The Diary of Thomas Turner, 1754-1765

by Thomas Turner

Thomas Turner (1729-1793) was a hard-working and ingenious village shopkeeper in Sussex. In the eleven years of his diary, he recorded the minutiae of everyday village life in pre-industrial England. This edition contains about a third of the massive whole of the diary, but allows Turner to
take his rightful place alongside Pepys, Evelyn, and Woodforde as an indispensable English diarist.

Genres: History, Diary, Nonfiction

436 pages, Hardcover

First published October 24, 1985

About the author

There is more than one author by this name on Goodreads.

Thomas Turner was a shopkeeper in East Hoathly, Sussex, England who kept a diary.

Reviews

[M.G. Bell · Rating 5 out of 5]

I never would have thought of reading such a book until my sister, who used to live in the same patch of East Sussex countryside as Thomas Turner, lent me her copy, and it has entranced me. Turner was an educated man, widely-read, and fulfilled multiple functions in his tiny 18th century village as shopkeeper, undertaker, parish official, teacher and much else. The diary breaks off when he marries his second wife – perhaps he was too busy being a good husband to keep it on – but during his first, unhappy marriage, it is a revealing, day-by-day record of his joys and woes, what they ate, how busy was the shop, how he dealt with the frequent unmarried pregnancies which could have become a charge on the village if the girl, or more often the man, could not be persuaded into marriage. And how they walked! He had a horse, mostly, but his business routinely took him on 20- or 30-mile treks to neighbouring places. The best of it, though, is that, despite working his butt off, and becoming tolerably well off, he seems to have partied endlessly, often through the night, and then he spends two days with a mighty hangover, cursing himself and vowing to reform. But he never does! It is so human and vital, I could not put it down.

[Colin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I took this book rather slowly, a bit each evening, because it really isn't a page-turner. But it is a most fascinating and engaging piece of work, given a (mostly) clear insight to life for a certain class and trade in the middle of the eighteenth century. There's a huge amount of repetition, as happens in life, and lots of odd and interesting things too. Political, social, economic, domestic, criminal, matrimonial - all revealed in a well-written hand. Family, neighbours, local big-wigs, ne'er-do-wells all make an appearance. Life, death (lots of that) and the bits in between come out of every page. I loved it.

[Wendy · Rating 1 out of 5]

I did not read this book - I read The Turner Diaries by Andrew MacDonald. It is a novel about the violent take down of the U.S. and the genocide of Blacks, Hispanics and Jews. Goodreads (and Amazon) have purged it, and only one library in Michigan has it. It is a favorite of ultra-conservative groups like QAnon and ultra-conservative people like Timothy McVeigh. Elements in the story are bomb making, communications, loyalty, clandestine organization. Hard to take seriously, but others do.

[Johanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Its short (Thomas Turner is no Pepys) but interesting account of an 18th life. Much drinking and more death. Good if you want a feel for ordinary life in the period