13 Facts About Bell Taylor

Charles Bell Taylor was an English ophthalmic surgeon, known as a campaigner against the Contagious Diseases Act and vivisection.

Bell Taylor was admitted member of the Royal College of Surgeons of England in 1852, and a licentiate of the Society of Apothecaries in 1855.

Bell Taylor acted for some time as medical superintendent at the Walton Lodge Asylum, Liverpool, then in 1859 returned to Nottingham, where he lived for the rest of his life.

Especially in cases of cataract, Bell Taylor gained a high reputation as a surgeon, and an international practice.

Bell Taylor always operated by artificial light, would not use chloroform, and never employed a qualified assistant.

Bell Taylor's patients included Mary Gove Nichols, to whom he restored full sight in 1868.

Bell Taylor took a prominent, and professionally unpopular, part in securing the repeal of the Contagious Diseases Act.

Bell Taylor was recruited to the campaign against the Act by a newspaper article written by Robert Eli Hooppell.

Bell Taylor offered the 1869 Social Science Congress in Bristol a paper against the Act, and was turned down.

Bell Taylor then organised a fringe meeting on the opening day of the Congress, attended by 70.

Bell Taylor was a determined opponent of vivisection and compulsory vaccination.

Bell Taylor held strong views on diet, was an abstainer from alcohol, tobacco, tea and coffee, and took only two meals a day.

Bell Taylor died, unmarried, at Beechwood Hall, near Nottingham, on 14 April 1909, and was buried at the Nottingham General Cemetery.