The Diary of Sharon Turner 1793-1795

Sharon Turner; Mark Philp; Clare Clarke

doi:10.31273/978-1-911675-12-9

The Diary of Sharon Turner 1793-1795

Authors

Sharon Turner (1768–1847)

Mark Philp

Professor of Social and Cultural History, Department of History, University of Warwick

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0496-2373

Clare Clarke

Department of History, University of Warwick

DOI: https://doi.org/10.31273/978-1-911675-12-9

Keywords:

Turner, Sharon, 1768-1847, London, Great Britain, History, 18th Century, Social History

Synopsis

The Diary of Sharon Turner 1793-5 is a record - part memoir, part history - written by the lawyer and historian Sharon Turner (1768-1847) covering what he clearly came to see as the turning point in his life and in the life of the country and of Europe more widely. It describes his courtship of Mary Watts, the daughter of William Watts, a landscape painter with strong sympathies with the French Revolution, against the background of increasing turmoil in France and throughout Europe, and with growing concern about the measures taken against English reformers by the British government. The result is a distinctive portrait of life in Britain at the time of the French Revolution presented through the account of a courtship that goes dramatically awry.

Edited and introduced by: Mark Philp, Professor of History and Politics, Department of History, University of Warwick and Clare Clarke, History, Warwick, 2014-17.

The transcription and editing of the Diary was supported by the University of Warwick’s Undergraduate Research Studentship Scheme in the summers of 2015 and 2016).