Plymouth, Business Houses | Messrs A C Turner Ltd / Turner's Tours

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BUSINESS HOUSES

Messrs A C TURNER Ltd / TURNER'S TOURS

Updated: 16 February 2011

Arthur Charles Turner was born in 1888, the youngest son of the Reverend Charles Edgar Turner and his second wife, Esther, whom he had married in 1883 [1]. In 1904, when 16 years of age, Arthur left school and became an apprentice at the garage belonging to Mr W J Andrew in Plymouth [2]. On December 28th 1913, he married Miss Maud Harriett Nash at Saint Matthias Church. [3]
	Mr A C Turner's Karrier chara-banc number CO 2295.

He is reputed to have started Plymouth's first chara-banc tours, Turner's Tours, with a 28-seater Karrier that did 6 miles to the gallon and had a 45 gallon petrol tank. The depot was at Kirkby Place, North Road. He had ten char-a-bancs [4a] by April 1924, when the Devon Motor Transport Company Ltd bought the business and converted the vehicle pictured above into a lorry. [4]

One of the Karrier's was converted into a double-deck bus for use on the DMT's Crownhill and Yelverton service. [5]

In 1934 he acquired numbers 48 and 49 Tavistock Place and number 1 Clarence Street and in 1935 Lord Austin came to open the new Austin House [2]. The premises managed to survive the Second World War.

In January 1942 the Company were advertising the new Austin 8 horse power saloon priced at £235 15s. It was in black, of course, but had a brown interior. The price included purchase tax and delivery. [6]

Mr Arthur Charles Turner died on Friday July 24the 1953 at his home, Elm Villa, Mannamead Avenue, Plymouth. He was 65 years of age. He was survived by his widow, two daughters and a son, Mr Michael Arthur Turner, who was managing director of the business. [2]

Messrs A C Turner's Austin House, at the junction of Tavistock Road and Regent Street, 1951.

Messrs A C Turner's Austin House, at the junction
of Tavistock Road and Regent Street, 1951.
© City of Plymouth Museum & Art Gallery.

The funeral service at Saint Edward's Church, Eggbuckland, on Tuesday July 28th 1953 was conducted by the vicar, the Reverend C S de Cerjat, and Mr Turner was afterwards cremated at Efford Crematorium. The service was attended by a wide circle of friends from the motor trade throughout Devon and Cornwall. [7]

As from October 1st 1955 Messrs A C Turner Ltd incorporated the business of Messrs Car Sales (Plymouth) Ltd, of Summerland Place. They continued to be the Austin dealer for Plymouth and East Cornwall, with Mr M A Turner, son of the founder, and Mr Percy Fletcher, the founder of Car Sales, as joint managing directors. Other directors were Mrs M H Turner, Mrs J C Fletcher and Mr F J W Hodgson, company secretary. [8]

Austin House, in Tavistock Road, was retained as a showroom but the main administrative work was moved to the fine building in Summerland Place. Work was then underway to provide an entrance and window facing on to the Derry's Cross roundabout. On the ground floor in Summerland Place was a petrol station. The first floor, previously used for parking, was to be used for stores and spares while the remaining two floors would be the workshops. Turner's old workshops in Kirkby Place, North Road, was to be used as a repair depot for commercial vehicles. [8]

Mr Michael Arthur Turner died in Plymouth on March 8th 2001 at the age of 75. [1]

Sources:

[1] Births, Deaths and Marriages records.

[2] "Plymouth death of motor firm's founder", Western Morning News, Plymouth, July 25th 1953.

[3] "Plymouth Marriage Index, Volume 1", CD, Devon Family History Society/Plymouth & West Devon Record Office, Exeter and Plymouth, 2003.

[4] Source not recorded.

[5] Crawley, R J; MacGregor, D R; and Simpson, F D, "The Years Between: Volume 1 The National Story to 1929", D R MacGregor, Hedingham, Essex, 1979. No ISBN.

[6] Source not recorded.

[7] "Tributes paid to Mr A C Turner by motor trade", Western Morning News, Plymouth, July 29th 1953.

[8] "Two Plymouth motor firms to be merged", Western Morning News, Plymouth, September 23rd 1955.