to have taken the oaths to King William and Queen Mary and the present Queen Anne, which, if so, it makes me have a much better opinion of him,' adds subsequently in the margin: 'Tis a mistake. He took all the oaths, as appears since his death.' This positive statement by Hearne and the silence of Wood (see Wood's Life and Times, ed. Clark, iii. 307) seem completely to dispose of the allegation.
Turner appears to have ruled his college well, wisely, and peaceably; and under his administration it rapidly regained the efficiency and reputation which had been impaired under his predecessor, the restored president, Robert Newlyn [q. v.] Being both rich and generous, he seems to have spent his money freely on college objects. In 1706, with rare munificence and much taste, he set about the erection of the handsome pile of buildings which faces the college garden and Christ Church meadow, formerly called Turner's and now called the Fellows' buildings, the design, it is said, being given by Dean Aldrich. They were completed in 1712, and, according to Hearne, cost about 4,000l., a sum which, in the altered value of the precious metals, would of course now be represented by a much larger amount.
Turner died on 29 April 1714, and is buried in the college chapel, where, as also at Stowe Nine Churches in Northamptonshire, there is a lengthy inscription, the main contents of which relate to the disposal of his property. After providing for his relatives, for the college—to which, among other legacies, he bequeaths his whole 'study of books,' many of them very rare and valuable—and for various other objects, he leaves the residue of his property, which he thinks will be 'pretty considerable' (said on the monuments at Corpus and Stowe Nine Churches, where his executors bought a large estate, to have amounted to 20.000l.), to be settled upon 'the governors and trustees of the corporation for the relief of poor clergymen's widows and orphans,' i.e. the corporation which, originally founded in 1655, now goes by the name of the 'Corporation of the Sons of the Clergy.' Thus Turner may almost be said to be a second founder of this society.
The only publication bearing Turner's name is a single sermon preached at Whitehall on 29 May 1685 before James II, to whom he was chaplain. In this sermon there is an acute criticism of Hobbes's position, that a 'state of nature is a state of war.' But in the Bodleian Library there are some fragments of manuscript sermons (Rawlinson MSS. C. 626) which seem to be of a plain practical character; and also two printed tracts, published anonymously, which are attributed to him. The two latter are entitled respectively 'The Christian Eucharist no Proper Sacrifice' (London, 1714), and 'A Defence of the Doctrine and Practice of the Church of England against some Modern Innovations' (London, 1712). If these tracts were really written by Turner, they show unmistakably that not only was he not romishly inclined, but that he had no sympathy with the extreme high-church developments of the nonjurors.
[Fowler's History of Corpus Christi College, p. 261-72; Registers of C. C. C.; Hearne's Diaries, under 4 Dec. 1706, 7 May 1708, and 29 April 1714; Whiston's Memoirs, 2nd edit, pp. 178-86; Foster's Alumni Oxon.; Turner's will and codicil in the Oxford University Archives.]
TURNER, THOMAS (1749–1809), potter, born in 1749, was the eldest son of Richard Turner (1724?–1791) [q. v.], vicar of Elmley Castle, Worcestershire, by his wife Sarah. Richard Turner (1753–1788) [q. v.] was his younger brother. It has been supposed that Thomas was brought up as a silversmith. He was, however, only formally apprenticed to his father, to qualify him for the freedom of the city of Worcester. It is probable that he was early connected with the Worcester china works. He was an excellent chemist, was a thorough master of the various processes connected with porcelain manufacture, was a skilful draughtsman, designer, and engraver, and was also a clever musician. He was a magistrate for Shropshire and Staffordshire, and a freeman of Worcester, Much Wenlock, and Bridgnorth. In 1772 he succeeded his father-in-law, Gallimore, at his pottery works at Caughley in Shropshire. The works, which were styled ‘The Salopian China Warehouse,’ had gained some repute as early as 1756. The earlier goods produced were not many degrees removed from earthenware, but gradually they assumed ‘a finer and more transparent character. Like the early Worcester examples, the patterns were principally confined to blue flowers, &c., on a white ground; and in this style and colour’ the goods in many respects excelled any contemporary productions.
On succeeding Gallimore, Turner set about enlarging the manufactory. He completed his improvements in 1775, and in 1780 visited France, in order to investigate the methods employed in the porcelain manufactories at Paris. He brought back several skilled workmen, who greatly aided him in his subsequent innovations. Immediately on his return he introduced to England the famous ‘willow pattern,’ and about
