John Trench Turner (24 December 1879 — 15 April 1963) was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

first-class

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

er, educator and

British Indian Army The British Indian Army, commonly referred to as the Indian Army, was the main military of the British Raj before its dissolution in 1947. It was responsible for the defence of the British Indian Empire, including the princely states, which co ...

officer. The son of the Scottish soldier James Trench Turner, he was born in

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

Meerut Meerut (, IAST: ''Meraṭh'') is a city in Meerut district of the western part of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. The city lies northeast of the national capital New Delhi, within the National Capital Region and west of the state capital ...

. Turner was educated in Scotland at

Fettes College Fettes College () is a co-educational independent boarding and day school in Edinburgh, Scotland, with over two-thirds of its pupils in residence on campus. The school was originally a boarding school for boys only and became co-ed in 1983. In ...

, before matriculating to

Clare College, Cambridge Clare College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. The college was founded in 1326 as University Hall, making it the second-oldest surviving college of the University after Peterhouse. It was refounded ...

. At Cambridge he played both

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 ...

and

field hockey Field hockey is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with ten outfield players and a goalkeeper. Teams must drive a round hockey ball by hitting it with a hockey stick towards the rival team's shooting ci ...

. After graduating from Cambridge, he became an assistant master at

Oakham School (Like runners, they pass on the torch of life) , established = , closed = , type = Public schoolIndependent day and boarding , religion = Church of England , president ...

from 1902 to 1905. From there, he returned to

and joined the

Indian Education Service The Indian Education Service or Indian Educational Service (IES) formed part of the British Raj between 1896 and 1924, when overseas recruitment ceased. It was an administrative organisation running educational establishments in British India, larg ...

. He was appointed headmaster of the High School of

Poona Pune (; ; also known as Poona, (List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name from 1818 until 1978) is one of the most important industrial and educational hubs of India, with an estimated population of 7.4 million ...

in 1905, an appointment he held until the following year. Shortly after his arrival in India, Turner made his debut in

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is one of three or more days' scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officiall ...

for the

Europeans cricket team The Europeans cricket team was an Indian first-class cricket team which took part in the annual Bombay tournament and Lahore tournament. The team was founded by members of the European community in Bombay who played cricket at the Bombay Gymkhan ...

against the

Hindus Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...

Bombay Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

in the 1905–06 Bombay Presidency Match. He played first-class cricket until 1908, making a total of seven appearances in the Bombay Presidency Matches. He scored 254 runs at an

average In ordinary language, an average is a single number taken as representative of a list of numbers, usually the sum of the numbers divided by how many numbers are in the list (the arithmetic mean). For example, the average of the numbers 2, 3, 4, 7, ...

of 19.53; he made a single half century with a highest score of 54. With the ball, he took 7 wickets at a

bowling average In cricket, a player's bowling average is the number of runs they have conceded per wicket taken. The lower the bowling average is, the better the bowler is performing. It is one of a number of statistics used to compare bowlers, commonly use ...

of exactly 32 and best figures of 3 for 11. Turner was appointed vice-principal of

Rajkumar College, Rajkot The Rajkumar College (or RKC) in Rajkot, Gujarat is one of the oldest K-12 institutions in India. RKC has a 26-acre (105,000 m²) campus in Rajkot. History The foundation stone of Rajkumar College was laid in 1868. The institution was designe ...

in 1906. Turner served in the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, being commissioned into the Cavalry Branch of the

Reserve as a

second lieutenant Second lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces, comparable to NATO OF-1 rank. Australia The rank of second lieutenant existed in the military forces of the Australian colonies and Australian Army until ...

in April 1915. He was promoted to

lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations. The meaning of lieutenant differs in different militaries (see comparative military ranks), but it is often sub ...

in December 1915 while appointed to the

28th Light Cavalry The 7th Light Cavalry previously the 28th Light Cavalry, was a regular army cavalry regiment in the British Indian Army. It was raised in 1784 under the East India Company. The regiment later saw service on the North West Frontier and in World Wa ...

, with him later serving as second-in-command of the Zhob Cavalry from 1917 to 1918. After the war, he resumed his post at Rajkumar College and was appointed headmaster there from 1923 to 1930. It was in 1930 that he was appointed to be the personal tutor to the heir apparent of the Mysore

Wadiyar dynasty The Wadiyar dynasty (formerly spelt Wodeyer or Odeyer, also referred to as the Wadiyars of Mysore), is a late-medieval/ early-modern South Indian Hindu royal family of former kings of Mysore from the Urs clan originally based in Mysore city. ...

Jayachamarajendra Wadiyar Jayachamarajendra Wadiyar (18 July 1919 – 23 September 1974) was the 25th Maharaja of Mysore from 1940 to 1950, who later served as the governor of Mysore and Madras states. Early life Jayachamarajendra Wadiyar was born on 18 July 1919 at ...

. Turner later retired to England, where he died at

Berkhampstead Berkhamsted ( ) is a historic market town in Hertfordshire, England, in the Bulbourne valley, north-west of London. The town is a civil parish with a town council within the borough of Dacorum which is based in the neighbouring large new to ...

in April 1963. His brothers,

Arthur Arthur is a common male given name of Brittonic languages, Brythonic origin. Its popularity derives from it being the name of the legendary hero King Arthur. The etymology is disputed. It may derive from the Celtic ''Artos'' meaning “Bear”. An ...

and

Walter Walter may refer to: People * Walter (name), both a surname and a given name * Little Walter, American blues harmonica player Marion Walter Jacobs (1930–1968) * Gunther (wrestler), Austrian professional wrestler and trainer Walter Hahn (born 19 ...

, both played first-class cricket.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Turner, John 1879 births 1963 deaths Sportspeople from Meerut People educated at Fettes College Alumni of Clare College, Cambridge Scottish schoolteachers Indian Education Service officers Scottish cricketers Europeans cricketers British Indian Army officers British Army personnel of World War I Heads of schools in India British people in colonial India Military personnel of British India