James Turberville

James Turberville (1494 – ) was an English cleric who served as Bishop of Exeter from 1555 to 1559.

Origins Born on or before Christmas Day in 1494, probably at Bere Regis in Dorset, he was the second surviving son of John Turberville (1471–1536) and his wife Isabel, daughter of John Cheverell. The Turbervilles were a gentry family who for centuries had held estates in Dorset and surrounding counties. His great-uncle John Turberville had served as Sheriff of Dorset in 1486, as had his grandfather John Cheverell in 1471. In November 1558, Queen Mary died and was succeeded by her Protestant sister, Queen Elizabeth. When legislation to remove Catholicism from England came before the House of Lords, in which Turberville sat as a bishop, he voted against it. After he refused to take the oath of supremacy to the queen, he was deprived of his bishopric in August 1559.

Later life As he continued to oppose the new ecclesiastical regime, in June 1560 he was imprisoned in the Tower of London. Pressure from Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor, uncle of Mary's husband, secured his release into the custody of Edmund Grindal, bishop of London. In January 1565 the Privy Council approved Grindal's request that Turberville be freed, provided he stayed in London and made himself available when required. Later that year, the privy council ordered all former Catholic bishops back into the Tower. He died about 1570, whether free or not is unrecorded.