Turner, Thomas ___ 1729-1793 ___ British ___ tradesman

BIOGRAPHICAL SUMMARY
Turner was a Sussex shopkeeper in East Hoathly. He married Margaret Slater in 1753. They had one child but he died when three weeks old. Turner is only remembered because he left behind an interesting diary, lasting around 10 years, full of details about domestic and village life as well as a surprising amount of self-revelation. Charles Dickens quoted from Turner's diary in 'All the Year Round'; and Ponsonby says the diary 'is an amazing production, containing, as it does, the most outspoken confessions combined with almost ridiculous penitence and pretentious moralising'.
A biography link
Wikipedia bio
The Diary Review - Of briars, thorns and an angel

DIARY DATES, CONTENT DESCRIPTORS
1754-1765 ___ domestic social village self

WEB TEXT LINKS
etext
some extracts
googlebooks

ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPT LINKS
Yale University Library, Manuscripts and Archives

SOME PUBLISHED TITLES
The Diary of Thomas Turner 1754-1765
Extracts from the Diary of a Sussex Tradesman, a Hundred Years Ago
 

May 2005, August 2008, April 2013
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IMPORTANT NOTES AND CAUTIONS: 1) The first line of basic information may be incomplete in several ways: some historical figures have different names (titles, pen-names); their birth and death dates may be unknown or uncertain (g - guess, c - circa); similarly, their occupations may be unknown, or they may have had other jobs; and, for early diarists, I've used 'British' a bit too freely. 2) The biographical summary may not be accurate. It was compiled quickly from various sources, mostly on the internet, and the facts were not checked anywhere near as rigorously as they would have been if they'd been intended for publication in a printed form. 3) The journal dates and descriptors (which are in no particular order) must be treated with caution: since I have not examined the diaries myself, the descriptors are only guesses based on bibliographies, anthologies and internet biographies. 4) For the biography and etext links, I have ignored any sites with charges, and I have avoided, wherever possible, those with pop-ups or too much advertising. I have limited myself to providing three etext links where there is some variety between them. 5) For the original manuscript links, I have limited myself to providing a maximum of two (although, for a few diarists, their original diaries are held in more than two places). 6) I have provided the titles - chosen randomly - for up to three printed editions of the diaries.