Thomas Turner (president)

Thomas Turner (September, 1645 – 29 April 1714) 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. Thomas originally matriculated at Hart Hall on 10 May 1662, but on 6 October 1663 he was admitted to a Gloucestershire scholarship at Corpus, of which he became fellow in 1672. He graduated B.A. on 15 March 1666, M.A. in 1669, B.D. in 1677, and D.D. in 1683.

From 1672 to 1695 he was vicar of Milton, near Sittingbourne, Kent, and from 1680 to 1689 rector of Thorley, Hertfordshire. He became rector of Fulham, Middlesex, in 1688, archdeacon of Essex in 1680, canon of Ely in 1686, canon of St Paul's Cathedral in 1682, and precentor in 1690. These preferments, except the sinecure rectory of Fulham and the canonry and precentorship of St. Paul's, he resigned at or shortly after his election to the presidency of Corpus on 13 March 1688. The rapid election, which took place within a week of the death of his predecessor Robert Newlyn, diminished the chance of any interference from the court of James II.

Turner reformed the college and spent his own money on it. In 1706 he began what are now the Fellows' buildings, to a design attributed to Henry Aldrich. They were completed in 1712. Turner died on 29 April 1714, and is buried in the college chapel, where, as also at Stowe Nine Churches in Northamptonshire, there is a lengthy inscription about his bequests. These included a major benefaction to the Corporation of the Sons of the Clergy.

Turner was, from the hints of Thomas Hearne, suspected of Jacobite sympathies, but on very slender grounds. His publication was a sermon preached at Whitehall on 29 May 1685 before James II, to whom he was chaplain. In this sermon there is criticism of Thomas Hobbes's position, that a 'state of nature is a state of war.'

References

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: "Turner, Thomas (1645-1714)". Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.

Academic offices
Preceded by Robert Newlyn	President of Corpus Christi College, Oxford 1688-1714	Succeeded by Basil Kennett

v t e Archdeacons of Essex and of West Ham
High Medieval	Theobald Walter Richard Ruffus Robert Banastre Richard de Hegham Theobald de Valognes Thomas de Fauconberg Hugh de Sancto Edmundo Stephen de Sandwic Richard of Gravesend Adam de Faversham Roger de La Legh Robert Winchelsey Laurence de Fuscis de Bera
Late Medieval	Aldebrand Riccardi de Militiis Hildebrand de Anibaldis Stephen de Segrave John de Elham William Vygerous Robert de Canterbury Hugh de Statherne John de Bouser William de Rothwell John Barnet John de Cantebrugg Roger de Freton Henry de Winterton Richard Prentys Edward Prentys John Shirborne Zanobius Mulakyn James Goldwell John Gunthorpe John Crall Edmund Audley Thomas Jane
Early modern	John de Lopez Francis de Busleiden Richard Rawson Edward Moylle Thomas Darbyshire Thomas Cole John Walker William Tabor Samuel Harsnett George Goldman Edward Layfield Thomas Turner Charles Alston Thomas Gooch Reuben Clerke William Gibson Thomas Rutherforth Stotherd Abdy James Waller
Late modern (Essex)	William Gretton Francis Wollaston Hugh Jones Carew St John Mildmay Gaspard-le-Marchant Carey Alfred Blomfield Henry Johnson Thomas Stevens, Bishop of Barking James Inskip, Bishop of Barking (became Archdeacon of West Ham)
West Ham	James Inskip (previously Archdeacon of Essex) Hugh Gough John Elvin Denis Wakeling James Adams John Taylor Peter Dawes Roger Sainsbury Tim Stevens Michael Fox Elwin Cockett Mike Power

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