hayes Taylor was born in Dublin on 19 March 1819. He had parents well connected to the gentry, his father being the Hon. and Rev Henry Edward Taylor the 5th son of the Earl of Bective, and his mother was Marianne, granddaughter of Viscount Doneraile. Richard entered the 79th as an ensign on 11 Dec 1835, progressing as lieutenant on 29 Mar 1839, captain on 23 Aug 1844, major on 8 Aug 1854 and lieutenant-colonel on 12 Dec 1854. He served in Burma on secondment to the Royal Irish regiment, then the Crimean War with the 79th, and was put in temporary command of the regiment from Feb to Nov 1858, during the Indian Mutiny. From November 1858 he commanded a brigade in Oude, until Jan 1859. His official command of the 79th began on 1 Aug 1857 and he relinquished command on 14 April 1859.
In Britain he was a staff officer, promoted to major-general on 6 Mar 1868, lieutenant-general on 23 Aug 1877 and full general on 30 Jan 1880. He was Deputy Adjutant-General in 1876 and Adjutant-General in Wolseley’s absence in 1882. His last job was as governor of RMC Sandhurst from Jan 1883 to 1886. On 9 Sep 1887 he was appointed Colonel of the 79th Cameron Highlanders, his old regiment. In 1902 he was invested a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath (GCB).
When he was serving in India in 1859 he met the Rev. James Aberigh Mackay who wrote From London to Lucknow (1860) A quote from the book: “Colonel Taylor of the 79th, one of the most agreeable men in the army…”
On 9 June 1863, Colonel Taylor married Lady Jane Hay, daughter of Field Marshal the Marquess of Tweeddale. Her brothers included a Marquess, an Admiral of the Fleet and an MP. They had a son and four daughters. They lived at 16 Eaton Place, Westminster but Taylor also owned 1,300 acres of land in County Meath. Sir Richard died on 6 Dec 1904.
