Author: Turner, Elizabeth
Biography:
TURNER, Elizabeth (1775-1846: findmypast.com)
The daughter of James and Anne Turner, she was born and died in Whitchurch, Shropshire--baptised in the Anglican church on 10 Mar. 1775 and buried likewise on 15 Dec. 1846. She was in her thirties when she found her calling with The Daisy (1807), cautionary verses for children between the ages of four and eight, which she published anonymously. WorldCat records 78 editions in English between 1807 and 2014. It inspired both imitators and parodists. Identifying herself as "the authoress of 'The Daisy,'" Turner went on to create a "Juvenile Garland": The Lily (1808), The Cowslip (1811),The Pink (1823), The Blue-Bell (1838), and The Crocus (1844). According to the Gentleman's Magazine, she lived in Liverpool for over thirty years and was active in the Bible Society there; but about four years before her death, at the request of a niece, she went to assist at her school in Whitchurch. She was sometimes referred to as "Mrs." Turner but that was a courtesy title. A death notice in the Chester Chronicle said of "Miss Elizabeth Turner, authoress" that "Few have excelled her in the various stations of life in which she had been placed, and few have ever made a more proper use of their acquirements." (findmypast.com 29 Nov. 2020; GM Mar. 1847, 323; OCCL ["Daisy"]; Chester Chronicle 18 Dec. 1846) HJ