Dan Taylor

Taylor, Dan (1738-1816). The following account is taken from W. E. Blomfield, “Yorkshire Baptist Churches in the 17th and 18th Centuries,” in C. E. Shipley, ed., The Baptists of Yorkshire: Being the Centenary Memorial Volume of the Yorkshire Baptist Association (Bradford and London: [n.d.], 1912), 104-197; Frank Beckwith, “Dan Taylor (1738-1816) and Yorkshire Baptist Life,” Baptist Quarterly 9 (1938-1939), 297-305; Frank Rinaldi, The “Tribe of Dan”:  A Study of the New Connexion of General Baptists 1770-1891 (Winona Lake: Paternoster, 2006).

Taylor grew up in a small Yorkshire village, hearing the likes of William Grimshaw of Haworth, George Whitefield, and John Wesley as a boy, and consequently adopted Methodism. In the 1760s he became a Baptist, but because he still held Arminian views, he could not find a home among the Particular Baptist congregations of Yorkshire and was baptized at Gamston General Baptist Church, Nottinghamshire. He eventually formed his own General Baptist congregation at Wadsworth, near Birchcliffe, late in 1762. Appalled at the lack of evangelical fervor and orthodox beliefs among so many of the General Baptists, Taylor was instrumental in forming the “New Connection” in 1770. He served as chairman of this group repeatedly and as president of its academy from 1798 to 1812, as well as editor of the General Baptist Magazine from 1798 to 1800. He removed to Halifax in 1783 and then to the General Baptist congregation at Church Lane, White Chapel, London, in 1785. Along with his pastoral and teaching duties, Taylor also operated a bookshop in White Chapel for many years. A tireless itinerant preacher and voluminous writer, Taylor fought continually against the Arian, Socinian, and Unitarian influences within the General Baptist churches of his day.  Though he disagreed with their Calvinism, Taylor was on good terms with many Particular Baptists, especially John Sutcliff. A collection of letters between Taylor and George Birley, composed between 1771 and 1808, can be found at the Angus Library, Regent’s Park College, Oxford (D/Hus 1/6).

 After preaching for a while as a Methodist, Taylor came to certain disagreements with the movement over matters of church polity and doctrine, and in 1762 he began a work in Wadsworth among some likeminded former Wesleyans.  He remained an Arminian, but upon seeking baptism by immersion he found that none of the Yorkshire Baptists would baptize him, so he walked to Lincolnshire and was baptized at Gamston.  He returned and formed the first General Baptist church in Yorkshire (Blomfield 104).  Almost immediately he began a school at Wadsworth too, where Sutcliff would eventually work.  In 1764 a meetinghouse was erected in Birchcliffe, Hebden Bridge.  In 1769 Taylor joined with the Leicestershire churches in seceding from the General Baptist Association over the growing inroads of Socinianism.  This led to the formation of the “New Connexion” (105), which held its first General Assembly in 1770.  At this time he also began training ministers, what would later become Midland College (while Fawcett was training ministers in what would become Rawdon College) (106).  “We can well understand that this eager desire for labourers in the ministry of the Gospel was a very strong tie between Fawcett and Taylor, uniting them in that close friendship which lasted through life” (106).  In 1773 a church was formed at Queenshead, with Taylor’s brother, John, as the first pastor, where he remained until his death in 1818.  Another meeting at Shore was established in 1777, with John Stansfield, a member of Taylor’s church, as the first pastor; this became a separate church in 1795, with John Spencer as pastor.  In 1775 a group was formed in Halifax, and a church established in 1782 from members of Queenshead (107).  Taylor would be asked to leave Birchcliffe for Halifax, with John Sutcliffe (a member of his church, not the Sutcliff of Olney) taking over at Birchcliffe.  This happened, with each work being successful.  In 1777, Taylor left Yorkshire for London.  He was succeeded by William Burgess, who was followed by Joseph Ellis in 1791.  Sutcliffe remained at Birchcliffe until his death in 1799 (208).