Taylor, Cyril Vincent

Composer

b Wigan, Lancs 1907, d Petersfield, Hampshire 1991. Magdalen College Sch (boy chorister); Christ Church Coll Oxford (MA); Westcott House Oxford; ordained (CofE) 1931. Curate at Hinckley and Kingswood, Bristol; Precentor of Bristol Cathedral, then Asst to Head of Religious Broadcasting at BBC, London 1939–53, and Warden of RSCM 1953–58. Incumbent of 5 Dorset villages, then Precentor of Salisbury Cathedral from 1969 to retirement in Petersfield 1975. He co-edited The BBC Hymn Book 1951, to which he contributed 19 tunes, and worked on supplements to Hymns A&M, 1969 and 1980, during which he coined the phrase ‘pastoral editing’, and the New Standard edn of 1983. He was a keen advocate of the hymns of Albert Bayly; see Authors’ index. Chairman of Hymn Soc 1975–80; member of the CofE’s Liturgical Commission for 12 years. Some of his broadcast talks on hymn tunes were published as The Way to Heaven’s Door (1955); among many other writings is the companion Hymns for Today Discussed (1984). His memorial stone in Salisbury Cathedral cloisters includes the opening bars of ABBOT’S LEIGH, his most famous tune. Nos.119B=521, 570, 890.