Taylor, Tom

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Tom Taylor, 1817–80, English dramatist and editor. His most famous play is Our American Cousin (1858), performed at Ford's Theater in Washington, D. C., when Lincoln was assassinated. Of his more than 100 plays, others are The Ticket-of-Leave Man (1863) and, written with his friend Charles Reade, Masks and Faces (1852). He edited B. R. Haydon's autobiography (1853, new ed. 1926) and was editor of Punch from 1874 to 1880.

See W. Tolles, Tom Taylor and the Victorian Drama (1940).

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