Biography of Bishop Francis Turner 1637-1700

Before 23rd August 1637 [his father] Dean Thomas Turner [aged 46] and [his mother] Margaret Windebank were married.

On 23rd August 1637 Bishop Francis Turner was born to [his father] Dean Thomas Turner [aged 46] and [his mother] Margaret Windebank.

On 3rd January 1644 [his father] Dean Thomas Turner [aged 53] was appointed Dean of Canterbury.

On 8th October 1672 [his father] Dean Thomas Turner [aged 81] died. He was buried in the Dean's Chapel Canterbury Cathedral.

Between 1683 and 1688. Mary Beale aka Cradock [aged 49]. Portrait of Bishop Francis Turner [aged 45].

On 11th November 1683 Bishop Francis Turner [aged 46] was consecrated Bishop of Rochester at Lambeth Palace [Map].

John Evelyn's Diary. 26th February 1684. Came to visite me Dr. Turner [aged 46], our new Bishop of Rochester.

John Evelyn's Diary. 30th March 1684. Easter day. The Bp. of Rochester [Dr. Turner] [aged 46] preach'd before, the King [aged 53] after which his Ma*, accompanied with three of his natural sonns, the Dukes of Northumberland [aged 18], Richmond [aged 11], and St. Alban's [aged 13] (sons of Cleaveland [aged 43], Portsmouth [aged 34] and Nelly [aged 34] respectively), went up to the Altar; ye three boyes entering before the King within the railes, at the right hand, and three Bishops on the left, viz. London [aged 52] (who officiated), Durham [aged 51], and Rochester, with the Sub-dean Dr. Holder. the King kneeling before the Altar, taking his offering, the Bishop first receiv'd, and then his Ma* after which he retir'd to a canopied seate on the right hand. Note, there was perfume burnt before the Office began. I had receiv'd ye Sacrament at Whitehall early with the Lords and Household, ye Bp. of London officiating. Then went to St. Martin's [Map], where Dr. Tenison [aged 47] preach'd (recover'd from ye small-pox); then went againe to Whitehall as above. In the afternoone went to St. Martin's againe.

On 16th July 1684 Bishop Francis Turner [aged 46] was translated to Bishop of Ely.

John Evelyn's Diary. 4th November 1684. Dr. Turner [aged 47], now translated from Rochester to Ely upon the death of Dr. Peter Gunning, preached before the King [aged 54] at White-hall on 3 Romans 8, a very excellent sermon, indicating the Church of England against the pernicious doctrines of the Church of Rome. He challenged the producing but of five Cleargymen who forsooke our Church and went over to that of Rome, during all the troubles & rebellion In England, which lasted neere twenty yeares; and this was to my certaine observation a greate truth.

John Evelyn's Diary. 15th July 1685. Monmouth [aged 36] was this day brought to London and examin'd before the King [aged 51], to whom he made greate submission, acknowledg'd his seduction by Ferguson the Scot [aged 48], whom he nam'd ye bloudy villain. He was sent to ye Tower [Map], had an interview with his late Dutchesse [aged 34], whom he receiv'd coldly, having liv'd dishonestly with ye Lady Henrietta Wentworth [aged 24] for two yeares. He obstinately asserted his conversation with that debauch'd woman to be no in, whereupon, seeing he could not be persuaded to his last breath, the divines who were sent to assist him thought not fit to administer the Holy Communion to him. For ye rest of his faults he profess'd greate sorrow, and so died without any apparent feare; he would not make use of a cap or other circumstance, but lying downe, bid the fellow do his office better than to the late Lord Russell, and gave him gold; but the wretch made five chopps before he had his head off; wch so incens'd the people, that had he not been guarded and got away, they would have torn him to pieces. The Duke made no speech on the scaffold (wch was on Tower Hill [Map]) but gave a paper containing not above 5 or 6 lines, for the King, in which he disclaims all title to ye Crown, acknowledges that the late King, his father, had indeede told him he was but his base sonn, and so desir'd his Ma* to be kind to his wife and children. This relation I had from Dr. Tenison (Rector of St. Martin's) [aged 48], who, with the Bishops of Ely [aged 47] and Bath and Wells [aged 48], were sent to him by his Ma*, and were at the execution.

John Evelyn's Diary. 14th November 1685. I dined at Lambeth [Map], my Lord Archbishop [aged 68] carrying me with him in his barge: there were my Lord Deputy of Ireland, the Bp. of Ely [aged 48], and St. Asaph [aged 58], Dr. Sherlock, and other divines; Sir Wm Hayward, Sir Paule Rycaut, &c.

John Evelyn's Diary. 20th December 1685. Dr Turner [aged 40], brother to ye Bp. of Ely [aged 48], and sometime Tutor to my son, preach'd at Whitehall [Map] on 8 Mark 38, concerning ye submission of Christians to their persecutors, in were some passages indiscreete enough, considering ye time, and the rage of the inhumane French tyrant against the poore Protestants.

John Evelyn's Diary. 6th February 1686. Being the day on wch his Ma* [aged 52] began his reign, by order of Council it was to be solemniz'd with a particular Office and Sermon, which the Bp. of Ely [aged 48] preach'd at Whitehall [Map] on 11 Numb. 12; a Court oration upon the Regal office. It was much wonder'd at that this day, weh was that of his late Ma*'s death, should be kept as a festival, and not [instead of] the day of the present King's coronation. It is said to have ben formerly ye costom, tho' not till now since ye reigne of King James I.

John Evelyn's Diary. 18th May 1688. King [aged 54] enjoining the ministers to read his Declaration for giving liberty of conscience (as it was styled) in all churches of England, this evening, six Bishops, Bath and Wells [aged 50], Peterborough [aged 60], Ely [aged 50], Chichester [aged 64], St. Asaph [aged 60], and Bristol [aged 38], in the name of all the rest of the Bishops, came to his Majesty to petition him, that he would not impose the reading of it to the several congregations within their dioceses; not that they were averse to the publishing it for want of due tenderness toward dissenters, in relation to whom they should be willing to come to such a temper as should be thought fit, when that matter might be considered and settled in Parliament and Convocation; but that, the Declaration being founded on such a dispensing power as might at pleasure set aside all laws ecclesiastical and civil, it appeared to them illegal, as it had done to the Parliament in 1661 and 1672, and that it was a point of such consequence, that they could not so far make themselve parties to it, as the reading of it in church in time of divine service amounted to.

The King was so far incensed at this address, that he with threatening expressions commanded them to obey him in reading it at their perils, and so dismissed them.

John Evelyn's Diary. 15th January 1689. I visited the Archbishop of Canterbury [aged 71], where I found the Bishops of St. Asaph [aged 61], Ely [aged 51], Bath and Wells [aged 51], Peterborough [aged 61], and Chichester [aged 65], the Earls of Aylesbury [aged 33] and Clarendon, Sir George Mackenzie [aged 53], Lord-Advocate of Scotland, and then came in a Scotch Archbishop, etc. After prayers and dinner, divers serious matters were discoursed, concerning the present state of the Public, and sorry I was to find there was as yet no accord in the judgments of those of the Lords and Commons who were to convene; some would have the Princess [aged 26] made Queen without any more dispute, others were for a Regency; there was a Tory party (then so called), who were for inviting his Majesty [aged 55] again upon conditions; and there were Republicans who would make the Prince of Orange [aged 38] like a Stadtholder. The Romanists were busy among these several parties to bring them into confusion: most for ambition or other interest, few for conscience and moderate resolutions. I found nothing of all this in this assembly of Bishops, who were pleased to admit me into their discourses; they were all for a Regency, thereby to salve their oaths, and so all public matters to proceed in his Majesty's name, by that to facilitate the calling of Parliament, according to the laws in being. Such was the result of this meeting.

John Evelyn's Diary. 4th January 1691. This week a PLOT was discovered for a general rising against the new Government, for which (Henry) Lord Clarendon and others were sent to the Tower [Map]. The next day, I went to see Lord Clarendon. The Bishop of Ely [aged 53] searched for. Trial of Lord Preston [aged 41], as not being an English Peer, hastened at the Old Bailey.

John Evelyn's Diary. 18th January 1691. Lord Preston [aged 41] condemned about a design to bring in King James [aged 57] by the French. Ashton executed. The Bishop of Ely [aged 53], Mr. Graham, etc., absconded.

John Evelyn's Diary. 19th April 1691. The Archbishop of Canterbury [aged 74], and Bishops of Ely [aged 53], Bath and Wells [aged 53], Peterborough [aged 63], Gloucester [aged 69], and the rest who would not take the oaths to King William [aged 40], were now displaced; and in their rooms, Dr. Tillotson [aged 60], Dean of St. Paul's, was made Archbishop: Patrick [aged 64] removed from Chichester to Ely; Cumberland [aged 59] to Gloucester. Note. A mistake. Bishop Edward Fowler was made Bishop of Gloucester. Bishop Richard Cumberland [aged 59] was made Bishop of Peterborough.

On 2nd November 1700 Bishop Francis Turner [aged 63] died.