Author Description

In the tradition of Pepys, Evelyn and Woodforde, thomas Turner 1729-1793 spent eleven years of his life recording the detailed minutiae of everyday village life in preindustrial England. A hardworking shopkeeper, he occupied a key position in East Hoathly, Sussex where he also served as undertaker, schoolmaster, and overseer to the poor. His massive journal--a third of which appears here--attests to his rightful place as an indispensable English diarist.