Maxwell Turner

Maxwell Joseph Hall Turner (10 May 1907 – 10 December 1960) was an English barrister and judge. He served as senior prosecuting counsel at the Central Criminal Court and later held several part-time judicial appointments before being appointed an additional judge of the former Mayor's and City of London Court.

Early life and education

Turner was born in Kensington, London, the second child and eldest son of Augustus Turner, a solicitor, and his wife Annie Margaret (née Hockley). An elder sibling was John Hastings Turner, later a novelist, dramatist and theatre director.

He was educated at Rugby School and Trinity College, Oxford, and was called to the Bar by the Inner Temple in 1930.

Career

Turner joined the South Eastern Circuit and practised mainly in criminal law from chambers in the Temple. In 1935 he was appointed Prosecuting Counsel to the General Post Office for the circuit.

During the Second World War, Turner served as Military Assistant to the Judge Advocate General, attaining the ranks of Captain, Major and Lieutenant Colonel.

According to his wife, Turner generally avoided defence work and sometimes suggested that convicted defendants consider an appeal.

From 1953 he held a series of judicial appointments, including Recorder of Great Yarmouth (1953–58), Deputy Chairman of the East Kent Quarter Sessions (1957–60), and Recorder of Hastings (1958–59). In 1959 he was appointed an additional judge of the former Mayor's and City of London Court.

He was elected a bencher of the Inner Temple in 1960.

Personal life

Turner became engaged in 1938 to the actor Fabia Drake. Drake later wrote that they had first met in the early 1920s through his brother John Hastings Turner. They married in December 1938 and had one daughter, Deirdre, born in March 1940.

Death

Turner was diagnosed with liver cancer in 1959. Drake later wrote that, at her request, doctors did not disclose the seriousness of his condition to him. He died on 10 December 1960 after a brief hospital stay, aged 53.