Laurence Arthur Turner
Born 9 July 1864
Died 4 October 1957
Active: 1882 - 1943
Country of birth and death: England
Architectural sculptor, carver, modeller, architect
Born in Wotton under Edge. The seventh son of the Reverend J. R. Turner, rector of Wroughton in Wiltshire. His brothers included the architect, Hugh Thackeray Turner (1853-1937) and the painter, Hawes Harrison Turner (1851-1939) who was Keeper of the National Gallery between 1898-1914 under the director, Sir Charles Holroyd. Both brothers assisted Laurence early in his career, for example Thackeray commissioned carvings for houses on the Grosvenor Estate in Mayfair and Belgravia.
Laurence attended Marlborough College (1877-81). He was then articled to John McCulloch (or MacCullock) for five years and spent most of this time in Oxford. Turner went on to work with many leading architects, amongst them G.F. Bodley, F.C. Eden, Walter Tapper, Robert Schultz Weir and the writer of his obituary remarked that 'countless churches and other buildings throughout the country bear witness to his craftsmanship on stone, wood and plaster.'
His list of commissions (not necessarily in chronological order) includes: tombs for William Morris, Kelmscott churchyard (designed by Philip Webb) and for Norman Shaw, Hampstead Old Churchyard (designed by Ernest Newton); decoration in plaster, wood and stone for Anstey Hall, Cambs (with William Cecil Marshall and Robert Weir Schultz, 1909-10); Scottish Provident Institution building (1905); the Scottish Widows’ Fund in Lombard Street (1915); University College, Bangor, North Wales (for Henry T Hare); the Bodley Memorial, Holy Trinity, Prince Consort Road (for Edward Warren); the stone carving and decorative plasterwork in Rhodes House, Oxford and Church House, Westminster; internal plaster and wood carving at Africa House, Trafalgar Square; stone and wood carvings at Downing College, Cambridge, Woldingham Church, and Bishop Jacob Church, Ilford; coloured heraldry and symbols, lettering and stone carving for Winchester Memorial Cloisters; and the carved oak pulpit, altar table and the fibrous plaster chancel ceiling at St. Thomas's Church, Upshire, Essex.
He was Master of the Art Workers Guild in 1922, a member of the Society of Antiquaries, and an honorary Associate of the Royal Institute of British Architects. In 1927 he published 'Decorative plasterwork in Great Britain' (Country Life, London and New York, 1927), a subject he had lectured and published on since before the First World War (see 'The arts connected with building...', ed. T. Raffles Davison, London, 1909). Turner was a lifelong member of the Freemasons and held office in the Grand Lodge as well as being a past Master of the Arts Lodge.
He retired from practice in the early 1950s and died in a London hospital. Charles Wheeler paid tribute to his craftsmanship and design skills in an obituary for 'The Times': 'According to the fashion of these days such artists are rare and at a discount, but never does skill of his quality disappear form the world without a warmth and richness going too.' (Tuesday, 15 October 1957, p. 14).
This record includes information from his obituary in 'The Journal of the Royal Institute of British Architects', Third Series, vol. 65, April 1958, p. 212, from A. Stuart Grey, 'Edwardian Architecture: A biographical dictionary', Wordsworth Editions, 1988 and from details submitted by Richard Hewlings, English Heritage.
Wealth at death: £15,967 7s. 2d.
Probate date: 6 December 1957
Works
Dates are usually the year a work was exhibited so may differ from date of production.
New entries have been made each time a work was exhibited. Click here for more information.
Modelled Memorial Panel. Khartoum Cathedral
modelled under Turner's direction
Modelled and painted plaster Ship Panel
Contributed to making of A Pantheon of the Five Dominions
Directed model-making.
Contributed to Lord Frederic Leighton
1933 (Presumed)
Turner made and donated oak panel, as mount for the portrait
Locations
Address Wychwood Busbridge Lane Godalming | View on map
Living here at the time of his death in 1957.
Address 29 Queen's Square WC London | View on map
1889 (Presumed)
Address 30 Orde Hall Street Holborn London | View on map
1891 (Circa)
Address 56 Doughty Street London | View on map
1896 (Presumed) - 1920 (Presumed)
The family seem to have lived next door at number 55 based on the Census Returns of 1911.
Address 42 Lamb's Conduit Street London | View on map
1900 (Circa) - 1930 (Circa)
Exhibitions, Meetings, Awards and other Events
Attended The Festival of St Luke, 1945
Went on the invitation of the Dean, on behalf of the Art Workers' Guild (Sixty-second annual report of the committee of the Art Workers' Guild, p. 5).
Exhibited at Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society: Second Exhibition, 1889
'Plaster frieze'
Exhibited at Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society: Eleventh Exhibition, 1916
Multiple works
Exhibited at Art Workers Guild, Third Exhibition, 1905
Exhibited at The Exhibition of the Royal Academy of Arts (Summer Exhibition), 1768-
1897
Exhibited once, one work ('Design for a carved panel', cat. no. 1910)
Managed Reparation of Ancient Painting and Sculpture (Art Workers Guild), 1923
Speaker at Wood-carving (Art Workers Guild), 1906
Speaker at Sculpture in Wood (Art Workers Guild), 1911
Speaker at Stucco, its uses and abuses (Art Workers Guild), 1913
Speaker at The Application of Colour to Stone and Wood (Art Workers Guild), 1913
Speaker at The Ornamental Use of Cast-Iron (Art Workers Guild), 1914
Speaker at Temporary Street Decoration (Art Workers Guild), 1914
Speaker at Gesso and Plaster-Work (Art Workers Guild), 1914
Speaker at Trade Unions and Craftsmanship (Art Workers Guild), 1914
Speaker at Stone-carving (Art Workers Guild), 1915
Speaker at The Influence of Fashion in the Arts (Art Workers Guild), 1916
Speaker at Ships (Art Workers Guild), 1916
Speaker at Alehouse Signs (Art Workers Guild), 1916
Speaker at Flower, Fruit and Leaf Forms in Decoration (Art Workers Guild), 1916
Speaker at The Arts and Crafts Exhibition, its Inception, Aims and Objects (Art Workers Guild), 1916
Speaker at Craft and Media in Painting and Sculpture (Art Workers Guild), 1917
Speaker at A Scheme for a Franco-British Exhibition of Decorative Art, 1917
Speaker at Wayside Shrines and Crosses (Art Workers Guild), 1917
Speaker at The Crafts and Exhibitions Schemes (Art Workers Guild), 1917
Speaker at Federated Workshops (Art Workers Guild), 1917
Speaker at Craft Villages (Art Workers Guild), 1917
Speaker at Jewellery for Use (Art Workers Guild), 1917
Speaker at The Importance of Texture in Craftsmanship (Art Workers Guild), 1920
Speaker at Coloured Carving (Art Workers Guild), 1920
Speaker at Graining and Marbling: Their Possibilities (Art Workers Guild), 1921
Speaker at Succeeding Fashions in Modern Art and Craft (Art Workers Guild), 1921
Speaker at The Stone Carver (Art Workers Guild), 1921
Speaker at The Mason's Craft and his Materials (Art Workers Guild), 1922
Speaker at Co-operation of the Architect and the Craftsman (Art Workers Guild), 1922
Speaker at The Art of Dressing and Presenting Food (Art Workers Guild), 1922
Speaker at The Eighteenth-Century Shipwright as Craftsman (Art Workers Guild), 1922
Speaker at The Golden Names of the Guild (Art Workers Guild), 1922
Speaker at Early Scroll Ornament and its Development (Art Workers Guild), 1923
Speaker at Churchyard Monuments (Art Workers Guild), 1923
Speaker at The Artistic Value of Japanese Lacquer (Art Workers Guild), 1923
Speaker at Architecture and the Press (Art Workers Guild), 1923
Speaker at The Craftsman and the Commercial Man (Art Workers Guild), 1923
Speaker at Roofing Materials (Art Workers Guild), 1923
Speaker at London (Art Workers Guild), 1923
Speaker at Scottish Art, 1500-1800 (Art Workers Guild), 1923
Speaker at Pinturicchio (Art Workers Guild), 1923
Speaker at Ivory carving (Art Workers Guild), 1924
Speaker at Heraldry as Applied to Buildings (Art Workers Guild), 1924
Speaker at Type Design and Typography / Value of Pattern in Art (Art Workers Guild), 1924
Speaker at Holbein drawings and influence on later works (Art Workers Guild), 1925
Speaker at Flower Painting (Art Workers Guild), 1925
Speaker at Persian Art (Art Workers Guild), 1925
Speaker at Design and Construction of St Paul's Cathedral (Art Workers Guild), 1926
Speaker at Plasterwork (Art Workers Guild), 1926
Speaker at Colour in Relation to Our Crafts (Art Workers Guild), 1926
Speaker at The Use of Marble and Stone in Architecture (Art Workers Guild), 1927
Speaker at Albrecht Dürer (Art Workers Guild), 1928
Speaker at Alfred Stevens (Art Workers Guild), 1928
Speaker at Twenty-five Years of the National Art Collections Fund (Art Workers Guild), 1929
Speaker at Ruskin Reconsidered (Art Workers Guild), 1929
Speaker at Inigo Jones (Art Workers Guild), 1929
Speaker at Costume
Speaker at English Sculpture of the XVII and XVIII Century (Art Workers Guild), 1930
Speaker at Continental Public Architecture of To-day (Art Workers Guild), 1930
Speaker at Gothic Figure Sculpture (Art Workers Guild), 1930
Speaker at Chinese Architecture (Art Workers Guild), 1931
Speaker at Wood as a Sculptors' Medium (Art Workers Guild), 1931
Speaker at Prehistoric Art (Art Workers Guild), 1931
Speaker at The Geological Basis of Architecture (Art Workers Guild), 1931
Speaker at Porcelain (Art Workers Guild), 1931
Speaker at Lesser Known Sculptors of Florence (Art Workers Guild), 1931
Speaker at British Monumental Materials and Design (Art Workers Guild), 1932
Speaker at Heraldry (Art Workers Guild), 1933
Speaker at Staircases (Art Workers Guild), 1933
Speaker at Clocks and Astronomical Instruments (Art Workers Guild), 1933
Speaker at The Street: Architecture and Lighting (Art Workers Guild), 1933
Speaker at Medieval English Painting (Art Workers Guild), 1933
Speaker at Sculpture on Buildings (Art Workers Guild), 1934
Speaker at Secrets of the Crafts (Art Workers Guild), 1934
Speaker at The Beauty of Horse-drawn Vehicles (Art Workers Guild), 1934
Speaker at Stained-Glass, an Art or a Survival? (Art Workers Guild), 1936
Speaker at Heraldry in Decoration (Art Workers Guild), 1936
Speaker at Manuscript and its Importance (Art Workers Guild), 1937
Speaker at Wood Mills and a Primitive Pigment (Art Workers Guild), 1938
Speaker at Ancient Crafts of the Countryside (Art Workers Guild), 1938
Speaker at City Churches (Art Workers Guild), 1938
Speaker at Timber Architecture (Art Workers Guild), 1938
Speaker at Report of the Guild Sub-Committee (Art Workers Guild), 1939
Speaker at Scale Models (Art Workers Guild), 1940
Speaker at Stone and its Place in Building (Art Workers Guild), 1945
Speaker at Church Screens (Art Workers Guild), 1948
Speaker at Persian Art (Art Workers Guild), 1925
Institutional and Business Connections
Advisor to Ministry of Town and County Planning/Ministry of Works and Buildings
1943 - 1944 (Presumed)
The Ministries 'invited the Guild to send a Deputation to them and consequently a Sub-Committee of five members, being the Master (Professor A.E.Richardson, ARA), Past-Master Laurence A.Turner, Past-Master Gilbert Bayes, Bro.Joseph Armitage and Bro.Antony Gardner were elected by the Guild Committee as members of the Deputation and to consider the form that it should take' Was part of sub-committee to answer questionnaire on 'Art Education' from the Central School of Art and Design, on behalf of the Guild, together with H.Brownsword and A.Gardner [Sixtieth annual report of the committee of the Art Workers' Guild, p.2].
Donor to Art Workers Guild
1924 (Presumed) - 1951
'Thanks to the energy of Past-Master L. A. Turner, the panels recording the names of members, past and present, have been correctly brought up to date' [AWG annual report for 1924, p.10].
Thanks for same service expressed again in 1927 [AWG annual report for 1926, p.9].
Thanked for extending the panelling in the hall and bringing the painting and gilding of members' names up to date in 1952 [Sixty-eight annual report of the committee of the Art Workers' Guild, p.6].
Donor to Art Workers Guild
1929
Gave copy of his book 'Decorative Plasterwork' to Guild library [AWG annual report for 1929, p.5].
Donor to Art Workers Guild
1933
Made and donated oak panel, as mount for plaque relief portrait of Leighton by Wyon, to add to collection of Past-Master portraits [AWG annual report for 1933, p.8].
Master of Art Workers Guild
1922
Member of Art Workers Guild
1891 - 1957
Committee member 1916-1918, master in 1922, honorary treasurer 1928-1945. In the latter post he was praised for his 'zealous guardianship of the funds' [fifty-fifth annual report of the committee of the Art Workers' Guild, 1939, p.9]. Praised again for services in 1941 and 1944 [Fifty-eigth annual report of the committee of the Art Workers' Guild, p.3; Sixtieth Annual Report of the Committee of the Art Workers' Guild, p.4]. Retired from position in 1945 [Sixty-second annual report of the committee of the Art Workers' Guild, p.7].
Member of The Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society
1920 (Presumed)
Student at South London Technical School of Art (also Lambeth School of Art and City and Guilds of London Art School)
1882
Enrolled for at least two sessions in the Modelling class
Traded as L. A. Turner
Worked with T. Elsley, Ltd.
Personal and Professional Connections
Collaborated with Rachel Marshall
Collaborated with Robert Schultz Weir
In events at the Art Workers Guild and on architectural projects including carving and plasterwork for Anstey Hall, Cambridgeshire (to designs by William Cecil Marshall, Weir designed the gardens).
Collaborated with Harry (Henry) Wilson
Collaborated with George Edward Kruger Gray
1931 (Circa) - 1936 (Circa)
On the panels in Memory of Distinguished Harovians, Speech Room, Harrow School, unveiled 1931-36 (carved under the supervision of Turner, designed and painted by Kruger Gray)
Collaborated with Allan Gairdner Wyon
1933
Turner made and donated oak panel, as mount for plaque relief portrait of Leighton by Wyon, to add to collection of Past-Master portraits [AWG annual report for 1933, p.8]
Colleague of Charles Thomas Wheeler
Wheeler spoke warmly of Turner's skills as craftsman on the latter's death
Descriptions of Practice
Listed under Sculptors Post Office London Directory, 1900 Post Office/Kelly London Directories
1900
p.2371
Occupation given in Census Returns of England and Wales, 1891
'Architectural Sculptor' employer
Occupation given in Census Returns of England and Wales, 1901
'Architect, Modeller & Carver' employer
Occupation given in Census Returns of England and Wales, 1911
'Architectural Carver & Modeller' and his daughter Doris Cecily (born c.1891 in London) was 'Assisting in Business'.
Sources
Art Workers Guild Annual Reports, 1885-1900
1896, p.25.
Art Workers Guild Annual Reports, 1901-1912
1905, p.9; 1906, p.5; 1911, p.6.
Art Workers Guild Annual Reports, 1913-1933
1913, pp.13-14; 1914, pp.10-11; 1915, p.16; 1916, pp.7-8; 1917, pp.7-9; 1920, p.5; 1921, p.4, p.6; 1922, p.5, pp.7-10; 1923, pp.5-10; 1924, p.6, p.11; 1925, pp.4-5; 1926, p.4, pp.6-7, p.9; 1927, p.4; 1928, p.7, p.9; 1929, pp.5-
7; 1930, p.7, p.9; 1931, pp.7-8, p.10-11; 1932, pp.12-13; 1933, p.9, pp.12-13.
Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society: Rules and List of Members, 1920
1920
p.7.
Arts and Crafts Society: Catalogue of the Eleventh Exhibition.
1916
p.70, p.90, p.104, pp.165-166, p.173, p.268.
Arts and Crafts Society: Catalogue of the Second Exhibition.
1889
p.200.
Census Returns of England and Wales, 1881
2004
RG11 piece 2038 folio 146 page 11
Census Returns of England and Wales, 1891
2004
Class: RG12; Piece: 218; Folio 117; Page 17; GSU roll: 6095328.
Census Returns of England and Wales, 1901
2001
Class: RG13; Piece: 140; Folio: 105; Page: 34
Census Returns of England and Wales, 1911
2009
RG14PN704 RG78PN24 RD9 SD2 ED21 SN301
England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858-1966
2010
Name: Laurence Arthur Turner
Probate Date: 6 Dec 1957
Death Date: 4 Oct 1957
Death Place: Surrey, England
Registry: London, England
Post Office London Directory, 1900 Post Office/Kelly London Directories
1900
p.2371
The fifty-eighth annual report of the committee of the Art-Workers' Guild, 1942
1942
p.3.
The fifty-fifth annual report of the committee of the Art-Workers' Guild, 1939
1939
p.9, p.12, p.16.
The fifty-first annual report of the committee of the Art-Workers' Guild, 1935
1935
p.13, p.15.
The fifty-fourth annual report of the committee of the Art-Workers' Guild, 1938
1938
p.10.
The fifty-seventh annual report of the committee of the Art-Workers' Guild, 1941
1941
p.7.
The fifty-sixth annual report of the committee of the Art-Workers' Guild, 1940
1940
p.12.
The fifty-third annual report of the committee of the Art-Workers' Guild, 1937
1937
p.10, p.15.
The sixtieth annual report of the committee of the Art-Workers' Guild, 1944
1944
p.2, p.4.
The sixty-eighth annual report of the committee of the Art-Workers' Guild, 1951
1951
p.6.
The sixty-fifth annual report of the committee of the Art-Workers' Guild, 1949
1949
P.8.
The sixty-first annual report of the committee of the Art-Workers' Guild, 1945
1945
pp.4-5.
The sixty-second annual report of the committee of the Art-Workers' Guild, 1946
1946
p.5.
The Times Digital Archive 1785-1985
2008
The Times, Tuesday, May 04, 1943; pg. 6; Issue 49536; col F Obituary Category: Obituaries; The Times, Saturday, Oct 12, 1957; pg. 11; Issue 53970; col B
Mr. Laurence Turner
Category: Obituaries; and The Times, Tuesday, Oct 15, 1957; pg. 14; Issue 53972; col D
Mr. Laurence Turner
Category: Obituaries (accessed 12 August 2010)
Citing this record
'Laurence Arthur Turner', Mapping the Practice and Profession of Sculpture in Britain and Ireland 1851-1951, University of Glasgow History of Art and HATII, online database 2011 [http://sculpture.gla.ac.uk/view/person.php?id=msib2_1208266553, accessed 23 Mar 2023]
