David G. P. Taylor

{{Other people |David Taylor}}

{{EngvarB|date=September 2013}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2024}}

{{Infobox officeholder

|honorific-prefix =

|name = David Taylor

|honorific-suffix = CBE

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|office = Governor of Montserrat

|term_start = 23 May 1990

|term_end = 16 July 1993

|monarch = Elizabeth II

|1blankname = Chief Minister

|1namedata = Reuben Meade

|predecessor = Christopher J. Turner

|successor = Frank Savage

|office2 = Chief Executive of the Falkland Islands

|term_start2 = September 1988

|term_end2 = April 1989

|monarch2 = Elizabeth II

|governor2 = William Hugh Fullerton

|predecessor2 = Brian Cummings

|successor2 = Ronald Sampson

|term_start3 = December 1983

|term_end3 = April 1987

|monarch3 = Elizabeth II

|governor3 = Rex Hunt
Gordon Wesley Jewkes

|predecessor3 = New Post

|successor3 = Brian Cummings

|birth_date = {{birth date|1933|07|05|df=y}}

|birth_place = Bristol, England

|death_date = {{death date and age|2007|11|08|1933|07|05|df=y}}

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|nationality = British

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|partner = Carol

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|alma_mater = Clare College, Cambridge

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David George Pendleton Taylor CBE (5 July 1933 – 8 November 2007) was a British colonial administrator and businessman who served as chief executive of the Falklands Islands{{cite web |url=http://www.worldstatesmen.org/Falklands.html |title=Falkland Islands |work=WorldStatesmen.org |accessdate=6 June 2010}} and Governor of Montserrat.{{cite web |url=http://www.worldstatesmen.org/Montserrat.htm |title=Montserrat |work=WorldStatesmen.org |accessdate=6 June 2010}}

File:Grave of David Taylor CBE in Highgate Cemetery.jpg]]

Taylor was schooled at Clifton College in Bristol"Clifton College Register" Muirhead, J.A.O. p520: Bristol; J.W Arrowsmith for Old Cliftonian Society; April 1948 where he served as head boy before winning a scholarship to study English at Clare College, Cambridge. He did his National Service in the Royal Navy after which he was posted to RAF China Bay at Trincomalee, in modern-day Sri Lanka, as a sub-lieutenant (special) in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserves.{{cite news |title=Chief Executive of the Falklands who became Governor of Montserrat |newspaper=The Times |date=24 January 2008 |url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article3240332.ece |archive-url=https://archive.today/20100523024851/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article3240332.ece |url-status=dead |archive-date=23 May 2010 |accessdate=5 June 2010}}

He joined the Colonial Service in 1958 and was stationed as a District Officer in Tanganyika, which was then part of the British Empire. When Tanganyika gained independence in 1964, Taylor went to British Guiana in South America where he worked for Booker as the head of one of the company's six divisions. In 1976, he went back to Africa where he became chief executive of Booker in Malawi and later Zambia.{{cite news |title=Obituary: David Taylor |first=Louis |last=Blom-Cooper |newspaper=The Guardian|location=London |date= 23 November 2007 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/news/2007/nov/23/guardianobituaries.falklands |accessdate=5 June 2010}}

In 1983, Taylor went on secondment from Booker to become the first chief executive of the Falkland Islands, a post which had been created on the recommendation of the second report by Lord Shackleton. During his four years in office, Taylor was credited with helping the Falklands become self-sufficient following the Argentine occupation, as well as years of stagnation before then. Taylor left the islands in 1987, but returned the next year to act as interim chief executive for eight months.

Taylor then briefly worked as director of a subsidiary agricultural consultancy at Booker-McConnell before being appointed Governor of Montserrat in 1990, helping to rebuild the Caribbean island after it had been hit by Hurricane Hugo a year earlier. Taylor retired in 1993 and was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire. In 1997, Taylor helped raise money for the reconstruction of Montserrat following the eruption of the Soufrière Hills volcano which left most of the island uninhabitable.

David Taylor died of a lung condition on 8 November 2007 and is buried on the eastern side of Highgate Cemetery.