Dawson Turner

Account of a Tour in Normandy - Volume I (Esprios Classics) Dawson Turner

Dawson Turner FRS (1775 - 1858) was an English banker, botanist and antiquary. He specialized in the botany of cryptogams and was the father-in-law of the botanist William Jackson Hooker. In 1796, Turner joined his father's bank. After becoming a banker, he took a more intensive interest in botany in leisure time, collecting specimens in the field. In December 1802, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society. In 1816, he was elected a foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. By 1820, his interest in botany had been replaced by an interest in antiquities. He and his children were taught drawing by renowned Norfolk artist John Sell Cotman who became a good friend. They travelled to Normandy together and collaborated on a book, Architectural Antiquities of Normandy, published in 1822.