Introduction

Biography

Cyril was the son of De­ci­mus Al­bert Gay Tay­lor (rec­tor of Knap­toft, 1915–33). His fa­ther lived at the rec­to­ry in Mows­ley, which at the time was part of the pa­rish of Knap­toft.

Cyril at­tend­ed Christ Church, Ox­ford.

He was or­dained in the Church of Eng­land and be­came pre­cen­tor of Bris­tol Ca­thed­ral, and lat­er Sal­is­bu­ry Ca­thed­ral (1969–75).

During World War II, he was the Brit­ish Broad­cast­ing Cor­po­ra­tion’s pro­duc­er of Re­li­gious Broad­cast­ing and, while sta­tioned in Ab­bot’s Leigh, he wrote the fa­mous tune of that name.

In 1953, when the Roy­al School of Church Mu­sic moved from Can­ter­bu­ry to Ad­ding­ton Place, he be­came its first War­den.

For ma­ny years, Tay­lor served as a pro­pri­etor of Hymns Ancient & Mo­dern, play­ing a ma­jor edi­to­ri­al role in com­pil­ing the two sup­ple­ments and the New Stand­ard Edi­tion.