John Philip FitzGerald Turner
Lieutenant-Commander (retired) John Philip FitzGerald Turner, (20 October, 1896 – ) served in the Royal Navy.
Life & Career
Turner's first appointment was to H.M.S. Lion from May 1914 until 14 April 1916 when he was sent to Beagle. He fought in her at the Battle of Jutland.
On 22 December 1916 Turner was appointed to the pre-dreadnought H.M.S. Agamemnon of the Second Battle Squadron, in which he was the senior Sub-Lieutenant in charge of a gunroom mess of a number of Midshipmen from the Royal Naval Reserve. Turner was told that discipline had been quite slack, and he imposed a set of rules upon the junior officers which they judged too strict. An appeal by the Midshipment to Lt. Cdr. H. B. Worsley resulted in approval to keep the harsh rules in effect. One aspect of their displeasure was that they were not to be allowed to smoke before the Captain made his rounds. This rule was breached, and the midshipmen drafted two letters for Captain Dumas on 1 April. In one letter, a midshipman R.N.R. named John Dermot Angell Lane (who died on active service in a collision of C.M.B. 71A on 15 October 1918) alleged that Turner had indecently assaulted him. The other letter was signed by eight other midshipmen (including Roy Hobbs, Sydney C. T. Smith, William J. Foster and D'Arcy F. Price) who attested that Turner had confessed to them in the gunroom mess that he had committed an "abominable crime" with two sub-lieutenants at Dartmouth. Turner left the Agamemnon on 2 May following a Court Martial convened aboard Lord Nelson at Mudros on two charges: conduct unbecoming an officer for the alleged attack on Lane and gross indecency for relating the Dartmouth events in the gunroom. Acquitted on the first charge and convicted on the second, Turner was to return to England at first opportunity and be dismissed the service. This sentence this was annulled in May and reduced to dismissal from ship and loss of seniority. As Turner started service in the sweeping sloop Carnation, his mother travelled to Dover where she prevailed on messrs. Hobbs, Foster, Price and Herbert to recant their testimony as fabrications. Price's letter to her dated 14 February 1918 provided a detailed confession of Price's own role in the affair and naming Lt. R.N.R. le Sueur as the ringleader of the conspiracy to get rid of Turner along with his onerous regulation of the gunroom. Astonishingly, Lt. le Sueur had professed to be Turner's friend throughout this period, and had loaned Turner his sword to wear at the Court Martial![1]
Turner was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant on 15 May, 1918.
Turner sued the publication John Bull for libel in July 1920 after it published a story on 16 and 23 November 1918 regarding the Court Martial of 1917, in which the magazine had decided that the charges were all true. The Admiralty was asked to produce the minutes of the Court of Inquiry that preceded the Court Martial, and was granted privilege not to produce these. Turner testified that in the inquiry Hobbs and Foster had recanted their letter, and only Price (whom you will recall later sent a letter stood by his account.[2]
He was placed on the Retired List at his own request in August, 1922.
Turner was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant-Commander (retired) on 15 May, 1926.
In 1929, he was receiving communications in relation to his divorce proceedings through the consulate in Copenhagen.
World War II
After some service, he was declared medically unfit in 1944.
See Also
Bibliography
Footnotes
- ↑ "Naval Officer's Libel Action." The Times (London, England), Saturday, July 24, 1920, Issue 42471, p.7.
- ↑ "Naval Officer's Libel Action." The Times (London, England), Saturday, July 24, 1920, Issue 42471, p.7.
