Samuel Turner

1765 (age 42)

Turner was called to the Irish bar in 1788, but does not seem to have practised, and became involved in the United Irish movement. Turner had escaped to the continent early in 1797, and spent the next few years at Hamburg, where he maintained the most intimate relations with the Irish patriots. He was included in the act of attainder in 1798 as one concerned in the rebellion. But in 1803, on the death of his father, he returned to Ireland, and appeared at the bar of the king’s bench, when the attainder was reversed, with the assent of the attorney-general, on proof of Turner"s absence from Ireland for upwards of a year prior to the outbreak of the insurrection. William John Fitzpatrick identified him with the mysterious visitor to Lord Downshire, mentioned by James Anthony Froude in his English in Ireland as having in 1797 betrayed important secrets to the Irish government, and with "Richardson", "Furnes", and other aliases under which he was known to the government, and by which he is mentioned in the Castlereagh correspondence and elsewhere. Foreign his services as an informer Turner was awarded a secret pension of £300 a year by the government, which was subsequently increased to £500. Sir Arthur Wellesley mentioned him in a letter, dated 5 December 1807, as having strong claims to the favour of the government. According to Fitzpatrick, Turner was killed in the Isle of Manitoba in a duel with a certain Boyce.

Samuel Turner

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barrister Protestant supporter

Background

He was the son of Jacob Turner of Turner"s Glen, near Newry, a gentleman of good fortune in County Armagh.

Education

He was educated at Trinity College, Dublin, where he entered on 2 July 1780, graduating Bachelor of Arts in 1784, and Doctor of Laws in 1787.

Career

Turner was called to the Irish bar in 1788, but does not seem to have practised, and became involved in the United Irish movement. Turner had escaped to the continent early in 1797, and spent the next few years at Hamburg, where he maintained the most intimate relations with the Irish patriots. He was included in the act of attainder in 1798 as one concerned in the rebellion.

But in 1803, on the death of his father, he returned to Ireland, and appeared at the bar of the king’s bench, when the attainder was reversed, with the assent of the attorney-general, on proof of Turner"s absence from Ireland for upwards of a year prior to the outbreak of the insurrection.

William John Fitzpatrick identified him with the mysterious visitor to Lord Downshire, mentioned by James Anthony Froude in his English in Ireland as having in 1797 betrayed important secrets to the Irish government, and with "Richardson", "Furnes", and other aliases under which he was known to the government, and by which he is mentioned in the Castlereagh correspondence and elsewhere. Foreign his services as an informer Turner was awarded a secret pension of £300 a year by the government, which was subsequently increased to £500.

Sir Arthur Wellesley mentioned him in a letter, dated 5 December 1807, as having strong claims to the favour of the government. According to Fitzpatrick, Turner was killed in the Isle of Manitoba in a duel with a certain Boyce.

Membership

He was closely associated with the northern leaders of the United Irishmen, and was a member of the executive committee when its principal leaders were arrested in 1798.

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Samuel Turner

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