Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 57.djvu/374

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Society, and one of its secretaries till 1831. Every benevolent and scientific interest in the town owed much to him. From 1808 till his death he was visitor of Manchester College (then at York, now at Oxford), and till 1840 he invariably delivered the visitor's annual address. Among the subscribers to a volume of his sermons published in 1838 appeared the names of two bishops, who by their action incurred some censure [see Maltby, Edward]. He died at Lloyd Street, Greenheys, Manchester, on 24 April 1859, and was buried on 28 April in the graveyard of Upper Brook Street chapel. He married, first, in 1784, Mary (d. 16 Jan. 1797), daughter of Thomas Holland of Manchester; secondly, on 8 June 1799, Jane (d. 1855), eldest daughter of William Willets, minister at Newcastle-under-Lyme. He survived all but one of his children. A long list of his publications is given in the ‘Christian Reformer,’ 1859, p. 459. This does not include his contributions to periodicals, usually signed V. F. [i.e. Vigilii Filius]; with this signature he contributed to the ‘Monthly Repository,’ 1810 and 1811, a valuable series of historical and biographical articles relating to Warrington Academy. His portrait, by Morton, and his bust, by Bailey, are in the rooms of the Literary and Philosophical Society of Newcastle.

William Turner, tertius (1788–1853), son of the preceding, was born at Newcastle on 13 Jan. 1788. He was educated at Glasgow University, where he graduated M.A. in 1806, at Manchester College (then at York), and at Edinburgh University (1808). From 1809 to 1827 he was tutor at Manchester College in mathematics and philosophy. In February 1829 he became minister of Northgate End chapel, Halifax, where he exerted great influence as a promoter of educational and scientific culture. He died on 30 Dec. 1853. He married (1817) Miss Benton, niece of Newcome Cappe [q. v.] He published several sermons and tracts; his contributions to periodicals are sometimes signed V. N. [i.e. Vigilii Nepos]. His most important work is ‘Lives of Eminent Unitarians,’ 1840–43, 2 vols. 12mo.

[Wood's Funeral Sermon for William Turner, with Memoirs by William Turner (secundus), 1794; Harris's Funeral Sermon for William Turner (secundus), 1859; Memoir of William Turner (secundus) in the Christian Reformer, 1859, pp. 351 sq.; Memoir of William Turner (tertius), in the Christian Reformer, 1854, pp. 129 sq.; Spears's Record of Unitarian Worthies, 1878; Addison's Roll of Glasgow Graduates, 1898; information from the Rev. R. T. Herford.]

A. G.

TURNER, WILLIAM (1789–1862), commonly called ‘Turner of Oxford,’ was born at Blackbourton, Oxfordshire, on 12 Nov. 1789. His parents died when he was very young, and he was brought up by an uncle, then of Burton, who in 1804 purchased the estate and manor-house of Shipton-on-Cherwell, near Woodstock. His uncle, observing his love of drawing, apprenticed him to John Varley [q. v.], of whom he was one of the earliest pupils. In January 1808 he joined the ‘Old Watercolour’ Society as associate, and became a full member in November. He also joined the Sketching Society, founded by the Chalons in that year. He settled at Oxford about 1811, where he spent the greater part of his life, chiefly employed in teaching. He sent drawings to the society's exhibitions every year till his death, contributing 455 works in all. He also exhibited at the Royal Academy, the British Institution, and Suffolk Street. He sometimes painted in oils. His subjects were taken from Oxford and its neighbourhood, and from various other places in England, Scotland, and Wales. He preferred wide prospects under broad atmospheric effects, which he treated with considerable skill, introducing sheep and cattle with good effect. He was a devoted student of nature, and had a distinct style of his own, marked by truth and simplicity rather than elegance and imagination. He died on 7 Aug. 1862 at 16 St. John's Street, Oxford, and was buried at Shipton-on-Cherwell. In 1824 he married Elizabeth Ilott at Shipton, but had no family. A loan exhibition of his works was held in the University Galleries, Oxford, in 1895.

[Redgrave's Dict.; Roget's ‘Old Watercolour’ Society; Ruskin's Modern Painters; Catalogue of Loan Exhibition at Oxford, 1895, with preface by the master of Trinity.]

C. M.

TURNER, WILLIAM (1792–1867), diplomatist and author, born at Yarmouth on 5 Sept. 1792, was the son of Richard Turner (1751–1835), lecturer, and afterwards perpetual curate of Great Yarmouth, by his second wife, Elizabeth (1761–1805), eldest daughter of Thomas Rede of Beccles. Sir George James Turner [q. v.] was his younger brother. The father, Richard Turner, was a friend of George Canning, who gave William a post in the foreign office. In 1811 he was attached to the embassy of Robert Liston, and accompanied him to Constantinople [see Liston, Sir Robert]. He remained in the east for five years, and during that time visited most parts of the Ottoman dominions, as well as the islands and mainland of Greece. While in Asia Minor he endeavoured to emu-