William Stephens Taylor (1905-1998) was born in Ujjain, India to Presbyterian missionary parents, the Rev. John Thomson and Harriet Ellen Taylor. He married Mary Oberlin Frackelton in 1933 and they had a son, James Andrew Fair Taylor, in 1936. Mary died in 1972. Taylor later married Dr. Christine Fraser, who died in 1982.

Taylor received his early schooling in India and then came to Canada to attend Middle and High School in Ontario. He earned a BA (1926), an MA (1930), and a Ph.D (1940) in psychology from the University of Toronto. His Ph.D was based on research done in India with his Hindi students. He also earned a Bachelor of Divinity from Emmanuel College, Toronto (1930) and was awarded honorary doctorates from Victoria University, Toronto (1954), from the Anglican Theological College, Vancouver (1966), and from the Vancouver School of Theology (1987).

Taylor was a professor of Philosophy and Psychology (1930-1947) at Indore Christian College, a college maintained by the United Church of Canada as a unit of the University of Agra. He served as Acting Principal of the College from 1944-1946. Taylor returned to Canada in 1947 and, in 1948, he accepted the position of Principal at Union College of British Columbia. He was instrumental in the joining of Union College with the Anglican Theological College in 1971, to form the Vancouver School of Theology. He continued to serve as principal of the new school until his retirement in 1972.

During his time as principal, he was President of BC Conference (1956) and also served as the minister of the University Hill congregation from 1948 to about 1958. From 1972 to 1974 he served as part of a team ministry with the priest of St. Anselm’s Anglican Church.