Family background
Henry Robert Turner was born in Ireland in 1818, son of John Turner and Sophia nee McClure. In 1840 he married Ellen Armstrong at County Armagh, Ireland. There were five daughters and three sons of the marriage. He died at Glebe on 14 July 1897, aged 79 years. Ellen Turner died 1 August 1905, 85 years.
Occupation & interests
Arriving in Australia in 1844, Turner worked as a Sydney policeman from 1851 to 1868, and then, living at 50 Derwent Street, Glebe, operated as a house and land agent. He left an estate of 1,241 pounds sworn for probate purposes.
Community activity
Turner, a friend of builder James Graham, supported Graham’s candidacy for the Glebe electorate against George Wigram Allen in 1880. Allen won comfortably. A member of No 54 Diamond Loyal Orange Lodge, Turner instituted legal proceedings against T J Dunn in 1887 seeking to have him ousted as mayor. He was unsuccessful.
Local government service
Henry Turner was an alderman on Glebe Council in 1876-87. In 1880, he moved in Glebe Council that a bridge across Johnston’s Bay from Glebe Point to Balmain would be of the utmost convenience to about 9,060 persons from Glebe, and probably about 13,000 inhabitants of Balmain borough, and affording means of communication to areas further afield.
References
Sydney Morning Herald, 2 February 1876, p. 3
Sydney Morning Herald, 13 November 1880, p. 6
Sydney Morning Herald, 6 February 1885 p. 5
Sydney Morning Herald, 12 May 1887, p. 6
Sydney Morning Herald, 15 July 1897, p. 1
Sydney Mail, 24 July 1897, p. 205