Charity Taylor

May Doris Charity Taylor, Baroness Taylor was an English physician and prison administrator who became the first woman prison governor in England.
Taylor was born on 16 September 1914, in Woking, and studied medicine at the Royal Free Hospital. She was appointed assistant medical officer at Holloway Prison in 1942, later becoming medical officer, before becoming governor in 1945. In 1955, she was governor during the imprisonment and hanging of Ruth Ellis.
She was played by Juliet Stevenson in the 2025 drama A Cruel Love.

Personal life

In 1938, she married the physician/politician Stephen Taylor, [Baron Taylor|Stephen Taylor], who later became the Labour/Social [Democratic Party (UK)|SDP] life peer Baron Taylor.