Dawson Turner (1775-1858)

After attending Dr. Andrew Moore’s talk about Dawson Turner (1775-1858) delivered on the 5th February 2010, one of the excellent series of Friday talks at the Time and Tide Museum, I borrowed the book he referred to from the reference section in the Central Library: ‘Dawson Turner, A Norfolk Antiquary and his Remarkable Family’, edited by Nigel Goodman, Phillimore & Co. Ltd., 2007.

Yarmouth Priory by John Sell Cotman, commissioned by Dawson Turner

I am a great admirer of John Sell Cotman and was familiar with the name of Dawson Turner as a significant patron, but was nevertheless amazed to hear about the quality of the art collection he accumulated at Bank House (now Barclays Bank) on Hall Plain. Turner, a partner at the Turner Gurney Bank set up in Yarmouth in 1781, first won renown as a botanist. He was a Fellow of the Linnean Society of London, (founded in 1788 by the Norwich botanist James Edward Smith). Of his large collection of botanical drawings, many were by William Jackson Hooker, a protégé who went on to marry Maria, the eldest daughter.  It is interesting to see the important role female botanists were able to contribute in these early days of collecting and classifying. Turner prized the drawings of Ellen Hitchins, for example, whom he greatly admired.

Once Turner began to collect works of art, he proved to have an impressive eye for quality. He was in advance of his time in prizing the beautiful Bellini in his possession, Mother and Child Enthroned with St. Peter and St. Paul and a Donor, 1505, now in the Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery. He acquired an exquisite Poussin landscape painting, View of Tivoli, and another lovely landscape painting by Hobbema, which was his favourite. Dutch and Flemish masters featured strongly as would be expected, given the close trading and cultural links that existed. As well as the wonderful Christening Feast by Jan Steen, Turner had examples of Gerrit Dou and Aelbert Cuyp amongst many other artists from across the North Sea. He also had a portrait of Catherine Parr by Holbein, a Canaletto, a studio sketch by Rubens and work attributed to Van Dyke and Titian. Of the English masters, he had two paintings by Sir David Wilkie, a landscape by Richard Wilson, family portraits commissioned from Thomas Phillips RA, and works by Crome and Cotman, the last three being friends, with Cotman and Crome employed consecutively as drawing tutors to Turner’s talented daughters.

Not only that, Turner accumulated an amazing collection of manuscripts, folios, autographed letters, illustrations and books of all sorts. He was a most unusual pioneer in collecting contemporary ephemera – newspaper cuttings, advertisements, shop bills, railway tickets, lottery notices and such. He had all his collections beautifully bound in calf or Russian leather by Yarmouth bookbinders of whom he said “that Yarmouth yields only to London in the excellence of its binders”. I could happily create a long list of items in his collection which excite me, but it would be an indulgence. I will only mention Book of Job (1825) by William Blake and correspondence with that unique genius, Turner’s Liber Studorium which he bought from J.M.W. Turner himself and a 15th Century Flemish Book of Hours – what a privilege for his many distinguished guests to be able to browse such a collection!

Dawson Turner was supported in all this work by his most congenial and accomplished wife Mary Palgrave of Coltishall. Eight out of their eleven children survived, six of which were daughters. These were all taught drawing, etching and lithography, not only by Cotman and Crome but also the likes of James Heath ARA and John Varley who visited Bank House. Drawings and prints produced by Mary and her daughters were used to illustrate Dawson Turner’s publications, including catalogues of his collections, works on Medieval architecture in Norfolk and Normandy, portraits to accompany letters which he also collected and bound, and so on. It was very unusual for women to be engaged so industriously on work destined for publication, one of the many features of this fascinating family.

Bank House now and Bank House then, a watercolour created by Father Stephen Horton, specially for this article, from an original print (see note below). 

Mary died after 54 years of marriage, and one year later, in 1851 and much to everybody’s amazement, Dawson Turner, aged 76, eloped with a widow called Rosamund Matilda Duff, who was thirty five years his junior and of humble origins. They married in Gretna Green and moved to London to avoid the disapproval of family, friends and colleagues. Sadly his collections were sold after 1852 when he faced financial difficulties.

Whenever I now cross Haven Bridge towards Barclays,  I take great pleasure in thinking about the Turner family and what they were able to achieve in the early 19th Century .

Note:   For more information about Stephen Horton’s work, have a look at the gallery on the Prinknash Abbey website by clicking here.