John Debenham Taylor CMG OBE (25 April 1920 – 30 January 2016), was a British intelligence officer.

Taylor was born on 25 April 1920 in Wallington, Surrey (now London), and educated at Aldenham School.^[1]

In February 1939, he joined the Territorial Army, and at the start of the war in September, was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Royal Artillery.^[1] In 1942, he moved into intelligence work, and became an instructor to Beaulieu, in the New Forest, the Special Operations Executive (SOE) "finishing school" for agents.^[1]

In 1944, Taylor was promoted to major, and posted to Ceylon, and then Indonesia.^[1] When SOE was dissolved in January 1946, he joined the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS) and worked there for the next 30 years, but his official status was that of a diplomat.^[1]

He was appointed OBE in 1959, and CMG in 1967.^[1]

In 1966, Taylor married Gillian May James, a BBC make-up artist, having met her in 1965, and they had a daughter Cate Debenham-Taylor, an actress.^[1]