LONG SERVICE TO PRIESTHOOD

Press, Volume XCVI, Issue 28463, 18 December 1957, Page 12

LONG SERVICE TO PRIESTHOOD

Archdeacon Taylor’s 60th Anniversary

A well-kjjown Canterbury minister, the Ven. Archdeacon F. N. Taylor, will celebrate the 60th anniversary of his ordination to the priesthood by attending a special service this morning at the Church of St. Michael and All Angels, Oxford terrace, When Holy Communion will be celebrated by the Rev. C. Gault Born in London in 1871, Archdeacon Taylor graduated bachelor of arts in classics from Jesus College, Oxford, in 1894. He won a rowing blue while at Oxford, and two years later was ordained deacon in the diocese of Worcester. In 1897, he was ordained priest, and from 1896 to 1903 served as curate in the Church of All Saints, Smallheath, Birmingham. It was here he met and married his wife.

From 1903 to 1909, Archdeacon Taylor was organising secretary for the Society for the Propagation of Christian Knowledge, and from there he was appointed as curate of Stratfield Mortimer, Berkshire, where he lived in the village from which Bishop Harper had left in 1856 to become the first Bishop of Christchurch. In 1913, he came to New Zealand, to take up a position as vicar of St. Luke's Church, Christchurch, which he held for 23 years. Concurrently with his position at St. Luke’s, he served as Archdeacon of Akaroa from 1922 to 1934.

Anticipating retirement, he transferred to. Amberley, where he was vicar from 1936 to 1939. but with the pressure of war service he was recalled to Christchurch as an Officiating minister in the diocese of Christchurch from 1939. For the last three years of the war he was priest in charge of St. Michael’s Church, Christchurch, and in 1942 he was appointed Archdeacon Emeritus. Throughout his career, Archdeacon Taylor has been an enthusiastic admirer of the leaders of the Oxford Movement, Which changed the face of the Church of England from 1833 onwards. Outside the Church, music has been his greatest enthusiasm. For more than 30 years he sang for the Christchurch Male Voice Choir. In 1948, Archdeacon Taylor visited England for a Church congress.