Shallet Turner
Encyclopedia
Shallet Turner FRS
LL. D. (ca. 1692 – 13 November 1762) was a Fellow
of Peterhouse, Cambridge
, and a Fellow of the Royal Society. As a Regius professor
of Modern history
he was notorious for treating the position as a sinecure
.
on 27 September 1692, the son of John Turner of Tynemouth
, Northumberland
, and received his early education in Houghton-le-Spring
. In 1710, at the age of seventeen, he matriculated
at Peterhouse as a pensioner
, but later the same year he became a Cosin Scholar. He went on to graduate BA
in 1713/14 and was elected a fellow of Peterhouse in 1715. He proceeded MA in 1717 and graduated Doctor of Laws in 1728, also being promoted to Junior Dean
of his college. He had a particular interest in Mathematics
.
In 1724, King George I
established Regius Professorships in Modern History and Modern Languages at both Oxford
and Cambridge
. Those to be appointed, at a salary of £400 a year, were to be "persons of sober conversation and prudent conduct... skilled in modern history and in the knowledge of modern languages". In reality, the position was a sinecure
in the gift of the King. In 1735, a year after the death of Samuel Harris, the first of the new regius professors at Cambridge
, Turner was appointed to succeed him. The History of the University of Cambridge says of the appointment that Turner had "no qualifications whatever apart from his being a fellow of Peterhouse".
Shortly after Turner's appointment as regius professor, a government official asked him for information on his work. Turner replied that it was more than seven years since a list of King's Scholars had been made, that all such places were currently vacant, and that the documents and nomination forms could be found in the office of the Secretary of State
. In response to this, no action was taken. At the end of the Summer Term
of 1737, Thomas Gray
wrote with heavy irony
to Horace Walpole
–
Turner continued as regius professor from 1735 until 1762. A historian of the University reports that "Turner held the professorship for seven and twenty years and did absolutely nothing."
The antiquary William Cole (1714–1782) wrote of Turner –
On 26 March 1741, Turner was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society.
In 1748, he was a subscriber to Colin Maclaurin
's Account of Sir Isaac Newton's philosophical discoveries.
In 1748, Turner resigned his fellowship of Peterhouse, and in 1749 Thomas Gooch
, as Bishop of Ely
, filled the vacancy by appointing one Edward Osborne.
An anonymous pamphlet appeared in 1751 which complained of various abuses at the University and said of Turner that "If the Professor of Modern History and Modern Languages was to reside with proper assistants in the University, it is not to be doubted but that a numerous audience would regularly attend a course of lectures so useful and entertaining". However, neither the king nor the government was inclined to take any action, so such criticisms had no effect whatever.
In 1750, Turner was noted as a new subscriber to Archibald Bower's The History of the Popes (1748-1766). In 1759, he was a subscriber to a new translation of The Tragedies of Sophocles by Thomas Francklin
, the University's Regius Professor of Greek
.
Sir Edmund Gosse
, in his biography
of Thomas Gray
, notes that the post held by Turner came to be seen as a complete sinecure. In 1762, when Turner had been dead two weeks, Gray's friends lobbied to secure the regius chair in modern history for Gray, as "It was not expected that any lectures should be given; as a matter of fact not one lecture was delivered until after Gray's death". In the event, Gray lost out to Lawrence Brockett
, but he later secured the position after Brockett's death in a fall from his horse in 1768.
Turner's Will
was proved in the Prerogative Court
of Canterbury
.
In his 1955 edition of Smyth's The Lessons of History (1955), Wallace Brockway says dismissively of Turner –
Royal Society
The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, known simply as the Royal Society, is a learned society for science, and is possibly the oldest such society in existence. Founded in November 1660, it was granted a Royal Charter by King Charles II as the "Royal Society of London"...
LL. D. (ca. 1692 – 13 November 1762) was a Fellow
Fellow
A fellow in the broadest sense is someone who is an equal or a comrade. The term fellow is also used to describe a person, particularly by those in the upper social classes. It is most often used in an academic context: a fellow is often part of an elite group of learned people who are awarded...
of Peterhouse, Cambridge
Peterhouse, Cambridge
Peterhouse is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England. It is the oldest college of the University, having been founded in 1284 by Hugo de Balsham, Bishop of Ely...
, and a Fellow of the Royal Society. As a Regius professor
Regius Professor
Regius Professorships are "royal" professorships at the ancient universities of the United Kingdom and Ireland - namely Oxford, Cambridge, St Andrews, Glasgow, Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Dublin. Each of the chairs was created by a monarch, and each appointment, save those at Dublin, is approved by the...
of Modern history
Modern history
Modern history, or the modern era, describes the historical timeline after the Middle Ages. Modern history can be further broken down into the early modern period and the late modern period after the French Revolution and the Industrial Revolution...
he was notorious for treating the position as a sinecure
Sinecure
A sinecure means an office that requires or involves little or no responsibility, labour, or active service...
.
Life
Turner was baptisedBaptism
In Christianity, baptism is for the majority the rite of admission , almost invariably with the use of water, into the Christian Church generally and also membership of a particular church tradition...
on 27 September 1692, the son of John Turner of Tynemouth
Tynemouth
Tynemouth is a town and a historic borough in Tyne and Wear, England, at the mouth of the River Tyne, between North Shields and Cullercoats . It is administered as part of the borough of North Tyneside, but until 1974 was an independent county borough in its own right...
, Northumberland
Northumberland
Northumberland is the northernmost ceremonial county and a unitary district in North East England. For Eurostat purposes Northumberland is a NUTS 3 region and is one of three boroughs or unitary districts that comprise the "Northumberland and Tyne and Wear" NUTS 2 region...
, and received his early education in Houghton-le-Spring
Houghton-le-Spring
Houghton-le-Spring is part of the City of Sunderland in the county of Tyne and Wear, North East England that has its recorded origins in Norman times. It is situated almost equidistant between the cathedral city of Durham 7 miles to the south-west and the centre of the City of Sunderland about 6...
. In 1710, at the age of seventeen, he matriculated
Matriculation
Matriculation, in the broadest sense, means to be registered or added to a list, from the Latin matricula – little list. In Scottish heraldry, for instance, a matriculation is a registration of armorial bearings...
at Peterhouse as a pensioner
Pensioner
In common parlance, a pensioner is a person who has retired, and now collects a pension. This is a term typically used in the United Kingdom and Australia where someone of pensionable age may also be referred to as an 'old age pensioner', or OAP. In the United States, the term retiree is more...
, but later the same year he became a Cosin Scholar. He went on to graduate BA
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
in 1713/14 and was elected a fellow of Peterhouse in 1715. He proceeded MA in 1717 and graduated Doctor of Laws in 1728, also being promoted to Junior Dean
Dean (education)
In academic administration, a dean is a person with significant authority over a specific academic unit, or over a specific area of concern, or both...
of his college. He had a particular interest in Mathematics
Mathematics
Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...
.
In 1724, King George I
George I of Great Britain
George I was King of Great Britain and Ireland from 1 August 1714 until his death, and ruler of the Duchy and Electorate of Brunswick-Lüneburg in the Holy Roman Empire from 1698....
established Regius Professorships in Modern History and Modern Languages at both Oxford
University of Oxford
The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...
and Cambridge
University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...
. Those to be appointed, at a salary of £400 a year, were to be "persons of sober conversation and prudent conduct... skilled in modern history and in the knowledge of modern languages". In reality, the position was a sinecure
Sinecure
A sinecure means an office that requires or involves little or no responsibility, labour, or active service...
in the gift of the King. In 1735, a year after the death of Samuel Harris, the first of the new regius professors at Cambridge
Regius Professor of Modern History (Cambridge)
Regius Professor of Modern History is one of the senior professorships in history at Cambridge University. It was founded in 1724 by George I. The appointment is by Royal Warrant on the recommendation of the Prime Minister of the day...
, Turner was appointed to succeed him. The History of the University of Cambridge says of the appointment that Turner had "no qualifications whatever apart from his being a fellow of Peterhouse".
Shortly after Turner's appointment as regius professor, a government official asked him for information on his work. Turner replied that it was more than seven years since a list of King's Scholars had been made, that all such places were currently vacant, and that the documents and nomination forms could be found in the office of the Secretary of State
Home Secretary
The Secretary of State for the Home Department, commonly known as the Home Secretary, is the minister in charge of the Home Office of the United Kingdom, and one of the country's four Great Offices of State...
. In response to this, no action was taken. At the end of the Summer Term
Summer term
Summer term is the name of the summer academic term at many British schools and universities and elsewhere in the world.In the UK, 'Summer term' runs from the Easter holiday until the end of the academic year in June or July, and thus corresponds to the Easter term at Cambridge University, and...
of 1737, Thomas Gray
Thomas Gray
Thomas Gray was a poet, letter-writer, classical scholar and professor at Cambridge University.-Early life and education:...
wrote with heavy irony
Irony
Irony is a rhetorical device, literary technique, or situation in which there is a sharp incongruity or discordance that goes beyond the simple and evident intention of words or actions...
to Horace Walpole
Horace Walpole, 4th Earl of Orford
Horatio Walpole, 4th Earl of Orford was an English art historian, man of letters, antiquarian and Whig politician. He is now largely remembered for Strawberry Hill, the home he built in Twickenham, south-west London where he revived the Gothic style some decades before his Victorian successors,...
–
Turner continued as regius professor from 1735 until 1762. A historian of the University reports that "Turner held the professorship for seven and twenty years and did absolutely nothing."
The antiquary William Cole (1714–1782) wrote of Turner –
On 26 March 1741, Turner was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society.
In 1748, he was a subscriber to Colin Maclaurin
Colin Maclaurin
Colin Maclaurin was a Scottish mathematician who made important contributions to geometry and algebra. The Maclaurin series, a special case of the Taylor series, are named after him....
's Account of Sir Isaac Newton's philosophical discoveries.
In 1748, Turner resigned his fellowship of Peterhouse, and in 1749 Thomas Gooch
Thomas Gooch
-Life:Gooch was born to Thomas Gooch of Yarmouth, and educated at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, which he entered in 1691. He graduated B.A. in 1694, and M.A. in 1698. He became chaplain to Henry Compton, Bishop of London, and preached at his funeral in 1713. Subsequently he was chaplain to...
, as Bishop of Ely
Bishop of Ely
The Bishop of Ely is the Ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Ely in the Province of Canterbury. The diocese roughly covers the county of Cambridgeshire , together with a section of north-west Norfolk and has its see in the City of Ely, Cambridgeshire, where the seat is located at the...
, filled the vacancy by appointing one Edward Osborne.
An anonymous pamphlet appeared in 1751 which complained of various abuses at the University and said of Turner that "If the Professor of Modern History and Modern Languages was to reside with proper assistants in the University, it is not to be doubted but that a numerous audience would regularly attend a course of lectures so useful and entertaining". However, neither the king nor the government was inclined to take any action, so such criticisms had no effect whatever.
In 1750, Turner was noted as a new subscriber to Archibald Bower's The History of the Popes (1748-1766). In 1759, he was a subscriber to a new translation of The Tragedies of Sophocles by Thomas Francklin
Thomas Francklin
-Life:Francklin was the son of Richard Francklin, bookseller near the Piazza in Covent Garden, London, who printed William Pulteney's paper ‘The Craftsman.’ He was admitted to Westminster School in 1735. On the advice of Pulteney he was educated for the church: but Pulteney gave him no subsequent...
, the University's Regius Professor of Greek
Regius Professor of Greek (Cambridge)
The Regius Professorship of Greek is one of the oldest professorships at the University of Cambridge. The chair was founded by Henry VIII in 1540 with a stipend of £40 per year, subsequently increased in 1848 by a canonry of Ely Cathedral....
.
Sir Edmund Gosse
Edmund Gosse
Sir Edmund William Gosse CB was an English poet, author and critic; the son of Philip Henry Gosse and Emily Bowes.-Early life:...
, in his biography
Biography
A biography is a detailed description or account of someone's life. More than a list of basic facts , biography also portrays the subject's experience of those events...
of Thomas Gray
Thomas Gray
Thomas Gray was a poet, letter-writer, classical scholar and professor at Cambridge University.-Early life and education:...
, notes that the post held by Turner came to be seen as a complete sinecure. In 1762, when Turner had been dead two weeks, Gray's friends lobbied to secure the regius chair in modern history for Gray, as "It was not expected that any lectures should be given; as a matter of fact not one lecture was delivered until after Gray's death". In the event, Gray lost out to Lawrence Brockett
Lawrence Brockett
Lawrence Brockett was the youngest of five sons born to Lawrence Brockett and Anne Clarke. He inherited from his parents Headlam Hall, a country house near Gainford, County Durham...
, but he later secured the position after Brockett's death in a fall from his horse in 1768.
Turner's Will
Will (law)
A will or testament is a legal declaration by which a person, the testator, names one or more persons to manage his/her estate and provides for the transfer of his/her property at death...
was proved in the Prerogative Court
Prerogative court
A prerogative court is a court through which the discretionary powers, privileges, and legal immunities reserved to the sovereign were exercised. In England in the 17th century a clash developed between these courts, representing the crown's authority, and common law courts. Prerogative courts...
of Canterbury
Canterbury
Canterbury is a historic English cathedral city, which lies at the heart of the City of Canterbury, a district of Kent in South East England. It lies on the River Stour....
.
In his 1955 edition of Smyth's The Lessons of History (1955), Wallace Brockway says dismissively of Turner –