William Turner (biographer)

William Turner (13 January 1788 - 30 December 1853) was an English Unitarian minister, known as a biographer.

Life

Turner was born on 13 January 1788 in Newcastle, the son of Mary (1759–1797) and William Turner. He was educated at the University of Glasgow where he graduated with an MA in 1806, at Manchester College (then based in York), and at the University of Edinburgh (1808). From 1809 to 1827 he was tutor at Manchester College in mathematics and philosophy.

In February 1829 he became minister of Northgate End chapel, Halifax, where he was a promoter of educational and scientific culture. He died on 30 December 1853. He married (11 September 1817) Mercy Benton, niece of Newcome Cappe. No children.

Works

He published sermons and tracts, including Remarks on the commonly received Doctrine of Atonement and Sacrifice (1830). His contributions to periodicals are sometimes signed V. N. [i.e. Vigilii Nepos]. His major work is Lives of Eminent Unitarians, 1840–43, 2 vols.

gollark: Oh, and if for some reason you're an *incredibly* self-confident person who thinks all acts they do are right, you'll turn out maximally non-evil.

gollark: Being vaguely aware of that sort of thing, and also that I live in a relatively comfortable position in what is among the richest societies ever, I feel bad about *not* doing more things, which would cause me to be more evil than someone who just ignores this issue forever, which is not, according to arbitrary moral intuitions I have™, something which an evilness measuring thing should say.

gollark: With any actual planning you can just give away as much as reasonably possible. It's just an issue of good management of stuff.

gollark: There are *not* that many people who actually go to the logical conclusion of that line of thinking and go "guess I'll donate all my excess income to charities".

gollark: It would be bad for you and you could argue that not doing so maximizes long-run donation, but you aren't actually maximizing that either.

References

"Turner, William (1714-1794)" . Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.

Attribution

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: "Turner, William (1714-1794)". Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.

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