A staunch advocate of private medicine he disliked the movement to the nationalisation of medical health.

A lifelong devotee of sport and athletics, he was a rugby union player of some note while a youth.

He played club rugby for St. George's Hospital and gained his first of three international caps when he was selected for England in 1875.

[2] He gained his Fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons in 1891, and took up a private practice near Hyde Park in London.

[3] As a member of the BMA, Turner was in constant demand for special committees, bodies set up to explore a specific medical concern.