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John Turnerc Married: 1832 Elizabeth Brookesc | |||||||||||
| James William Turner [CFT #2952] Born: 1842 Died: 1913 |
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| J W Turner, of whom sadly no known recordings have survived, was a famous operatic tenor, who later formed his own opera company which at the time was deemed second only to that of Carl Rosa. His father was an early Glee Singer and all the family had good voices. In his 20s James was to be found singing in South Africa, San Francisco, India and the Far East including an appearance in Grand Opera in Melbourne, Australia. His brother Charles owned the Montague Turner Opera Company in Australia and was known as the Silver Tenor. James' early singing was with the Christy Minstrals at St James' Hall, London. His break came when he was asked to deputise for John Sims Reeves, a leading English tenor and he went on to become principal tenor of the Carl Rosa Opera Company. It was following his time with Carl Rosa that he formed his own company, The J W Turner Grand English Opera Company which toured for 29 years before his death and even continued afterwards. In the 1890s he had bought the Grand Theatre (sometimes called the Theatre Royal) in Birmingham which he managed until its sale to the Moss Empire Company in 1907. As a young man he was no mean cricketer, once turning down the offer of a professional engagement. It is said that at Clay Cross he bowled out all 10 wickets and at Hardwick, one Whitsuntide, he played through a snow storm. Our picture (of which very few remain) shows James as Henri Herberte c.1860's before he became famous and is from a private album in Australia. Anthony Cobbold November 2015. New picture added September 2017 |
1: 1886 James William Cecil Turnerc W/C 2: Olive Turnerc H/C 3: Edie Turnerc H 4: Victor (Vic) Turnerc 5: Mabel (Mabon) Adeline Turnerc H/C | ||||||||||
| 5 Children | |||||||||||
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