Jack Turner (photographer)

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Jack Turner (born September 24, 1889 in O'Leary , Prince Edward Island , as Brenton Harold Turner , † October 6, 1989 ibid) was a Canadian photographer . During the First World War , in which he participated as a soldier, he secretly made about ninety-nine photographs of the events of the war.

Life

Turner was born in 1889 to the general merchant Henry Willis Turner and his wife Florence Turner, nee Love, on Prince Edward Island in the Atlantic . Already in his youth he was interested in photography and took his first pictures with a simple box camera . However, he did not pursue a career as a professional photographer, but instead worked as a salesman in his father's shop.

In Charlottetown he joined the Canadian Army on September 25, 1915 . Turner arrived in England on board the liner Lapland in December 1915 . After completing his training, which he had completed in Horsham , he was assigned to the "2nd Canadian Siege Battery". When he arrived in France in May 1916, he began serving in the First World War , during which he saw the Battle of the Somme , the Battle of Arras and the Third Battle of Flanders in Ypres and Passchendaele .

Despite an express ban on carrying cameras, he smuggled a 2 × 3 inch camera built in Germany to the front line in his clothing. He shot around ninety-nine photos showing impressions from the war zone and the everyday life of the soldiers. In order to get hold of films, he asked his family in his letters to his home country for cigarettes, whereupon they sent him film rolls. He developed the pictures in dark places, for example in a cellar near a warehouse. He used his vacation days to visit friends and deposit the photos with them.

After the war, Turner returned to Canada in 1919 with the RMS Mauretania . He married his girlfriend Donna Dennis that same year and raised a daughter with her. He earned his living as a farmer in Knutsford . Only after he had given up this activity in 1952 did he return to photography. Pictures were taken that depict the landscape and life on Prince Edward Island.

He died in 1989 shortly after his 100th birthday. The archives of Prince Edward Island now house a collection of 239 photos that Turner shot or compiled in the course of his life.

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personal data
SURNAME Turner, Jack
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Turner, Brenton Harold
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Canadian photographer
DATE OF BIRTH September 24, 1889
PLACE OF BIRTH O'Leary (Prince Edward Island)
DATE OF DEATH October 6, 1989
Place of death O'Leary (Prince Edward Island)