Page:Dictionary of National Biography, Second Supplement, volume 3.djvu/548

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Tupper
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Turner

aptitude for minute literary research. In 1880 he compiled, with great care under official authority, ‘The Customary Law of the Punjab’ (3 vols.), while in ‘Our Indian Protectorate’ (1893) he laboriously classified and co-ordinated for the first time the rich store of materials concerning the relations between the British government and its Indian feudatories. Somewhat discursive and at times conjectural, the latter volume proved of administrative service and remains of value, though for practical purposes it has been superseded by Sir William Lee-Warner's more compact ‘Protected Princes’ (1894, revised as ‘The Native States of India,’ 1910). Owing to his historical knowledge, Tupper was placed on special duty in the foreign department of the government of India in 1893–4, and from April 1895 he was engaged in drawing up for confidential official use a body of leading cases, illustrating the political relationship of the paramount power to the native states. Therein he fully maintained his reputation as an historian.

Tupper reached the grade of commissioner and superintendent in September 1895, and in November 1899 he was appointed financial commissioner of the Punjab. In 1900 he served on both the provincial and the supreme legislatures, and from April to October 1905, and again from April to September 1906, acted as a member of the governor-general's executive council. He had been made a C.S.I. in January 1897, and was created K.C.I.E. in January 1903. His last service in India was to preside over the telegraph committee which devised the scheme whereby the department was reorganised so as to meet expanding needs. Tupper helped to create the Punjab university in Oct. 1882, and was vice-chancellor in 1900–1. His addresses to the students dealt elaborately with questions of constitutional law and jurisprudence. He also was one of the founders of the Punjab Law Society in 1903, and gave the inaugural address as first president. A warm love of justice distinguished his relations with the Indian people and with his subordinates.

After retirement from India in 1907, Tupper settled in East Molesey, and devoted himself to literature and to local and national affairs. He was a strong advocate of imperial federation from the first inception of the movement, and of the National Service League. He died at his residence, East Molesey, on 20 July 1910, and was buried in West Molesey cemetery. A bust of Tupper by Henry Bain Smith was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1892. Tupper married on 2 Oct. 1875 Jessie Catherine, daughter of Major-general Henry Campbell Johnstone, C.B., by whom he had two sons and a daughter.

[Tupper's writings; India List; Indian Financial Statement for 1908–9; Civil and Military Gazette, Lahore, 24 July 1910; Pioneer, Allahabad; 25 July 1910; The Times, 22 July 1910; Surrey Advertiser, 23 July 1910; The Harrovian, Nov. 1910; information kindly supplied by Lady Tupper; personal knowledge.]

F. H. B.


TURNER, CHARLES EDWARD (1831–1903), Russian scholar, second son of John Alderson Turner of the legacy office, was born at King's Lynn on 21 Sept. 1831. He entered St. Paul's School on 9 Feb. 1843, and remained till August 1850. On 29 March 1854 he was admitted commoner at Lincoln College, Oxford. Although shy and reserved until he was drawn out in congenial company, he took a prominent part in his College Debating Society, where he showed an exceptional knowledge of European politics. On leaving Oxford without graduating he worked for three years as a schoolmaster. In 1859 he went to Russia, and in 1862 was elected, after competitive examination, professor of English literature at the Imperial Alexander Lyceum in St. Petersburg. In 1864 he was, again by competitive examination, appointed lector of the English language in the Imperial University of St. Petersburg. That post he held for life. On occasional visits to England he frequently lectured on Russian literature. He was highly respected both by the British colony in St. Petersburg and by Russian friends and colleagues. He died at St. Petersburg on 14 Aug. 1903, and was buried in the Smolensk cemetery, St. Petersburg. A monument to his memory, raised by public subscription, was unveiled by his successor, Mr. William Sharpe Wilson, in 1905. He was married, but had no issue.

Turner became intimately acquainted with Russian life and literature, and in his writings on Russian literature showed sound critical judgment and a grasp of its history. In 1881 he lectured at the Royal Institution in London on ‘Famous Russian Authors,’ which he published in 1882 in amplified form as ‘Studies in Russian Literature.’ Other courses of lectures at the same place treated of ‘Russian Life’ (in 1883) and of ‘Count Tolstoi as Novelist and Thinker’ (in 1888). The latter course