He spent his spare time as a medical missionary working with people in the slums. He gave away much of his money to the poor. He fell in love with a Miss Vaughan, a music teacher, but his lifestyle was too austere for her, and she denied his affections. He wrote to the London Missionary Society offering his services but received no reply.

In fall 1852 Taylor began studying medicine at the London Hospital Medical College in Whitechapel,