John Taylor Smith

The Rt Rev John Taylor Smith, KCB, CVO, DD (1860–28 March 1938) was the Anglican Bishop of Sierra Leone at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries.

Taylor-Smith was born in Kendal in 1860 and ordained in 1886. He was Curate of St Paul’s, Penge and then Sub-Dean of St George’s Cathedral, Freetown before his elevation to the Episcopate in 1897. He was Honorary Chaplain to Queen Victoria from 1896 to 1901.

On 1. November 1901 he was appointed Chaplain-General to the Forces, serving until 1925. His tenure included the First World War, and he oversaw the expansion of the chaplaincy service from around 120 chaplains in 1914 to almost 3,500 in 1918. He was appointed a Companion of the Royal Victorian Order in 1906, a Companion of the Order of the Bath in 1921 and created a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath in 1925. A Sub-Prelate of the Order of St John of Jerusalem, he died on 28 March 1938.