TAYLOR, SIR PETER MURRAY, Baron Taylor of Gosforth (1930–1997), British jurist. Born in Newcastle-on-Tyne, Taylor was educated at Tyne Royal Grammar School and Pembroke College, Cambridge. He served as a captain in the Army Education Corps and captained Northumberland at rugby. Called to the bar in 1954, he was appointed a Queen's Counsel in 1967 and was a prominent prosecutor, involved in the high-profile cases of John Poulson and Jeremy Thorpe. He served as recorder of Huddersfield and of Teesside. In 1979–80, he was elected chairman of the Bar. Taylor became a judge of the High Court of Justice in 1980 and was a Lord Justice of Appeal, 1988–92. He achieved national prominence when he conducted the inquiry into the 1989 Hillborough (Sheffield) Football Stadium Disaster, and his findings led to the establishment of the Football Licencing Authority. In 1992 he was created Lord Chief Justice of England, the first Jew to hold the post since Rufus Isaacs Lord (*Reading) in 1921, serving until his death. He was a member of the United Hebrew Congregation of Newcastle and was active in the Soviet Jewry campaign in the late 1970s. Taylor was knighted in 1980 and made a life peer in 1992.
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ODNB online.
Sources: Encyclopaedia Judaica. © 2007 The Gale Group. All Rights Reserved.
