Dr Peter
Turner comes home.
Those of you who know St Olave's church will be aware that it
holds a number of funerary sculptures.
After the church was bombed during the blitz in 1941, in the
ensuing chaos and debris, Dr Peter Turner's effigy 'went
missing'.
Dr Turner died in 1614 and his remains, with those of his
father, William, lie within the church. Dr Turner was a
distinguished physician practising at Bart's Hospital, and his
father was the Dean of Wells Cathedral, also a physician, renowned
to this day as the author of the first herbal in English, and the
first printed book devoted to birds.
Thanks to the UK Auction House - Dreweatts, the Art Loss
Register, and the two dealers involved in the proposed sale, Dr
Turner's memorial will be reinstalled in the church after
further conservation work, and approval from the Diocese of
London.
2012 will hopefully see him in his rightful
place at St Olave's.
Welcome home!