Royal C. Taft

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Royal C. Taft.

Royal Chapin Taft (February 14, 1823 – June 4, 1912) was a US politician and businessman, whose most distinguished post was that as the 39th Governor of Rhode Island, an office he held from 1888–1889. He was a member of the Taft political family; he shared a great-great-great-great-grandfather (Robert Taft, Sr.) with President of the United States William Howard Taft.

He was born in Northbridge, Massachusetts, on 14 February 1823, and was educated at Worcester Academy, where he graduated in 1872. His parents were Orsmus Taft and Margaret (Smith) Taft; on 31 October 1850, he married Mary Frances Aimington.^[1]

He belonged to the Republican Party, and was an elected member of Rhode Island House of Representatives from 1880-84 before his term as governor.

He was also president of Merchants' National Bank from 1868^[2] president of the Boston & Providence Railroad, and a director of the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad (which took control of the B&P in 1893). He died 4 June 1912, and is interred at Swan Point Cemetery, Providence.

He was a patron of the arts, with a large private collection; parts of his collection are now part of various institutions such as the Rhode Island School of Design.^[3]

Taft Hall at the University of Rhode Island is named after him,^[4] as well as the Royal C. Taft Outpatient Building (1891) at Rhode Island Hospital in Providence.^[5]

Notes

↑ According to , he was at that time resident in New York.
↑ See , which claims to be a transcript of "Industries and Wealth of the Principal Points in Rhode Island, being the city of Providence, Pawtucket, Central Falls, Woonsocket, Newport, Narragansett Pier, Bristol & Westerly." from 1892
↑ See footnote 4 on , which describes Mrs. Taft giving the school 169 prints from his collection in 1945.
↑ "URI History and Timeline". University of Rhode Island. Retrieved 18 Jul 2010.
↑ Mentioned in , which is otherwise irrelevant

References

"Find-A-Grave biography". Retrieved 2006-08-17.
"The Political Graveyard: Index to Politicians: Taft". Retrieved 2006-08-17.
"University of Rhode Island virtual tour". Retrieved 2006-08-17.

Political offices
Preceded by John W. Davis	Governor of Rhode Island 1888–1889	Succeeded by Herbert W. Ladd

v t e Governors of Rhode Island

	Cooke Greene Collins A. Fenner H. Smith Wilbour J. Fenner Jones Knight Gibbs J. Fenner Arnold Francis Sprague III King Dorr J. Fenner Jackson Diman Harris Anthony Allen Dimond Hoppin Dyer Turner Sprague IV Cozzens J. Smith Burnside Padelford Howard H. Lippitt Van Zandt Littlefield Bourn Wetmore Davis Taft Ladd Davis Ladd Brown C. Lippitt Dyer, Jr. Gregory Kimball Garvin Utter Higgins Pothier Beeckman San Souci Flynn Pothier Case Green Quinn Vanderbilt McGrath Pastore McKiernan Roberts Del Sesto Notte J. Chafee Licht Noel Garrahy DiPrete Sundlun Almond Carcieri L. Chafee

Authority control	WorldCat VIAF: 75867183 LCCN: no00087531

Persondata
Name	Taft, Royal C.
Alternative names
Short description	American politician
Date of birth	February 14, 1823
Place of birth
Date of death	June 4, 1912
Place of death

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