Very little is known about Dr David Turner. According to England's 1851 Census, he was born in Scotland in about 1820. By 1851 he was living in High Street, Keighley, Yorkshire, where he was a medical practitioner. He had obtained his qualifications (LRCS) in Edinburgh in 1844.

Dr Turner was listed in the 1855 edition of the British and Foreign Homœopathic Medical Directory. At that time he was still practising at Keighley.

By 1861 Dr Turner had migrated to Australia. To-date no record of his immigration has been found, although it is known that this was some time before April 1861, as during that month he was appointed as a trustee to the Cappers Reef Mining Company.

The Medical Board of Victoria registered him as a medical practitioner on 11 April 1861 and he practised in Castlemaine, Victoria. There were a few references to him in the Mount Alexander Mail, one of which mentions that he was a homœopathic doctor.

Dr Turner was elected to the committee of the Castlemaine Mechanics Institute and made a donation to that organisation.

It appears that he was still practising in Castlemaine in 1862, after which time Dr Turner disappeared from the records. By 1863 he was no longer on the list of registered medical practitioners.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

With thanks to Stephen Due (Australian Medical Pioneers Index) for bringing Dr Turner to my attention.

©   Barbara Armstrong      

       www.historyofhomeopathy.au