Samuel Hammond Turner 1802 - 1841

Samuel was born in 1802. He and his brothers William Hammond, Henry, James and Alexander Turner were the children of John and Sarah Turner. Samuel married Elizabeth Woodall Bragg and when he died, on the 11th November 1841, he must have left his widow well provided for as several of their ten children are to be found at boarding schools (rather than working for a living) in the 1851 census. His will also mentions that he left his horse Jack to his brother William.

I am really lucky to have this amazing depiction of a man who died in 1841. To start with, I only had a sepia copy of it which had been taken from a drawing. This carte de visite type card had been on my mother's mantelpiece for ever: on the back, in my grandmother's handwriting, were the words 'My grandfather' so I knew for sure who it was.

In the summer of 2007, I visited my cousin Larry and took with me a piece of tapestry which his mother had made which I had found in my late mother's possessions. Upon receipt he said something like 'I have something you might be interested in, although I don't know anything about it.' He returned with the original of my carte de visite. I could scarcely believe my eyes and gave them the full flow of my knowledge about Samuel Hammond Turner for at least 30 minutes. When I was spent, Larry said 'well, as you know so much about him you'd better keep it' so it's in my hands for the moment.

The pale colours you see above are part of the original which is a miniature, painted on a piece of porcelain and mounted in a superbly simple Georgian frame. I had it re-mounted in the same frame as the whole thing was a bit precarious but it still looks the same.

That hair which sticks up if you brush it back is typical of my mother's side of the family!