Lord William Taylour, the younger son of Geoffrey Thomas Taylour, fourth Marquess of Headfort (1878–1943), and Rosie Boote (1878 - 1958), an actress at the Gaiety Theatre, London, was an established British archaeologist of the 20th century, specialising in Mycenaean Greece. He followed first a career in the diplomatic service (1921–2), and then in banking on Wall Street, New York. Educated at Harrow School (1917 - 1921), his passion for archaeology is evident in his schoolbooks from a young age.
Having served during the Second World War in the North African campaign with the 2nd Derbyshire Yeomanry (TA) and attaining the rank of Captain, in 1947 Lord Taylour matriculated at Trinity College, Cambridge, reading archaeology and anthropology. He graduated in 1950, taught by some of the great archaeologists of the era, including Glyn Daniel and Graheme Clark. He proceeded to work with Kathleen Kenyon and J. B. Ward-Perkins at the excavation in Sabratha, Tripolitania (1948). Taylour was awarded a doctorate by Cambridge in 1955 for his work on Mycenaean pottery in Italy, which he then published as his first book in 1958, entitled 'Mycenaean Pottery in Italy, and Adjacent Areas'.
After working with Joan Du Plat Taylor in the joint Ashmolean Museum, Oxford/Sydney University excavation of Myrtou-Pighades on Cyprus, he began his work with Alan Wace at the British excavations in Mycenae in 1952 and 1953. He succeeded on all fronts, having the chance to work not only with the Wace family but also with Carl Blegen of the Unievrsity of Cincinnati at Pylos.
Following the death of Alan Wace in 1957, he assumed directorship of the British excavations at Mycenae, from 1959 - 1969. During his tenure, further Linear B tablets were discovered, as well as evidence for a cult site within the walls of the acropolis. At the suggestion of Glyn Daniel, he then published a book on his findings, 'The Mycenaeans' (1964), which went on to become a classic and a staple resource for the subject.
Taylour also directed the excavation, over six seasons, of the Bronze Age site of Hagios Stephanos in southern Laconia (1959 to 1977). He travelled to Greece most summers for study of the Mycenae finds held at Nauplion museum, together with Dr Lisa French and various invited specialists. He continued his work on the publication of the Mycenae excavations until his death in 1989, establishing the Well Built Mycenae series of fasicules.
Up until the very end, Lord Taylour was full of life and energy, driving students on Land Rover and VW trips all over Europe even in 1988, when he was 84 years old. He worked tirelessly, not just in his field, but in his hobbies of photography and letter writing, both of which are at the heart of this collection. Known for wearing his characteristic képi headdress (to protect his bald head, first adopted during his war service in the North African desert), shorts, and a bush shirt at excavations, and smoking away on a pipe, Lord Taylour cut a distinctive figure. He liked to take photographs but he loathed to be in them. As his correspondence reveals, Lord Taylour was a generous man, founding the Mediterranean Archaeological Trust (M.A.T.) in 1959. Raised as a Roman Catholic, Lord Taylour's deep faith, compassion and conviction is evident throughout the collection. Above all else, Lord Taylour was a man who loved his fieldwork, his dogs, his family and friends, and energetically exploring the world he lived in, past and present.
'Taylour, Lord William Desmond', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-67874?rskey=Jnp2bN&result=1