OLD AZURIANS
ASSOCIATION
William Hannaford Turner (c.1943-1957)
Subject: Mathematics
William Hannaford Turner was born in Balham, London on 18 August 1894. He was educated (privately) in Oxford before going up to Sidney Sussex College Cambridge. A BA degree was conferred on him by proxy in 1916 – this was presumably because at this time he was in the army. It is known that during WW1 he was seriously wounded and lost a leg.
On Thursday 8 September 1927 he married Olga L M Hundert whose parents were well-known hoteliers in Folkestone. The marriage was given extensive coverage in the Folkestone, Hythe, Sandgate and Cheriton Herald dated September 10th 1927. Apart from the fact that, when he enlisted in the Royal Garrison Artillery in September 1916 he was already a school teacher, nothing is known about W H Turner’s teaching career until he joined WHSB, to teach Mathematics, in 1943 or thereabouts.
The impression gained by young boys in their first year or so at school was of a man of rather embittered appearance, though this may have been the result of additional injury he had suffered. Such an impression was entirely at odds with his inner character which came to light when, with Christmas approaching at the end of the Autumn term, he put the teaching of Mathematics to one side, and read to his class excepts from his favourite book “Three Men in a Boat” by Jerome K Jerome.
In school he was always known as “Hannaford” Turner to distinguish him from his senior colleague J T Turner. He retired in 1957 after 14 years of service to the school.
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He died in Worthing in 1977, his wife having pre-deceased him in 1956.