Samuel Turner (died c. 1647) was an English physician and politician who sat in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...

at various times between 1625 and 1644. He fought on the

Royalist A royalist supports a particular monarch as head of state for a particular kingdom, or of a particular dynastic claim. In the abstract, this position is royalism. It is distinct from monarchism, which advocates a monarchical system of governme ...

side during the

English Civil War The English Civil War (1642–1651) was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Parliamentarians (" Roundheads") and Royalists led by Charles I ("Cavaliers"), mainly over the manner of England's governance and issues of re ...

. Turner was the elder son of the physician and

Puritan The Puritans were English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to purify the Church of England of Catholic Church, Roman Catholic practices, maintaining that the Church of England had not been fully reformed and should become m ...

Member of Parliament Peter Turner, and was the brother of the mathematician Peter Turner. He was educated at

St Mary Hall, Oxford St Mary Hall was a medieval academic hall of the University of Oxford. It was associated with Oriel College from 1326 to 1545, but functioned independently from 1545 until it was incorporated into Oriel College in 1902. History In 1320, ...

being awarded BA in 1602 and at

St Alban Hall, Oxford St Alban Hall, sometimes known as St Alban's Hall or Stubbins, was one of the medieval halls of the University of Oxford, and one of the longest-surviving. It was established in the 13th century, acquired by neighbouring Merton College in the ...

being awarded MA in 1604. He was made a Doctor of Medicine at the

University of Padua The University of Padua ( it, Università degli Studi di Padova, UNIPD) is an Italian university located in the city of Padua, region of Veneto, northern Italy. The University of Padua was founded in 1222 by a group of students and teachers from B ...

in 1611. In 1625 Turner was elected

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

for

Shaftesbury Shaftesbury () is a town and civil parish in Dorset, England. It is situated on the A30 road, west of Salisbury, near the border with Wiltshire. It is the only significant hilltop settlement in Dorset, being built about above sea level on a ...

. He immediately made himself prominent with attacks on the

Duke of Buckingham Duke of Buckingham held with Duke of Chandos, referring to Buckingham, is a title that has been created several times in the peerages of England, Great Britain, and the United Kingdom. There have also been earls and marquesses of Buckingham. ...

, calling him ''"the cause of all their grievances"'' and declaring that it was unfit that he should hold so many great offices. His speeches so angered King Charles that the King sent a letter to the House demanding justice. When the House ordered Turner to explain his words he did so by letter without appearing in person, and illness - perhaps diplomatic - prevented him taking his seat again before Parliament was dissolved. Turner was next chosen to represent Shaftesbury in the

Short Parliament The Short Parliament was a Parliament of England that was summoned by King Charles I of England on the 20th of February 1640 and sat from 13th of April to the 5th of May 1640. It was so called because of its short life of only three weeks. Aft ...

as a replacement for Edward Hyde, who had been elected for more than one constituency). He was re-elected MP for Shaftesbury in the

Long Parliament The Long Parliament was an English Parliament which lasted from 1640 until 1660. It followed the fiasco of the Short Parliament, which had convened for only three weeks during the spring of 1640 after an 11-year parliamentary absence. In Septem ...

in November 1640. Turner, unlike his father, took the side of the King and his ministers rather than against them. He was one of the minority who voted against Strafford's

attainder In English criminal law, attainder or attinctura was the metaphorical "stain" or "corruption of blood" which arose from being condemned for a serious capital crime (felony or treason). It entailed losing not only one's life, property and hereditar ...

, and when the Civil War broke out immediately joined the Royal army and was commissioned as a captain. He led a Royalist force to victory over the Parliamentarians in a skirmish near

Henley-on-Thames Henley-on-Thames ( ) is a town and civil parish on the River Thames in Oxfordshire, England, northeast of Reading, west of Maidenhead, southeast of Oxford and west of London (by road), near the tripoint of Oxfordshire, Berkshire and Buc ...

in 1643. He was disabled from sitting in the Commons for his Royalist sympathies in 1644, and sat in the King's Oxford Parliament when it met later that year. The Oxford antiquary Anthony Wood described Turner as "a man of very loose principles", though this probably referred only to the fact that he had an illegitimate son. He died in about 1647.

References

Dictionary of National Biography The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September ...

*D Brunton & D H Pennington, ''Members of the Long Parliament'' (London: George Allen & Unwin, 1954) {{DEFAULTSORT:Turner, Samuel 1640s deaths Year of birth missing English MPs 1625 English MPs 1640 (April) English MPs 1640–1648 Oxford Parliaments Cavaliers