Peter Turner, MD
(1542-1614) was a physician and son of William Turner (c.1508–1568). He was
born in 1542 and graduated with an MA at Cambridge, then obtained an MD at
Heidelberg in 1571 (later “incorporating that degree at both Cambridge and Oxford.
He practised his
profession in London and in 1582 was admitted a licentiate of the College of
Physicians, although not before he had been fined for practising without the
College’s licence. In 1580 he was admitted to the office of physician at St
Bartholomew's Hospital, succeeding Dr Roderigo Lopez and being in turn
succeeded by Dr Timothy Bright in 1584.
He represented Bridport
in several of Elizabeth's parliaments and is said to have been zealous in in
the Puritan cause in the House of Commons In 1606 he attended Sir Walter Ralegh
in the Tower, and also numbered Ralegh’s friend and associate, Thomas Hariot,
and the 9th Earl of Northumberland (‘the Wizard Earl’) among his
patients.
He was the author of a
pamphlet, 'The Opinion of Peter Turner, Doct. in Physicke, concerning Amulets,
or Plague Cakes,' (London 1603). The cakes spoken of contained arsenic and were
believed to ward off plague. Turner was also probably author of ‘A Spirituall
Song of Praise' appended to Oliver Pygge's ' Meditations,' (1589), a hymn of
thanks for England’s deliverance from the Spanish Armada.
He married Pascha,
daughter of Henry Parry, Chancellor of Salisbury Cathedral, and sister of Henry
Parry, Bishop of Worcester. He died in the parish of St Helen Bishopsgate in
the City of London on 27 May 1614. Although he had resided in St Helen’s parish
for at least 20 years prior to his death, his body was brought to St Olave Hart
Street for burial near his father.
Peter Turner’s monument
was damaged when St Olave’s was struck by two bombs on 17 April 1941, one of
the worst nights of the London Blitz. Although some portions of the monument
were recovered when the church was being rebuilt between 1951 and 1954, the
effigy of Turner went missing and was not finally restored to St Olave’s until
2011, following a year of negotiation with its then owner, a Belgian antique
dealer, who had put it up for auction in 2010.
In 2013, Peter Turner’s
monument was partly reinstated, using a mixture of the surviving stone pieces
(including the effigy) and new cabinet work, while the monumental inscription,
composed by Turner’s episcopal brother-in-law and recorded in the annals of the
church, was recreated in gilt lettering on slate by Lucy Haugh. The
conservation and cleaning of the effigy and the construction and installation
of the new monument were carried out by Colin Bowles Ltd.
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