Life

He was born at Reading, Berkshire

Reading, Berkshire

Reading is a large town and unitary authority area in England. It is located in the Thames Valley at the confluence of the River Thames and River Kennet, and on both the Great Western Main Line railway and the M4 motorway, some west of London....

 in 1591, the son of Thomas Turner of Heckfield

Heckfield

Heckfield is a village in Hampshire, England. It lies between Reading, Berkshire and Hook, Hart. It is the location of Highfield Park, where Neville Chamberlain died in 1940, and it is adjacent to Stratfield Saye House, the large stately home that has been the home of the Dukes of Wellington since...

 in Hampshire

Hampshire

Hampshire is a county on the southern coast of England in the United Kingdom. The county town of Hampshire is Winchester, a historic cathedral city that was once the capital of England. Hampshire is notable for housing the original birthplaces of the Royal Navy, British Army, and Royal Air Force...

, mayor of Reading. He matriculated at St. John's College

St John's College, Oxford

__FORCETOC__St John's College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford, one of the larger Oxford colleges with approximately 390 undergraduates, 200 postgraduates and over 100 academic staff. It was founded by Sir Thomas White, a merchant, in 1555, whose heart is buried in the chapel of...

, Oxford, on 26 June 1610, graduating B.A. on 6 June 1614 and M.A. on 9 May 1618. He was elected a fellow, took the degree of B.D. on 20 July 1624, and was created D.D. on 1 April 1633. In 1623 he was presented by his college to the vicarage of St Giles' Church, Oxford

St Giles' Church, Oxford

St. Giles' Church is a church in North Oxford, England. It is at the northern end of the wide thoroughfare of St Giles', at the point where meets Woodstock Road and Banbury Road...

, which he held with his fellowship, but relinquished in 1629. William Laud

William Laud

William Laud was Archbishop of Canterbury from 1633 to 1645. One of the High Church Caroline divines, he opposed radical forms of Puritanism...

, when Bishop of London

Bishop of London

The Bishop of London is the ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of London in the Province of Canterbury.The diocese covers 458 km² of 17 boroughs of Greater London north of the River Thames and a small part of the County of Surrey...

, made him his chaplain.

On 7 January 1628 Turner was appointed a member of the commission for ecclesiastical causes; and on 14 April 1629 Laud collated him to the prebend of Newington in St. Paul's Cathedral. On 29 October following he was collated chancellor of London, and soon after was appointed chaplain in ordinary to the king. He was briefly rector of St Mary's, Ashwell

Ashwell

Ashwell may refer to:Places:*Ashwell, Devon*Ashwell, Hertfordshire*Ashwell, Rutland*Ashwell, Somerset*Ashwell, Queensland, a suburb of Ipswich, in AustraliaPeople:*Gilbert Ashwell*Lena Ashwell*Thomas AshwellBuildings...

. In May 1631 he obtained the rectory of St. Augustine-in-the-Gate, but exchanged it on 10 November for that of Southwark

Southwark

Southwark is a district of south London, England, and the administrative headquarters of the London Borough of Southwark. Situated east of Charing Cross, it forms one of the oldest parts of London and fronts the River Thames to the north...

. In 1633 he accompanied Charles I in his Scottish coronation progress, and on 17 December of the same year his name appears in the commission for exercising ecclesiastical jurisdiction in England and Wales. On 11 November 1634 he was instituted rector of Fecham in Surrey; on 31 December 1638 he and John Juxon received from the king the lease of the prebend and rectory of Aylesbury

Aylesbury

Aylesbury is the county town of Buckinghamshire in South East England. However the town also falls into a geographical region known as the South Midlands an area that ecompasses the north of the South East, and the southern extremities of the East Midlands...

 for five years; and 16 February 1642 he was nominated Dean of Rochester. On 3 January 1644 he was constituted Dean of Canterbury

Dean of Canterbury

The Dean of Canterbury is the head of the Chapter of the Cathedral of Christ Church, Canterbury, England. The office of dean originated after the English Reformation, and its precursor office was the prior of the cathedral-monastery...

, in name only since Kent was in the hands of Parliament. He adhered to the king with great devotion, and attended him at Hampton Court and during his imprisonment in the Isle of Wight

Isle of Wight

The Isle of Wight is a county and the largest island of England, located in the English Channel, on average about 2–4 miles off the south coast of the county of Hampshire, separated from the mainland by a strait called the Solent...

. During the parliamentary ascendency and in the time of the Commonwealth he was harassed and deprived of his benefices. Three of his houses were plundered, his books seized, and he himself arrested at Fecham by a party of horse for having sent money to the king. He was dragged away while holding divine service and carried to the White Lion Prison in Southwark.

At the Restoration

English Restoration

The Restoration of the English monarchy began in 1660 when the English, Scottish and Irish monarchies were all restored under Charles II after the Interregnum that followed the Wars of the Three Kingdoms...

 he regained his Surrey rectories, and entered into possession of the deanery of Canterbury. Shortly after he resigned the rectory of Fecham. Dying on 8 October 1672, he was buried in the Dean's Chapel in Canterbury Cathedral

Canterbury Cathedral

Canterbury Cathedral in Canterbury, Kent, is one of the oldest and most famous Christian structures in England and forms part of a World Heritage Site....

, where a mural monument was erected to his memory.

Family

He married Margaret, daughter of Sir Francis Windebank. By her he had three sons: Francis Turner

Francis Turner (bishop)

Francis Turner D.D. was Bishop of Ely, one of the seven bishops who petitioned against the Declaration of Indulgence and one of the nine bishops who refused to take the oath of allegiance to William III.-Family and education:...

; Thomas Turner

Thomas Turner (President of Corpus)

Thomas Turner was an English churchman and academic, Archdeacon of Essex and President of Corpus Christi College, Oxford.-Life:The second son of Thomas Turner, Dean of Canterbury, he was born at Bristol on 19 or 20 September 1645; he was a younger brother of Francis Turner...

 (1645–1714), president of Corpus Christi College, Oxford

Corpus Christi College, Oxford

Corpus Christi College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom...

; and William Turner (1647–1685), Archdeacon of Durham.