Dr. Thomas W. Taylor, a well known urologist of St. Louis, was born at Newcastle in Staffordshire, England, March 4, 1880, his parents being James and Elizabeth (Onions) Taylor, who likewise were natives of the Merrie Isle. It was in the year 1882 that the father brought the family to the new world, settling originally in New Castle, Pennsylvania, while later he removed to Piqua, Ohio, where he successfully engaged in mercantile pursuits for many years. He passed away December 16, 1915, at the advanced age of eighty, while his wife died in Piqua, in 1914, at the age of seventy-nine. They were the parents of seven children, four sons and three daughters.
Dr. Taylor, the youngest of the family, was but a year old when brought to the new world. He was educated in the public schools of New Castle, Pennsylvania, and of Covington, Kentucky, and completed his academic work at the Ohio Northern University, where he remained to within three months of his graduation. In 1905 he came to St. Louis and entered the Washington University as a medical student, being graduated in 1909. After receiving his professional degree he served as an interne in the St. Louis City Hospital for five months and later spent eighteen months in the Missouri Pacific Railroad Hospital. He then entered upon private practice in association with Dr. J. L. Boehm, with whom he was associated for two years and four months. On the expiration of that period he removed to Birmingham, Alabama, in May, 1913, to take charge of the Hamilton Clinical Laboratory, with which he was connected for seven months. Later, however, he returned to St. Louis to accept the professorship of bacteriology and pathology in the National University of Arts and Sciences, continuing in that educational work until the close of the school. During this period he also engaged in private practice and likewise took post-graduate work under Dr. E. F. Tiedemann in bacteriology and pathology. He was one of the staff of the Skin and Cancer Hospital; was professor of pathology and bacteriology at the National University of Arts and Science, St. Louis, from 1913 to 1917; and is at present visiting dermatologist at the St. Louis City Hospital, unit No. 3. During the World war Dr. Taylor served as a lieutenant of the United States navy, being stationed at the Naval Hospital at New Orleans with hospital unit, No. 19, being honorably discharged February 22, 1919. He is a well known member of the St. Louis, Missouri State and American Medical Associations and also of the St. Louis Clinical Club.
On the 7th of September, 1915, in St. Louis, Dr. Taylor was married to Miss Grace P. Rundle, a native of this city and a daughter of John Rundle, representative of an English family. Dr. and Mrs. Taylor have become parents of two children: Grace Elizabeth, born in St. Louis, October 26, 1916; and Thomas Wilford, born February 24, 1920.
Dr. Taylor gives his political endorsement to the republican party and belongs to Pride of the West Lodge, No. 79, A. F. & A. M., also to the Alhambra Grotto. He is likewise connected with the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks and his religious faith is that of the Episcopal church. He finds recreation in reading and in Y. M. C. A. work, taking active and helpful interest in the latter, while many of his happiest hours are spent in his library. His course has been marked by a steady progress that has resulted from the development of his natural talent and power, thorough study and close application bringing him to the front in his chosen life work.