Wilton George Turner

9th Dec 1810 - 23rd Oct 1855

Claimant or beneficiary

Biography

Wilton Turner was awarded 1/8th of the compensation for the Dunbarton estate in St Ann with others, the whole group collectively described as 'representatives of Wm Gale Redwar'. The son of Dutton Smith Turner and his wife Mary Gale née Redwar and grandson of Henry Redwar and nephew of William Gale Redwar (q.v.).

  1. Born 09/12/1810 and baptised 13/02/1811 at Clarendon, Jamaica, the son of planter Dutton Smith Turner and his wife Mary Gale Turner née Redwar (q.v.).

  2. '[Edward] Turner's younger brother, Wilton George Turner (1810–1855), was born at Teak Pen on 9 December 1810. He was a student at the Edinburgh Academy before joining his brother in London and attending mathematics and chemistry classes at University College, London (UCL). Following his rejection for the chairs of mathematics at UCL and for another in mineralogy in 1834, he taught mathematics at University College School from 1832 to 1839. After teaching chemistry at Sydenham College he became a partner of Christian Allhusen (1806–1890) at Newcastle upon Tyne in the manufacture of alkali. Following research on the use of guano as a feedstock for chemical manufacturers, he emigrated to Demerara, British Guiana, to run a sugar plantation and zinc refinery. He married a sister of the Berlin chemist Gustav Rose [sic: he married the sister-in-law of Gustav Rose]. He died at Salt Cay, Turks Island, West Indies, on 23 October 1855.'

  3. Wilton George Turner 'of this parish' married Marie Frick of Berlin at St Pancras Parish Chapel 27/10/1836. Marie Georgiana Turner, daughter of Wilton George Turner and Marie Augusta was born 07/11/1837 and baptised 09/12/1837 at St Pancras. Two more children, Wilton Redwar Turner and Eliza Auguste Turner, were baptised in Neuekirche, Berlin Stadt, Brandenburg, Prussia, in 1840 and 1843 respectively. A fourth child, Oscar, was born in England c. 1845.

  4. Wilton wrote to William Whewell requesting he write a reference for his application for the Chair in Chemistry to replace his brother Edward who died 12/02/1837: 'Having finished the course of lectures which was interrupted by my Brother’s Death to the satisfaction of his Class + the senate of the College I have been persuaded to become a Candidate for the vacant Chair. Having for some time past however paid only a secondary attention to Chemistry, little supposing we were so soon to be deprived of my brother, my only Change must arrive from my knowledge of Mathematics + Mineralogy with which I have more recently been Engaged...’

  5. In the census of 1841, Wilton Turner aged 30 'soap manufacturer' was living as Gateshead with his wife Marie aged 25 and daughters Marie age 3 and Eliza age 2. A notice dated 29/12/1845 in the London Gazette states that the partnership between Christian Allhusen and Wilton George Turner at the Tyne Soap and Alcohol Works in Gateshead, 'under the firm of Christian Allhusen, Turner, and Company, has been this day amicably resiolved, by the retirement of the undersigned Wilton George Turner.'

  6. Eliza Turner died in 1853 and is buried in Barbados. Wilton's widow Marie and their three surviving children (including Oscar, age 15) appear in the 1861 census for Canada in the town of Guelph, Wellington, Canada West. Eliza and the youngest child Oscar are in the 1871 census for Canada in Bentinck, Ontario.


Sources

T71/857 St Ann claim no. 565 (Dunbarton).

  1. www.familysearch.org, Jamaica Church of England Parish Registry Transcripts, 1664-1880 [copy of parish record online]. See separate entries for Mary Gale Redwar, Henry Redwar and William Gale Redwar.

  2. W. H. Brock, ‘Turner, Edward (1796–1837)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2004) online edn, Jan 2009 available at http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/27848 [accessed 23/07/2012]. Robert Lancashire, 'Edward Turner, chemist', Friends of Kensal Green Cemetery Magazine, Issue 72, January 2014, pp. 14-20.

  3. Ancestry.com, London, England, Marriages and Banns, 1754-1921 [database online]. www.familysearch.org batch nos. C04793-3 and C99904-1.

  4. Copy of letter from Wilton to Whewell provided to Robert Lancashire by Trinity College Library, University of Cambridge.

  5. 1841 census online. London Gazette, Issue 20557, 02/01/1846, p. 27.

  6. Photograph of Eliza's gravestone provided by Robert Lancashire. 1861 and 1871 Census of Canada online.

We are grateful to Robert Lancashire for his assistance in compiling this entry.


Further Information

Absentee?
British/Irish
Spouse
Marie Augusta Frick
Children
Marie (1837-), Eliza (1839-1853), Wilton Redwar (1843-), Oscar (1845-)
School
Edinburgh Academy
University
University College London
Occupation
Chemist
Oxford DNB Entry

Associated Claims (1)

£2,956 15s 6d
Awardee

Relationships (14)

Nephew → Aunt
Nephew → Aunt
Brother-in-laws
Nephew → Uncle
Notes →
John married Wilton's aunt Harriet Gibbons nee...
Nephew → Aunt
Notes →
Harriet married Wilton's uncle William Gale...
Brother-in-laws
Brother → Sister
Brother → Sister
Brothers
Brother → Sister
Brothers
Son → Father
Brother → Sister
Brothers

Addresses (1)

Gateshead, Northumberland, Northern England, England