Maria Living-Taylor
Born 1889
Mrs Maria Living-Taylor, BA, trained in the Universities of London and Dijon, (Le Grand, Dijon University and East London, London University College) held joint pastorates with her husband.
She was called to Linton Road Baptist Tabernacle, Barking in 1920 and ordained. It was a large church: in the 1923 Handbook it is listed as having 323 members and 604 Sunday School scholars.
The Ministerial Recognition Special Committee of 7 November 1922 heard a report of her interview and agreed to add her to the Probationers list. They agreed she would qualify for transfer to the Ministers’ list by passing the 2nd Examination
1. Earlier (in 1917?), granting her permission as the first woman candidate for the ministerial examinations had caused consternation to some on the committee and was seen as the thin end of the wedge
2.
In 1924 Maria was recommended by the Essex Association and, along with her husband, called to Sion Jubilee Church, Bradford, the most significant Baptist church in the Bradford District. Here she played a full part in the leadership of the church, but rarely preached
3. Here she gave birth to her first child.
Further pastorates are recorded as at Corporation Road, Newport, 1927-30 and Clayton Le Moors and Rishton, Lancashire, 1930-37.
In 1939 she is listed in the national census as living in Fallowfield, her husband John being the minister of Fallowfield Baptist Chapel, and she as a teacher of languages. She is not recorded in the BU handbook.
In 1942, continuing their pattern of working side by side, she and her husband became co-principals of a private school in Cambridge.
References
1 Baptist Union of Great Britain and Ireland Minute Book September 1922 to February 1924, Ministerial Recognition Special Committee 7 November 1922
2
Women Magistrates, Ministers and Municipal Councillors in the West Riding of Yorkshire, 1918-1939, Sylvia Jane Dunkley, p267
3
Women Magistrates, Ministers and Municipal Councillors in the West Riding of Yorkshire, 1918-1939, Sylvia Jane Dunkley, p305
Illustration: pixabay