Queen Mary ordered him to be burnt at the stake, so he wisely fled. He died in 1554 in the County of Angus. The Scots Ancestry Research Bureau confirms Colonel John W. Renny-Tailyour’s account of the family history. While the Western Australian branch of the family has virtually died out, with only two female descendants remaining, the family line in Scotland and England remains quite numerous. Among its descendants are a company director, a retired Brigadier, a Naval Commander, and a Major-General in the Marines.

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A Western Australian relative, the late Doctor Robert Fairbairn, recorded that Patrick Taylor’s parents died when he was young and that he was brought up by a guardian. As a schoolboy, Patrick was allowed £1 a week in pocket money, a princely sum in those days, intended to encourage him to be generous with his friends.

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Why Patrick chose to migrate is not known, but he was well acquainted with Sir James Stirling, a fellow Scotsman. In 1833, Patrick set sail aboard the James Pattison, the same vessel that carried Sir James and Lady Stirling, W. B. Sherratt, Peter Belches, Captain Cheyne, Mrs Bussell senior, and her eldest daughter, Mary. The Bussells were travelling to rejoin the rest of their family, who had settled at “Cattle Chosen” in Busselton.

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Mary Bussell kept a fascinating diary of shipboard life. Enjoying her position as the only eligible young woman aboard, she described long conversations with various young men. Like many passengers of the period, she was also constantly occupied with the care of her livestock, which included bees, fowls, a cat, and a dog.

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Mary came from the background of an Anglican parsonage. Her late father, the Reverend W. M. Bussell, had been Perpetual Curate of St Mary’s, Portsea, and had baptised the novelist Charles Dickens. It is therefore unsurprising that Mary took a deep interest in religion. Her diary includes several accounts of shipboard services, including one occasion when she and her mother were invited to Sherratt’s cabin for Sabbath service.

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This invitation somewhat disappointed Mary, as she had hoped to be invited by Patrick Taylor, who conducted morning service for his servants. Instead, she consoled herself with the “deep-toned voice of the youngest patriarch issuing from the adjoining cabin.”

When the James Pattison reached Australia, it had followed the usual route taken by vessels bound for the Antipodes, sailing along the fortieth latitude. The ship reached Albany on 12 May 1834, but stormy weather forced it to remain there for two months.

During this time, it seems inevitable that the passengers met Sir Richard Spencer, the new Government Resident. Stirling and Spencer were already well known to one another, and Sir James had strongly recommended Spencer’s appointment to the Home Government, particularly to the Under Secretary for the Colonies, H. H. Hay.

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Information about Taylor’s land purchases was supplied by Mr Robert Stephens. The June 1835 records show that Albany building Lot S44 was offered in fee simple by Patrick Taylor, with improvements valued at £250, enclosures at £10, and sundries at £40, making a total of £300.

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Lot S44 had originally been assigned to John L. Morley on 29 March 1832 and was later transferred by him to Patrick Taylor by public auction. Morley had, among other roles, served as the local commissariat officer and had occupied the Old Farm before the arrival of Sir Richard Spencer. Patrick Taylor Cottage still stands today on Lots S44 and S45.

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Taylor’s early years in the colony were hectic. After inspecting land at Albany, he was eager to return there from the Swan River settlement and secured passage with Captain Blackwood, commander of the sloop-of-war Hyacinth. However, contrary winds carried him past Albany and all the way to Tasmania.

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While in Tasmania, Taylor stayed with the Henty family, the well-known pioneering family who had first migrated to the Swan River, then moved to Tasmania, and later became famous as some of Victoria’s earliest pioneers. Old Mr Henty described Patrick to a friend as “a very pleasant, well educated, gentlemanly young man” who had come out for the benefit of his health and had entirely recovered.

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The year 1837 was a restless one for Patrick Taylor. Early in January, he made a daring expedition in search of land with Doctor Thomas Harrison. Together they visited the Hay River, where Sir Richard Spencer’s two eldest sons were farming.

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Almost immediately after returning, Taylor set out again into the hot, brassy inland, travelling from Albany to Perth in twelve days with Mr James Harris and his party. Later that year, in September, Patrick Taylor and Mary Bussell were married at Lieutenant Bull’s house in Fremantle. The wedding was a quiet occasion due to the recent death of family friend Capel Carter, but Sir James Stirling attended as guest of honour and acted in the place of the bride’s father.

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The marriage had almost not taken place. Aboriginal runners carrying Mrs Bussell’s consent had delayed on the journey, and Mary was on the verge of returning to “Cattle Chosen.” Once married, the young couple returned to the Sound by ship, accompanied by Mary’s bridesmaid and sister, Fanny. Their arrival was marked by an ill-omened incident: Chief Constable James Dunn, a fellow passenger from the James Pattison, had an arm blown off by the cannon while firing a salute in their honour.

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At the time, Patrick and Mary’s home was “Candyup,” another property purchased by Patrick, situated on the Kalgan River. The farm is now owned by Mr Sewell. The original house stood just below the present one, on an elevated hill overlooking enchanting views of the Kalgan River and Oyster Harbour. Fanny wrote that “the country is now an exquisite green,” and that Candyup abounded in “pretty grassy slopes covered with close fine sward.” She also noted that the cattle looked extremely well and that, once the house was plastered, the sitting room would be one of the finest in the colony.

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This peaceful existence was soon shattered by a series of economic disasters. To Patrick’s dismay, his agent in Scotland absconded to America with a considerable portion of his fortune. Matters at Candyup also went badly: cattle died, and even the hens would not lay. Patrick wrote to his wife’s sister that Mary was obliged to search the nests from early morning until night just to obtain a few eggs.

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Even if the Taylors had been able to produce all they needed, and more besides, it would have done little good. Their difficulty was the same as that faced by many settlers in the earliest colonial days: there were no reliable markets. Whaling ships calling at the port were virtually the only buyers of local produce.

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There was also a family dispute with the Bussells. At “Cattle Chosen,” a decision had been made regarding finances: in future, only those sharing the work of the moment would share in the profits. Patrick argued that Mary had shared the family’s early hardships and therefore should receive some benefit. John Garrett Bussell wrote a dramatic farewell to his brother-in-law, of whom he was genuinely fond, but from that time Taylor appears to have had little contact with his wife’s relatives.

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For several years, Patrick Taylor was a leading figure in Albany’s affairs. A deeply religious man, he was greatly concerned by the lack of clergymen in the new colony. While still aboard ship, he had guaranteed £200 towards a minister’s stipend, believing that the presence of a minister “would remove the only objection to a settler’s life.” Taylor was also closely acquainted with Wollaston, who mentions him in both his Picton and Albany journals.

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In 1841, the Government Resident called a meeting “of the inhabitants to consider the propriety of building a church at Albany.” From this meeting, St John the Evangelist’s Church was born. The sixth of the eleven resolutions passed stated: “That it being well-known that Patrick Taylor, Esq., takes a deep interest in promoting religious instruction and desires Albany’s welfare, the trustees do write to him requesting his subscription.”

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This was the same year in which Taylor suffered significant financial losses. Despite this, he donated £10 towards the church. Lady Spencer, Government Resident Phillips, Peter Belches, and George Grey, later Sir George Grey, also contributed. Mary Taylor gave £5, while R. B. Sherratt, the humble tradesman and builder of Albany’s first local church, the Octagon, gave £25.

In 1841, Governor John Hutt passed the “Improvement of Towns Act” in an effort to decentralise responsibility for the maintenance of widely scattered districts. It was Western Australia’s first experiment in local government, though it began slowly in Albany. The first town trust was not formed until 1843, with the public-minded T. B. Sherratt as its first Chairman.

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Patrick Taylor served as a member of the town trust in 1845, 1846 and 1847. In 1849, the town trust failed to function. Taylor also chaired a public meeting in 1846, hurriedly called to address a local disaster after York Street suffered one of its periodic floods, a problem that has persisted into modern times. Taylor sent a memorial to the Governor seeking assistance to rebuild the street, which had been scoured by gullies deep enough to hide a man. The strong wording of the petition achieved nothing. Resigned to official procrastination, local residents erected footbridges over the gullies, and the road was not repaired until 1870, twenty-four years later.

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After the failure of this petition, Patrick Taylor appears to have withdrawn from public life. The original diaries of Mrs Taylor, covering the years 1873 to 1875, describe a dreary existence at Candyup. Daughters Fanny and Kate carried out much of the hard work on the property, assisted in a casual fashion by a farm labourer and some local Aboriginal people. The eldest daughter, Mary, born at Candyup, had married Edward Dempster. Their son John lived at Northam, while Campbell was pioneering at Esperance. Occasionally, visitors such as Sir T. Campbell, one of the Hassells, Egerton-Warburton, or one of the Spencer boys would call, and the harmonium helped make the evenings more pleasant.

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Patrick Taylor died in 1877. He is buried with his wife Mary, who died on 11 March 1887, their infant daughter Christina, and their son Campbell. They share the same headstone in the cemetery on Middleton Road.