chief executive Falkland Islands and governor of Montserrat was born in Bristol on 5 July 1933, the son of elderly parents, George James Pendleton Taylor and Dorothy May Taylor, née Williams.

His grandfather was a Methodist minister. He was educated as a dayboy at Clifton College (where he was head boy) and went on to read English at Clare College Cambridge. During National Service (1952-4) he served as a sub-lieutenant in the RNVR, posted for a while to Trincomalee in Ceylon (Sri Lanka).

After Cambridge University, Taylor joined the overseas civil service as an administrative cadet and served in Tanganyika (Tanzania) from 1958 to 1963 when the colony became independent. In 1964 he joined the large trading company Booker McConnell which had interests in various Commonwealth countries, primarily in sugar estates and retailing. After years in the London head office, Taylor moved to become chairman and chief executive of Bookers’ interests in Malawi, in 1976-7, moving on to Zambia in 1978. He was a director of Bookers subsidiaries in St Lucia and Jamaica.

In 1983, after the Falklands conflict he was seconded from Bookers to become Chief Executive of the Falkland Islands Government. Lord SHACKLETON, in his second report produced during the conflict, had recommended that a chief executive should take the second place in government, rather than the chief secretary. With both colonial and commercial experience Taylor was ideally suited for the post and he moved to the Islands in December 1983. He had a full in-tray. Stanley had been damaged by Argentine occupation and had to cope with the new British garrison. A British government grant of £23 million was provided for reconstruction, and this had to be allocated.

Shackleton had advocated the sub-division of the larger farms. There was also a development corporation to be established to encourage private businesses, and Taylor assumed responsibility for the FIDC until the new director arrived.

Civil servants in the secretariat, where he was based, found him an inspiring leader. Derek Howat (then the deputy financial secretary) wrote:

His determination and drive inspired everyone to pull a little more than their weight. He inspired confidence and always expressed gratitude for any assistance provided.

Peter King (then clerk of councils) recalled:

David was a great character, really hard-working, and we all loved working for him, although his handwriting was hard to decipher!  His own work ethic was infectious and encouraging to others.

Everyone appreciated Taylor’s sense of humour: he had a heightened sense of the ridiculous. He enjoyed cooking for his own dinner parties but had an unsettling habit of falling asleep during the evening. During the absences of the three governors, he worked for (HUNT, Jewkes and Fullerton) he became acting governor.

The Islands’ economy was transformed in 1986 when the interim fishery zone was introduced and licence sales increased government income fourfold. Taylor’s term ended in April 1987, but he returned on secondment for a further eight months, from September 1988 to April 1989, after his successor was moved on early.

Having returned to Bookers, where he was director of an agricultural consultancy, Taylor was delighted in 1990 to be appointed governor of the Caribbean colony of Montserrat with a population of 11,000. He arrived after hurricane Hugo had damaged the economy and worked hard to restore the situation. His previous African and Caribbean experience meant that he understood the people of Montserrat and they appreciated him. On his retirement in 1993 he was awarded the CBE.

In 1997 the volcano of Soufrière erupted devastating the Island and rendering two thirds of Montserrat uninhabitable. Taylor swung into voluntary action and with others founded the Montserrat Trust to support those left on the Island and those who had taken refuge elsewhere. A huge concert ‘Music for Montserrat’ was held in the Albert Hall in London.

In retirement, Taylor maintained his interest in the Falklands, becoming a trustee of Falklands Conservation and contributing seven judicious articles to this Dictionary, covering former governors and British politicians. He would spend several months each year in southwest France, exploring and enjoying his hobby of water-colour painting.

Taylor died of a lung condition on 8 November 2007. For the last eleven years of his life, he had been in a loving partnership with Carol Donoghue, who survived him.