William Turner (5 September 1792 – 10 January 1867) was a British

diplomat A diplomat (from grc, δίπλωμα; romanized ''diploma'') is a person appointed by a state or an intergovernmental institution such as the United Nations or the European Union to conduct diplomacy with one or more other states or internati ...

and author.

Early life

Turner was born at

Yarmouth Yarmouth may refer to: Places Canada *Yarmouth County, Nova Scotia **Yarmouth, Nova Scotia **Municipality of the District of Yarmouth **Yarmouth (provincial electoral district) **Yarmouth (electoral district) * Yarmouth Township, Ontario *New ...

on 5 September 1792, 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 Sir George James Turner (5 February 1798 – 9 July 1867) was an English barrister, politician and judge. He became a Lord Justice of Appeal in chancery. Life Born at Great Yarmouth on 5 February 1798, he was the youngest of eight sons of Richa ...

was his younger brother. On 10 April 1824, at

St George's, Hanover Square St George's, Hanover Square, is an Anglican church, the parish church of Mayfair in the City of Westminster, central London, built in the early eighteenth century as part of a project to build fifty new churches around London (the Queen Anne C ...

, he married Mary Anne (1797–1891), daughter and coheir of John Mansfield of Birstall. By her he had one surviving son, Mansfield, and a daughter, Mary Anne Elizabeth (1825–1894), who married Walter Stewart Broadwood.

Career

Turner's father, Richard, was a friend of

George Canning George Canning (11 April 17708 August 1827) was a British Tory statesman. He held various senior cabinet positions under numerous prime ministers, including two important terms as Foreign Secretary, finally becoming Prime Minister of the Unit ...

, who gave William a post in the

Foreign Office Foreign may refer to: Government * Foreign policy, how a country interacts with other countries * Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in many countries ** Foreign Office, a department of the UK government ** Foreign office and foreign minister * Unit ...

. In 1811 he was attached to the embassy of Sir Robert Liston, and accompanied him to Constantinople. He remained in the East for five years, and during that time visited most parts of the Ottoman Empire, as well as the islands and mainland of Greece. While in Asia Minor he endeavoured to emulate

Leander Leander is one of the protagonists in the story of Hero and Leander in Greek mythology. Leander may also refer to: People * Leander (given name) * Leander (surname) Places * Leander, Kentucky, United States, an unincorporated community * Le ...

and Lord Byron by swimming the

Hellespont The Dardanelles (; tr, Çanakkale Boğazı, lit=Strait of Çanakkale, el, Δαρδανέλλια, translit=Dardanéllia), also known as the Strait of Gallipoli from the Gallipoli peninsula or from Classical Antiquity as the Hellespont (; ...

, and, failing in the attempt, palliated his ill-success by pointing out that he tried to swim from Asia to Europe, a far more difficult feat than Lord Byron's passage from Europe to Asia. Byron replied in a letter to John Murray published at the time, and Turner, in a counter rejoinder, overwhelmed his adversary with quotations from ancient and modern topographers. He published the results of his wanderings in 1820 under the title ''Journal of a Tour in the Levant''. In 1824 Turner returned to Constantinople as secretary to the British embassy. During the absence of an ambassador, due to the removal of

Lord Strangford Percy Clinton Sydney Smythe, 6th Viscount Strangford (31 August 178029 May 1855) was an Anglo-Irish diplomat. Early life He was the son of Lionel Smythe, 5th Viscount Strangford (1753–1801) and Maria Eliza Philipse. In 1769, his sixteen-year ...

to Saint Petersburg, Turner filled the office of minister plenipotentiary. On 22 October 1829 he was appointed Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to the Republic of Colombia, and after filling that post for nine years he retired from the service.

Death and legacy

Turner died at Leamington on 10 January 1867, and was buried in the vault of the parish church of Birstall. A brass was erected in his memory on the north wall of the chancel. Turner amassed a large collection of

ancient coins Numismatics is the study or collection of currency, including coins, tokens, paper money, medals and related objects. Specialists, known as numismatists, are often characterized as students or collectors of coins, but the discipline also includ ...

through his travels. On his death, the collection passed to his son, Mansfield Turner (d. 1901), and continued to be passed on through the family until 1987.

References

External links

William Turner, ''Journal of a Tour in the Levant'' (1820), vol. 1William Turner, ''Journal of a Tour in the Levant'' (1820), vol. 2William Turner, ''Journal of a Tour in the Levant'' (1820), vol. 3
{{DEFAULTSORT:Turner, William (envoy) 1792 births 1867 deaths 19th-century English people Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Colombia People from Great Yarmouth