25/06/1826 –06/08/1912
Clergyman's daughter, moved to Berkhamsted after death of her husband, a County Court judge.
Relatives
Research:
Plot 811: Mary Louisa Blachley Turner (1826-1912)
Mary was born 25th June 1826, daughter of the Reverend William Hamilton Turner and his wife Emily (née Blachley). Her baptismal record has not been traced, but from census records she appears to have been born at Aldborough, Norfolk, a village about seven miles south of Cromer. Her sister Emily was baptised there in 1825 and her father’s details given as “gentleman of this parish”.
She was the second child of the marriage and the family eventually numbered four girls and five boys.
Her mother, born in Bury St Edmunds, was the daughter of Lieutenant Colonel Charles Blatchley, Royal Artillery; her father was the son of the Very Reverend Joseph Turner, Master of Pembroke College (1784-1828). “Turner’s quiet efficiency as master contributed to the continuing academic distinction enjoyed by the college in the late eighteenth century.” (Oxford Dictionary of National Biography) He was twice Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge University and Dean of Norwich Cathedral (1790-1828).
By the time Mary was fourteen her father had been appointed Vicar of Banwell in Somerset, possibly via the parish of Barley in Hertfordshire, as two of her siblings were baptised there.
Banwell is a small village about five miles west of Weston super Mare and William was to remain there until his death in 1896 at the age of ninety three.
In the 1841 census the family are shown as having no fewer than seven female servants. As there were four children under the age of five, several of them may have been employed in the nursery! By 1851, with only five children at home, the Vicar and his wife were employing a more modest cook, governess and one female servant.
On 6th April 1858 Mary married her second cousin Edmond Robert James Turner at Banwell. They were both thirty one and Edmond, a barrister, was the son of the highly distinguished lawyer Sir George Turner, Lord Justice of Appeal in Chancery and a Privy Councillor. Mary and Edmond shared a great grandfather, the Reverend Francis Turner of Great Yarmouth.
Their first child, Edmond Matthews Turner was born in 1859 at 17, Park Village West, a development of handsome stuccoed villas by James Nash in the 1820s, close to Regent’s Park.
In November 1860 Mary’s brother, Lieutenant Charles Turner died in China, aged only twenty one. He was presumably with the Anglo-French invasion force fighting the Second Opium War and may have been wounded or died of disease, as the date of his death is after the hostilities had ceased. Only a month later their daughter, Mary Louisa Monica was born.
By 1861 Mary and Edmond had moved just a few yards across the road to 10, Park Village West which is rather larger than number 17. Their household now included the two children, a nursemaid, assistant nursemaid, a cook, a lady’s maid and a housemaid, so they must have needed the space.
Daughters Emily Agnes (born 1862), Constance Margaret (1863) and Annie Catherine Maria (1866) completed the family.
By the time of the 1871 census Edmond had been appointed a County Court judge for the North Riding of Yorkshire and the family moved to Leases Hall, Leeming Bar, a large and handsome house, “c1740 with late C18 additions” (Historic England, Grade 2 Listing citation) which at some point in its history had become a coaching inn and then reverted to private use. It still stands, very close to the A1.
The girls (Edmond jnr. was probably at school at the time of the census) shared two governesses – one Irish, one Swiss – and Mary was mistress of a household comprising a butler, a page, a cook and housemaid, a lady’s maid and a nursemaid. There was also a gardener, a coachman, a huntsman and a kennel-man, which implies that Edmond was keeping his own pack of fox hounds.
By 1891 Edmond and Mary had significantly “downsized” and were living at 1, Rosslyn Villas, Saltburn-by-the-Sea. These substantial villas have a fine view over the wooded Saltburn valley and its gardens. Edmond, sixty four, was still described as “County Court Judge and J.P”. Unmarried daughters Mary and Annie were living at home and their residential staff comprised a cook, kitchen maid, parlour maid and housemaid.
In 1898 Edmond retired, but hardly had time to enjoy his new leisure as he died April 12th the next year at Pier View House (a hotel), Bournemouth. His probate record gives his address as “Thornleigh”, Clifton, Yorkshire – a small village about nine miles north-east of Rotherham – so he and Mary may have moved again on his retirement.
Mary found a new home at “Beverley”, Charles Street, Berkhamsted where she lived with her unmarried daughters Constance and Emily.
She died there 6th August 1912 aged eighty six. A year later her daughter Constance and her granddaughter Margaret Mewburn were laid to rest here with her.
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