Skinner Turner

Sir Skinner Turner, Chief Judge of the British Supreme Court for China

Sir Skinner Turner (1868 – 1935) was a British judge who served in Africa, Siam and China. He was the Chief Judge of the British Supreme Court for China from 1921 to 1927.

Early life

Turner was born near Tonbridge, Kent in on June 2, 1868 to Frederick and Marsha Turner, the eighth of nine children. In the 1871 census, his father described his profession as “farmer of 560 acres employing 20 men and 2 boys.”

Turner was educated at King's College School, Strand, and at London University. He was called to the Bar at the Middle Temple in 1890, and for some years afterwards practised on the Western Circuit and at the Hampshire Sessions.

Career

Turner joined the Foreign Office Judicial Service in 1900. He was appointed Registrar to the British Court of the East Africa Protectorate. The following year he was transferred to the Uganda Protectorate to act as Vice-Consul. Early in 1902 he was appointed magistrate in Mombasa and in May the same year was transferred to Zanzibar as acting Assistant Judge. He was appointed Second Assistant Judge in October 1902 and promoted to Senior Assistant Judge in February 1904. Throughout his time in Zanzibar he sat as one of the judges of the Court of Appeal for the East Africa Protectorates and was present at the first sitting of that court.

In 1905, he was appointed Judge of the British Court for Siam, replacing Hiram Parkes Wilkinson. In 1909, on conclusion of the treaty partially bringing extraterritoriality to an end between Siam and Great Britain, he was lent to the Siamese Government as legal adviser. In this role, he sat on the Siamese Court of Appeal. In recognition of his valuable services as judicial adviser, he was awarded the Insignia of the Third Class of the Ratanabhon Personal Order by the King of Siam.

in 1915, Turner was appointed Assistant Judge of the British Supreme Court for China in Shanghai on the retirement of Sir Frederick Bourne. In 1921, he was promoted to Chief Judge. In 1926 he served as the British Representative on the Extraterritoriality Commission that had been set up to investigate the application of extraterritoriality in China with the view to its eventual abolishment.

Retirement and Death

Turner retired in 1927 and was succeeded by Peter Grain. Turner died eight years after his retirement, on 5 July 1935, at a nursing home in Winchester at the age of 67.

Further reading

• Clark, Douglas (2015). Gunboat Justice: British and American Law Courts in China and Japan (1842-1943). Hong Kong: Earnshaw Books., Vol. 1: ISBN 978-988-82730-8-9; Vol. 2: ISBN 978-988-82730-9-6; Vol. 3: ISBN 978-988-82731-9-5