Frank Sherwood Taylor
Dr. Frank Sherwood Taylor (c1898-1956), director of the Science Museum
1956 Obituary [1]
WE regret to have to record the death of Dr. Frank Sherwood Taylor, which occurred at Crowthorne, Berkshire, on Thursday of last week, January 5th. Dr. Sherwood Taylor, who was fifty-eight, had been director of the Science Museum at South Kensington for the past five years.
He was educated at Sherborne School, Lincoln College, Oxford, and University College, London, and for some years in the earlier part of his career taught chemistry in various schools, among them Gresham's and Repton.
In 1933 Dr. Sherwood Taylor was appointed assistant lecturer in inorganic chemistry at Queen Mary Co1lege, University of London, where he remained for five years. Subsequently, he became curator of the Museum of the History of Science, at Oxford, until, in 1950, as stated above, he was appointed director of the Science Museum.
During the period of his administration at South Kensington Dr. Taylor did much to encourage the educational aspects of the museum by the organisation of regular lecture courses. He was also keenly interested in the improvement of the science library.
During his career, Dr. Taylor made many contributions to the literature of science and scientific history. He was a past-president of the British Society for the History of Science, a founder member and honorary editor of the Society for the Study of Alchemy and Early Chemistry, and a governor of the Imperial College of Science and Technology.