Dawson Turner (15 December 1846 – 25 February 1909) was a

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

international who represented

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

from 1871 to 1875.

Early life

Dawson Palgrave Turner was born on 15 December 1846 in

Calcutta Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, the official name until 2001) is the Capital city, capital of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal, on the eastern ba ...

, India. He was the son of Gurney Turner (1813–1848) and Mary Anne Hamilton Mowatt. His paternal grandfather, after whom he was named, was

Dawson Turner Dawson Turner (18 October 1775 – 21 June 1858) was an English banker, botanist and antiquary. He specialized in the botany of cryptogams and was the father-in-law of the botanist William Jackson Hooker. Life Turner was the son of Jam ...

(1775–1858), the banker and botanist, and he got his middle name from his paternal grandmother, Mary Palgrave (1774–1850). He attended

Rugby School Rugby School is a public school (English independent boarding school for pupils aged 13–18) in Rugby, Warwickshire, England. Founded in 1567 as a free grammar school for local boys, it is one of the oldest independent schools in Britain. Up ...

Rugby union career

Turner, having played rugby at school, went on to play for

Richmond F.C. Richmond Football Club is a rugby union club from Richmond, London. It is a founding member of the Rugby Football Union, and is one of the oldest football clubs (of any code). It fields teams in both men's and women's rugby; the men's first ...

, one of the clubs of choice for Old Rugbeians. Turner made his international debut on 27 March 1871 at

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

in the

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

match. Of the six matches he played for his national side he was on the winning side on three occasions. He played in the first five matches against Scotland, the only man to do so. He was described as a "desperately hardworking forward, always keen and untiring" and "regardless of risk or danger". He played his final match for England on 8 March 1875 at

in the

match.

Career and personal life

On 12 March 1867 he married Emma Morgan in St. John's Church,

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

. They had at least two children, Harold Palgrave Turner (born 1872 in London) and Mary Hamilton Turner (born 1873 in

Peterborough Peterborough () is a cathedral city in Cambridgeshire, east of England. It is the largest part of the City of Peterborough unitary authority district (which covers a larger area than Peterborough itself). It was part of Northamptonshire until ...

Canada West The Province of Canada (or the United Province of Canada or the United Canadas) was a British colony in North America from 1841 to 1867. Its formation reflected recommendations made by John Lambton, 1st Earl of Durham, in the Report on the ...

). He initially trained as a doctor and in 1871 was student

obstetrician Obstetrics is the field of study concentrated on pregnancy, childbirth and the postpartum period. As a medical specialty, obstetrics is combined with gynecology under the discipline known as obstetrics and gynecology (OB/GYN), which is a surgi ...

University College Hospital University College Hospital (UCH) is a teaching hospital in the Fitzrovia area of the London Borough of Camden, England. The hospital, which was founded as the North London Hospital in 1834, is closely associated with University College London ...

. By 1891 he had divorced Emma and described himself as a retired military officer.Census Returns of England and Wales, 1891. Kew, Surrey, England: The National Archives of the UK (TNA): Public Record Office (PRO), 1891. Class: RG12; Piece: 772; Folio 15; Page 24; GSU roll: 6095882.] He died in March 1909 in England.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Turner, Dawson 1846 births 1909 deaths Alumni of the UCL Medical School England international rugby union players English rugby union players People educated at Rugby School Richmond F.C. players Rugby union forwards