John Herbert Turner

John Herbert Turner

John Herbert Turner (born May 7, 1834 in Claydon , Suffolk , † December 9, 1923 in Richmond upon Thames , Middlesex ) was a Canadian politician and businessman . From March 4, 1895 to August 15, 1898 he was Prime Minister of the Province of British Columbia . He was previously Mayor of Victoria and Secretary of the Treasury.

biography

Turner emigrated to Canada in 1856. He first lived in Halifax and moved to Charlottetown in 1858 , where he worked as a trader. In 1862 he heard of the Cariboo gold rush and decided to move to British Columbia. He originally planned to dig for gold, but opened a shop shortly after arriving in Victoria . In 1864 he co-founded Turner, Beeton and Company , which operated successfully in fish processing, insurance, finance, import and wholesale. In 1868 he joined the Freemasons .

From 1876 Turner was represented on the city council of Victoria, from 1879 to 1881 he was mayor of the provincial capital. In July 1886 he was elected to the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia as a member of the Victoria constituency (there were no parties then). From 1887 to 1895 Turner was Treasury Secretary in the cabinets of AEB Davie , John Robson, and Theodore Davie . After Theodore Davies was elected to the Provincial Supreme Court, Lieutenant Governor Edgar Dewdney Turner entrusted the formation of a new government on March 4, 1895.

As Prime Minister Turner had to take severe criticism because during his tenure as Treasury Secretary the budget deficit increased many times over and no change was foreseeable. In December 1897, the Victoria Province newspaper described Turner and one of his ministers as "political whores" for making high-risk speculation in Dawson City . Turner sued the newspaper for defamation, but lost the trial in February 1898, massively damaging his government's credibility.

The July 1898 elections ended in stalemate. Turner initially refused to resign, but finally gave in on August 15 to pressure from Lieutenant Governor Thomas Robert McInnes . He was opposition leader until June 1900, then Treasury Secretary under James Dunsmuir until September 1901 . Then Turner moved to London , where he was the official representative of the province until 1915 and 1917/18.

Web links

• John Herbert Turner . In: Dictionary of Canadian Biography . 24 volumes, 1966–2018. University of Toronto Press, Toronto ( English , French ).
• John Herbert Turner ( English, French ) In: The Canadian Encyclopedia .
• Short Biography - Grand Lodge of British Columbia and Yukon