Henry Tayler was born at Elmstead (according to the 1871 census) or Dedham (according to 1861) on 7 January 1826, the youngest son of John and Sarah Tayler. He was an omnibus conductor in Colchester in 1851, living at the Red Lion public house, where he presumably acquired a taste for selling drink, becoming a wine and spirit merchant by 1861, with premises at 48/9 North Hill, Colchester.

He married a Mary Susannah Lamprell on 24 November 1857, at West Hackney, but died comparatively young, on 17 December 1876, ‘after a long affliction’, according to the notice of his death in the Essex Standard. Mary followed him to the grave eleven weeks later, on 3 March 1877, ‘after a short illness, deeply regretted’.