John Turner
John Turner.
Ref: NFA 0063
Title: The John Turner Collection
Scope: The John Turner collection comprises of his research for his valuable Circus People indexes which lists many of the circus performers from the Victorian age onwards. There are notebooks, index cards, photocopies and pictures that were gathered from a number of repositories and libraries during John Turner's life and used for articles published in a variety of journals and magazines, and for the numerous books that he published during his lifetime.
Dates: 1990-2007
Level: Fonds
Extent: 5 monographs, 2 databases, 14 boxes of research material and 2 further 1 metre shelves of files.
Name of creator: John Turner
Administrative / biographical history: John Turner is best known as the author of the Dictionaries of British circus Biographies which is an invaluable source for researchers of Victorian and twentieth century circus performers. He also created a database which enables quick searches of performers and provides citations of primary sources that were used in his research.
John Turner was born in Hull and graduated from the University of Leeds with a Ph.D in 1959 He worked as an academic biochemist, in California, London, and finally as a Reader in Biochemistry at the University of Liverpool from 1963 until 1989.
After his retirement, John Turner became interested in the history of circus. This stemmed from his discovery that Hengler's Grand Cirque had once flourished in Hull, Liverpool and other provincial towns as well as in the Metropolis. Initially he collected information on the many performers and showmen of the Victorian period later continuing his research to include performers in the twentieth century.
His aim was to produce a definitive series of source-books on the history of British circus which could be used by others to discover more about this popular form of entertainment. He continued his research right up until his sudden death in 2007. We are privileged to be able to have his research and database at the NFA enabling others to continue to be able to access the information that he painstakingly worked to gather.
For many years, John Turner was the librarian for the Circus Fairground Association, taking over from Malcolm Airey, and helped to get the library into the National Fairground Archive at the University of Sheffield.
Source: Bequeathed by John Turner to the National Fairground Archive as specified in his will.
System of arrangement: Catalogued by type
Subjects: fairs, circus
Names:Hengler, Fanque, Frowde
Conditions of access: There is an on-line index of names which is accessible in the NFA reading room. Other material is able to be used for research purposes only. No copies of material can be made.
Restrictions: Some items of personal correspondence in the collection are restricted under the Data Protection Act.
Copyright: National Fairground Archive.
Finding aids: Books can be found on the University Library catalogue, STAR. John Turner's database can be accessed in the NFA reading room. Other items have been listed and this list is available in the NFA reading room. Items should be requested prior to visit. Click here for finding aid in word document form.
Items published:
Historical Hengler's circus. Pt. 1-5, 1780 to 1856 / by John M. Turner.
History of Ginnett's circus / by John M. Turner
James Newsome : genius of the ring / by John M. Turner
Twentieth century circus people : a dictionary of British circus biography / by John M. Turner. Vol.1-4, 1901-1950
Wombwell's travelling menagerie / by John M. Turner
Black Victorians / Black Victoriana / edited by Gretchen Holbrook Gerzina
Volume 1 and Volume 11 Victorian Arena - The Performers
Further information
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