Sir Edward Turner, 2nd Baronet
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The Earl of Wilmington,
Henry Pelham
The Duke of Devonshire
Edward Turner | |
|---|---|
_-_Sir_Edward_Turner,_2nd_Bt_of_Ambrosden,_Oxford_(1719–1766)_-_OP491_-_Wolverhampton_Art_Gallery.jpg) | |
| MP for Great Bedwyn | |
| In office 1741–1747 | |
| Monarch | George II |
| Prime Minister | Robert Walpole The Earl of Wilmington, Henry Pelham |
| MP for Oxfordshire | |
| In office 1754–1761 | |
| Monarch | George II |
| Prime Minister | The Duke of Newcastle, The Duke of Devonshire |
| MP for Penryn | |
| In office 1761–1766 | |
| Monarch | George III |
| Prime Minister | The Duke of Devonshire, The Earl of Bute, George Grenville, The Marquess of Rockingham |
| Preceded by | John Plumptre |
| Succeeded by | Francis Basset |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 28 April 1719 |
| Died | 31 October 1766 (aged 47) |
| Party | Whig |
| Spouse | Cassandra Leigh |
| Alma mater | Balliol College, Oxford |
Sir Edward Turner, 2nd Baronet (28 April 1719 – 31 October 1766) was an English Whig politician who sat in the Parliament of Great Britain from 1741 to 1766.
Turner was the son of Sir Edward Turner, 1st Baronet and his wife Mary.[1] He received his early education at Bicester Grammar School.[2] He went on to Balliol College, Oxford where he was noted for his "distinguished scholarship and the regularity of his behaviour".[1] He married Cassandra Leigh, niece of the Master of Balliol.[1] He became 2nd Baronet on the death of his father in 1735. Turner died in 1766 and was succeeded in the baronetcy by his son Sir Gregory Page-Turner, 3rd Baronet.[1]
Estates
In about 1740 Turner replaced Ambrosden manor house with a large square country house of eleven bays.[3] His architect was Sanderson Miller, who also designed ornamental buildings in the grounds.[3] A landscaped park 5 miles (8.0 km) in circumference was laid out around the house.[1] The park was ornamented with lakes and statues, and the drive to the house was along a semicircular avenue of trees.[1]
Turner's new house became a meeting-place for politicians and cultivated society.[1] Cassandra's uncle Dr. Leigh and other wits and learned men from the University of Oxford were frequent visitors.[1]
In 1741 Turner built a new road between Ambrosden and Merton, Oxfordshire.[1] He intended to continue it to Oxford but the remainder of the project was never executed.[1] The road was reputed to cost a guinea a yard.[1] The road includes a completely straight stretch of about 1.5 miles (2.4 km).[1] It runs across level ground but its course undulates at regular intervals, apparently intended to help draught animals pull vehicles.
In 1740 Sir James Harington, 6th Baronet, who had accrued large debts by gambling, mortgaged his estate at Merton to Turner.[1] Harington was a Jacobite and in 1747 fled into exile to join Charles Edward Stuart.[1] In 1749 Turner foreclosed the mortgage and thereby obtained the manor of Merton.[1] As Turner had just had a great house built for himself at Ambrosden, Turner had no need of the 16th century manor house at Merton, so he had one wing demolished and the other turned into a farmhouse.[4]
