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SKETCH OF THE LIFE

OF THE

REVEREND DAVID TURNOR, A. M.

VICAR OF PEMBRYN, CARDIGANSHIRE; RECTOR OF MANORDIVY,
PEMBROKESHIRE; AND ONE OF HIS MAJESTY'S JUSTICES
OF THE PEACE FOR THE COUNTY OF CARDIGAN.

MONG those, who, by their talents, have promoted improvement in any art, or, by their example and instruction, maintained the dignity of virtue and religion, the late Vicar of Pembryn, in Cardiganshire, had a claim to distinction. As an active promoter of agricultural improvement, that county is much indebted to him.

For, in establishing in it the Society for the Encouragement of Agriculture and Industry, he took an active part; and since the period of its first establishment till the day of his death, he devoted his time and abilities to carry into effect its beneficial views. His labours for the society, as their secretary, though gratuitous, were marked with zeal as well as with ability. They were not confined to the duties of the office, but were

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exerted either in communicating information, or in diffusing a spirit for improvement, both by advice and encouragement.

Being himself an active agriculturist, he convinced by success that land of a boggy and heathy nature can be brought into good cultivation. So ignorant of the beneficial effects of draining were many in the county, that they considered no other advantage could be derived from attempting to improve such land than to furnish the neighbouring poor with employment. Nor was their opinion more favourable concerning his plantations. As his estate was exposed to the westerly winds, they judged the situation unfavourable to any kind of trees. Beholding, however, the land gradually improving, and seeing the plantations advancing annually in growth

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growth, they became sensible of the fallacy of their opinion. By degrees their prejudices yielded to conviction; and, instead of indulging their disposition to condemn, some availed themselves of his example. Spots were enclosed, and where formerly nothing was to be seen but a wild waste, the eye is now delighted with pleasant fields, and sometimes with a flourishing plantation.

Agricultural improvement has not a greater enemy to encounter than prejudice, which even conviction can hardly conquer. To him therefore, who, by a judicious and cheap system, weakens its power, and, by ultimate and complete success, overcomes it, the public are under many obligations.

And as a clergyman his loss will be severely felt. For teaching no precepts, which he did not practise, he enforced, by his conduct, what he delivered from the pulpit. Humility he did not recommend without being humble himself, nor shew the amiableness of benevolence and candour without performing benevolent acts, and thinking and speaking well of others.

But more particularly as a magistrate will his loss be felt.

For hearing the complaints of the injured, or giving counsel to those who sought his advice, he was always ready. Considering every person's time of value to him, he studiously avoided keeping any one waiting. All found immediate access, and all received an impartial hearing. Those, whom trifling disputes had made inveterate enemies, were observed to leave his presence without their animosity, and to return to their homes reconciled friends.

By his patience in hearing each relating his wrongs, and impartiality in redressing them, he endeared himself to opposite parties. While one considered him as the redressor of his injuries, the other viewed him as a friend, who had saved him from the ruinous consequences of an expensive law suit. The good, indeed, he did in allaying animosities, maintaining order, encouraging industry, and checking dishonesty, can be better conceived than described.

Magistrates, who discharge their duty with ability, justice, and strict impartiality, are a blessing to their neighbourhood. Itis, therefore, to be regretted that, in the county of Cardigan, there are many extensive parishes

without

without even a single magistrate. In the commission, the list, composed chiefly of young men, may be long; but as for active magistrates there are very few.

For some years Mr. Turnor was the only resident magistrate in the parish of Llangranog, wherein was his residence, called Wervilbrook. His usefulness, therefore, was extensively felt in that part of the county, and his death was universally lamented. As his remains were conveying to their last home, crowds attended to pay their last testimony of respect, and by the time they had reached the parish church of Llangoedmore, a distance of about twelve miles, they had increased into a multitude. It was an interesting sight, and particularly heightened by the general expression of sorrow that strongly marked every face. When the grave received his remains, hardly any could suppress their grief. The tear escaped from most, and shewed

that real worth makes a deep impression.

At the time of his death, he was in the prime of life, being about forty-nine years of age. Though his health had been some time declining, his death was nearly sudden. As he was administering the sacrament to a poor man on his death-bed, his voice faultered, and he fell speechless into the arms of one of the persons who were present. He was conveyed home in a state of insensibility, in which he continued for several hours, and died in March, 1799, leaving a widow and four children, two sons and two daughters, to lament his loss.

Mr.Turnor was one of eleven children, and was the eldest son. His father, a most worthy and respectable man, was John Turnor of Crugmawr, whose paternal property was such, as to enable him to give his two eldest sons, the others when he died being very young, a most liberal education.

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JOHN TURNOR, ESQ.

JOHN
OHN TURNOR, Esq.

third brother of the Reverend David Turnor, a postcaptain in the royal navy, died in the forty-second year of his age, unmarried, between the evening of the first and the morning of the second of January, 1801, off Prince of Wales' Island, in latitude five degrees forty minutes, north, and longitude ninety degrees forty minutes, east, on board His Majesty's ship the Trident, a sixtyfour, of which he was commander. When a midshipman, he was in the action which Admiral Byron, whose fleet consisted of twenty-one ships and a frigate, had with that of the French, consisting of thirty-four ships of war, off St. George's Bay, Grenada, on the sixth day of July, 1779, and in the action which the British squadron, commanded by Admiral Parker, had with the Dutch on the Dogger Bank, on the fifth day of August, 1781; when lieutenant, after having been at the capture of Toulon, and sharing in the active service that took place there. He

was in the memorable action of the first of June, 1794, and in the following year, was at the capture of the fortress of the Cape of Good Hope, with its dependencies, on account of which event he was, by the commander-in-chief, the Hon. Sir George Keith Elphinstone, appointed master and commander of the Star, armed brig, one of the captured Dutch ships; and, when captain, he was, being commander of the Echo sloop of war, at the capture of Columbo, and of the Dutch fleet in Saldanah Bay, on the seventeenth day of August, 1796, when he was, by Sir George Keith Elphinstone, whom, for his eminent services, His Majesty soon after honoured with a peerage, made post into the Tromp, a fifty-four, one of the captured Dutch squadron. His conduct and merit no language can represent with as much energy as the high patronage of His Royal Highness the Duke of Clarence, with which he had the happiness of being distinguished from the period of his entering as midshipman on board

His Majesty's ship Pegasus in March, 1786, commanded by His Royal Highness, then Prince William Henry, till he fell a victim to the sultry climate of the east.

And Mrs. CATHERINE TURNOR, widow of the Reverend David Turnor, whose death we have announced, and

daughter of the late Reverend William Haygarth, A. M. Rector of Enham and Upton Grey in Hampshire, both in the gift of Queen's College, Oxford, of which society he was Fellow, died on the twenty-fifth day of August, 1802, leaving two sons and two daughters to lament their early deprivation of their only parent.

HOWELL

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