Turner Arthur Image 1 Essex 1910

Description

United Provinces, India born Arthur Turner was primarily a right-handed batsman, but also a right-arm underarm medium pace bowler and occasional wicket-keeper who played first class cricket for various teams between 1897 and 1914, principally for Essex. After gaining a reputation as a cricketer at school and with the Army, Turner played occasionally for Bedfordshire before making his first class debut for Essex in a County Championship match against Hampshire in June 1897.

He played nine further County Championship matches for Essex that season and a dozen in the 1898 season, also playing in that year’s Gentlemen v Players match at The Oval. He played ten County Championship matches in 1899, also playing twice against Australia – once for Essex and once for the South of England. He also played for a Home Counties team against the Rest of England and was invited to play in that year’s Gentlemen v Players match at Lord’s but could not accept the invitation after being summoned to serve during the Boer War.

He played no first class cricket in 1900 or 1902, playing eight County Championship matches for Essex during the 1901 season. His appearances for Essex became more sporadic from this point, playing just twice in 1903, seven times in 1904, five times in 1905 and just once in 1906. After missing the 1907 season, he played four County Championship matches for Essex in 1908, also playing for the British Army cricket team against the Navy at Lord’s and for the Royal Artillery against Philadelphia that season.

He played just two County Championship matches in 1909, also playing for Essex and the South of England against Australia and for the Gentlemen of the South against the Players of the South. His final matches for Essex were in the 1910 season, playing five times for them in the County Championship, his last match coming against Yorkshire in August.

He still played four more first class matches, playing for a combined Army/Navy team against a combined Oxford/Cambridge University team in 1911, for the Army against the Navy in 1913 and for the Free Foresters against Oxford University and for the Army against Cambridge University in 1914. He played no more first class cricket after the First World War, though he continued to play cricket at a minor level. He played for the Army against a Public Schools team in 1920, and for the Royal Artillery against West Kent in 1925. In 1929, he played a match for Egypt against HM Martineau’s XI in Cairo and his last recorded match was for the Army against the West Indies in May 1939 when he was 60.

In 77 first class matches he scored 4,053 runs at an average of 34.05, with 11 centuries and 15 half centuries, with a highest score of 124. With his bowling he took 15 wickets at 32.26 apiece, with a best return of 3-47, also taking 31 catches and making 2 stumpings in first class play.

Turner was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Royal Artillery on 23rd December 1897. He served in the Second Boer War in South Africa (1899-1900), where he was promoted to lieutenant on 23rd December 1900, was severely wounded and mentioned in despatches. He returned to serve in South Africa in 1902, and received a substantive commission as lieutenant in the Royal Field Artillery on 26th March 1902, attached to the 61st Battery. Following the end of the war, he returned home with the men of his battery on the SS Sicilia in October 1902, when the battery was posted at Woolwich.

He later served in France during the First World War and was decorated with the Croix de Guerre. He was also decorated with the Distinguished Service Order (DSO), appointed a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG) and a Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB). He achieved the rank of Brigadier.

Aside from his cricket, Turner was an excellent rugby player and turned out for Blackheath and Kent. In 1902 the Times reported that his forward play made it “almost certain he would be in the next England team” but that never happened.

His younger brother Walter also played cricket for Essex, whilst another brother John played first class cricket in India for The Europeans, as did his nephew Antony.

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