The Very Rev Charles Taylor, popular cathedral dean who attacked Church bureaucracy – obituary

Taylor: renowned for his well-crafted sermons, pastoral skills and sense of fun

The Very Rev Charles Taylor, who has died aged 70, was an Anglican priest loved for his humility, humanity and humour as well as for his energy, gregariousness and sense of fun.

He was a renowned preacher of well-crafted sermons, a liturgist and theologian, and a kind pastor to his congregations. Although he served as Precentor at Lichfield Cathedral for 12 years and as Dean of Peterborough from 2007 to 2016, he remained at heart a parish priest.

Charles William Taylor was born in Staffordshire into a clergy family on March 16 1953. His father, the Rev Prebendary John Taylor, was a parish priest, and his mother, Marjorie, a teacher in schools and Sunday schools.

Charles was head chorister at St Paul’s Cathedral and sang at the funeral of Sir Winston Churchill and the memorial service for President Kennedy. With his contemporary and lifelong friend, James Lancelot, later director of music at Durham Cathedral, he learnt the rudiments of organ-playing from Sir John Dykes Bower.

Taylor then attended Marlborough College as a music scholar, followed by Selwyn College, Cambridge, as a choral scholar, reading theology under the supervision of the Rev John Sweet and the watchful eye of the Master, the Rev Professor Sir Owen Chadwick.

Taylor: gregarious

A fondness for Gilbert and Sullivan saw him play Frederic in a production of The Pirates of Penzance at the Minack Theatre, Penzance, before studying for the ministry at Cuddesdon, Oxford, where his tutor, the retired Archbishop of Canterbury, Michael Ramsey, arranged for him to study for a year at the Church Divinity School of the Pacific, Berkeley.

In 1977 Taylor was ordained priest in the Collegiate Church of St Peter in Wolverhampton, where he then served his curacy, supported Wolverhampton Wanderers and developed a talent for mimicry which led to many stories about “Aynuk and Ayli” (two mythical characters from the Black Country who figure in local jokes) in his sermons.

In 1979 he was appointed the first Chaplain to the congregation of Westminster Abbey, where he helped the Precentor and worked closely with the director of music, Simon Preston. In 1983, when Taylor married Catherine Beeson, daughter of Trevor Beeson (then Canon of the Abbey and later Dean of Winchester), Preston directed the Abbey choir.

From 1984 to 1990 Taylor was Vicar of Stanmore with Oliver’s Battery, Winchester, and from 1990 to 1995 Rector of Stoneham and Bassett, Southampton, and a tutor in liturgy at Salisbury and Wells Theological College.

Taylor, left, during a visit from Queen Elizabeth II in 2009

In 1995 he was appointed Canon Residentiary and Precentor of Lichfield Cathedral, which led to another productive liturgical and musical partnership, with the Dean (later the Bishop of Durham), Tom Wright, and the director of music, Andrew Lumsden.

Taylor saw it as his mission as Dean of Peterborough to minister to the whole city. In an interview in The Moment, he said the cathedral was not only the symbol of the city one of the top 10 most visited buildings in the UK but also the focal point of a community in which more than 40 languages are spoken by people of around 100 nationalities.

He spoke of the city’s “fabulous diversity”, and local community and faith leaders enjoyed working closely with him to help regenerate the city and its life.

The year 2018 was Peterborough Cathedral’s 900th anniversary and his stewardship was directed partly towards marking that fact. Facilities and accessibility were greatly enhanced; new doors were installed at the west front; the mosaic pavement in the Presbytery was beautifully restored and the organ re-pitched. A visitor learning centre was created along with a community music centre.

Taylor’s main focus, however, was always on the people of Peterborough. He often said that “faith is not a fixed position, it’s a commitment to travel”, and he included everyone on the voyage of discovery.

He and his wife Catherine offered hospitality in the best Anglican cathedral tradition. They did all the catering themselves for what he called “Eating for Jesus”, some 2,000 visitors a year being entertained at the Deanery.

But before the anniversary had taken place, Taylor abruptly retired. Although the cathedral was said to be solvent in the long term, a short-term cash crisis in 2016 had led to a round of lay-offs and necessitated an emergency loan from the Church Commissioners.

Charles Taylor at the lectern in Peterborough Cathedral

The manner of his departure, however, was a matter of considerable controversy. The MP for Lichfield, Michael Fabricant, stated his view that Taylor had been “treated shabbily”, while a supporter in Peterborough diocese argued in a letter to the Telegraph that it was “a sad reflection of the Church of England today that those appointed to ‘serve tables’ by overseeing and auditing Peterborough Cathedral funds have failed in their duty, while the blame is laid at Dean Taylor’s door.”

Taylor never complained, but his remarkable farewell sermon made from the cathedral pulpit – opening with a quotation from the Book of Revelation: “War broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon” – left his congregation in little doubt about his unhappiness.

Taylor confessed to feeling as if he had been “driven back into the wilderness like a Levitical goat on the Day of Atonement” and suggested that behind the controversy was the fact that “an inclusive, open and ‘liberal’ philosophy is not always welcome to those who resent the independence of cathedrals; who envy their freedom… and perceive that they are getting a bit uppity.

“It certainly does not conform to the ecclesiology (if one can call it that) of those who would like to see power concentrated at the centre in order to impose a bland, uniform theology (if one can call it that) which runs counter to the very essence of Anglican diversity.”

Taylor’s father-in-law Trevor Beeson was a much-loved writer of clerical obituaries for The Daily Telegraph, and as his eyesight began to fail in his later years, Taylor often helped in their preparation.

He observed in his sermon that the “monochrome blandness” championed by Church bureaucrats was “a total nightmare for those of us who try to supply the national press with interesting ecclesiastical obituaries. Pop your head round the door of the Church’s departure lounge in a few years’ time and it’s doubtful whether you’ll find enough potential column inches in there to buy a bag of chips.”

Nevertheless, he ended his sermon on a characteristically positive note: “And yet, God will be loved, whatever it will cost… Surely, the Lord is in this place, this is the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.” The sermon was given a long standing ovation.

Granted the title of Dean Emeritus, Taylor and his wife Catherine next supported Salisbury Cathedral through a decanal interregnum where they found some healing and happiness.

In early 2018 he was diagnosed with advanced cancer, which he faced with tenacity and courage while, from 2017 to 2022, serving as Chaplain to the Worshipful Company of Plaisterers, where he is remembered for his conviviality and saying memorable graces.

In retirement in Northumberland, he assisted in rural ministry. In November 2023, though seriously ill, he presided with strength, dignity and clarity at the Requiem Eucharist for Trevor Beeson in Winchester Cathedral. His last act of worship involved him walking through the snow to take the 8am Advent Sunday service in his local parish church in Northumberland.

His wife Catherine survives him with their two children, Rachel and Benedict.

The Very Rev Charles Taylor, born March 16 1953, died February 21 2024

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