Brigadier Arthur Jervois Turner CB, CMG, DSO and Croix de Guerre was educated at Bedord Modern where he was in the XI from the age of 13, and thereafter he established an excellent reputation as a batsman for Woolwich and the Army. His county cricket started with Bedfordshire and then intermittently for Essex. His career record speaks for itself, and but for his professional commitments he would have gone much further in the game. As it was, he played for Gentlemen against Players in the headline match in 1898 but had to turn down an invitation the following summer after being summoned to serve during the Boer War. He returned to play a little county cricket after the end of the war, and even though he did not turn out for Essex after 1910, his last first-class outing was for the Army in 1914. He continued playing minor games after WW1, and in 1929 represented an Egypt XI. His last recorded game was in 1939 for the Army against the touring West Indies, by which time he was 60.

Aside from his cricket, Turner was an excellent rugby player and turned out for Blackheath and Kent. In 1902 the Times reported that his forward play made it "almost certain he would be in the next England team" but it never happened. As well as his Boer War duties, he was on the General Headquarters Staff in France during the World War One, and was four times mentioned in dispatches.

His father, Major JT Turner was among those drowned in 1892 when returning from a match in Shanghai with team-mates from the Hong Kong team.
Martin Williamson