John Taylor (oculist)

John Taylor (about 1703 to 1770 or 1772) was a British eye surgeon of the eighteenth century, remembered as much for self promotion as for surgery. Born in Norwich and trained in London under William Cheselden at St Thomas' Hospital, he published a book on the mechanism of the eye by 1727, became royal eye surgeon to George II, and then toured Europe in a coach decorated with eyes, performing cataract couching as a travelling show. He styled himself Chevalier and wrote a two volume autobiography in 1761. His methods included bloodletting, laxatives and unorthodox eye drops, and his reputation rests on the failed operations on Johann Sebastian Bach in 1750 and probably George Frideric Handel in 1758, both of whom declined and died soon after. Samuel Johnson judged that his career showed how far impudence may carry ignorance. Accounts of his death conflict: Charles Burney placed it in Rome in 1770, while newspapers reported his death in Prague in 1772, so the record keeps both dates as disputed.