David George Pendleton TaylorCBE (5 July 1933 – 8 November 2007) was a British colonial administrator and businessman who served aschief executive of theFalklands Islands^[1] andGovernor ofMontserrat.^[2]

Taylor was schooled atClifton College in Bristol^[3] where he served ashead boy before winning a scholarship to study English atClare College, Cambridge. He did hisNational Service in theRoyal Navy after which he was posted toRAF China Bay atTrincomalee, in modern-daySri Lanka, as a sub-lieutenant (special) in theRoyal Naval Volunteer Reserves.^[4]

He joined theColonial Service in 1958 and was stationed as a District Officer inTanganyika, which was then part of theBritish Empire. When Tanganyikagained independence in 1964, Taylor went toBritish Guiana in South America where he worked forBooker as the head of one of the company's six divisions. In 1976, he went back to Africa where he became chief executive of Booker inMalawi and laterZambia.^[5]

In 1983, Taylor went on secondment from Booker to become the firstchief executive of the Falkland Islands, a post which had been created on the recommendation of the second report byLord Shackleton. During his four years in office, Taylor was credited with helping the Falklands become self-sufficient following theArgentine occupation, as well as years of stagnation before then.^[5] Taylor left the islands in 1987, but returned the next year to act as interim chief executive for eight months.^[4]

Taylor then briefly worked as director of a subsidiary agricultural consultancy atBooker-McConnell before being appointedGovernor of Montserrat in 1990, helping to rebuild the Caribbean island after it had been hit byHurricane Hugo a year earlier. Taylor retired in 1993 and was made a Commander of theOrder of the British Empire. In 1997, Taylor helped raise money for the reconstruction of Montserrat following the eruption of theSoufrière Hills volcano which left most of the island uninhabitable.^[5]

David Taylor died of a lung condition on 8 November 2007^[4] and is buried on the eastern side ofHighgate Cemetery.

• 1933 births
• 2007 deaths
• Burials at Highgate Cemetery
• Alumni of Clare College, Cambridge
• Chief executives of the Falkland Islands
• English chief executives
• British diplomats
• British Methodists
• Governors of Montserrat
• People educated at Clifton College
• Businesspeople from Bristol
• 20th-century English businesspeople
• Civil servants from Bristol

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