William Robert Turner

(Lance Corporal - Norfolk Regiment?)

William Robert Turner, the son of William Turner and his wife Mary Ann (Moates), was born on 20th August 1890 in Swardeston, Norfolk. He was the second of six children, Elizabeth (1889), Norah (1893), Cynthia (1899), Nesta (1903), and Gilbert (1905). William and Mary married in 1888 at Great Plumstead, William's home village, and their first child, Elizabeth, was born there before the family moved to Swardeston. The family lived in a cottage in what is now Gowthorpe Lane, opposite Swardeston Hall (now Gowthorpe Manor), and William worked for Arthur King who, at that time, rented and farmed at Swardeston Hall and, possibly coincidentally, also came from Great Plumstead. The family lived in the same cottage for many years and William continued working at The Hall for some time after John Henry Steward moved in with his family. William died in 1930.

William Robert Turner was born, raised and educated in Swardeston and, when he left school, he found employment as a gardener's labourer. There is no record that he ever married or had children and he appears to have died in 1982, still living in the area.

According to the Roll of Honour in the church William Robert Turner served in the Norfolk Regiment as a lance corporal during WW1. Extensive searches of the database at the Imperial War Museum, detailing every man that served and his unit, reveals only one William Robert Turner, a private in the Norfolk Regiment who died in 1916. Similarly, a search of the Norfolk Regiment for all William Turners reveals just one without another initial ruling them out but this man was a private who served with at least three different parts of the regiment and has three service numbers. Without any surviving service records it is impossible to confirm this as our man so, for the time being, his army career is a mystery!

Return to WW1 1914-1918