Theophila Turner

1893 text

Theophila Turner, daughter of Sergeant John and Jane Turner, who married Sir Arthur Harris, Bart. She died 1686.

This text comes from a footnote on a diary entry in the 1893 edition edited by Henry B. Wheatley.

4 Annotations

First Reading

language hat  •  Link

At the time of the entry she was eight years old.

vincent  •  Link

Theophilia(1651-1686) Her brother's were John (1650- )Charles (1652-1719) William (1654-) sisters Elizabeth (1656-) Anne(1658-)mother Jane married John Turner about 1648 in Kirkleatham, Yorkshire, England.
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsw…
Her Aunt Elizabeth , her Mothers sister

vincent  •  Link

Elizabeth (1611 1688?) daughter of John Pepys(of southe creake Norfolk).
Elizabeth married Thomas Dyke
there was uncle Edward the Esq (1617 1663)
Elizabeth was of age(49) to give SP a hard time.

Pauline  •  Link

Claire Tomalin on Theophila:
"[Jane Turner] comes out of the Diary as the strongest character among the Pepys clan after Sam himself....

"The next formidable member of the family was her daughter Theophila, known as "The" and, unlike her brothers, always kept with [Jane]. "The" makes her first appearanc in the Diary on 1 January 1660, supping with Pepys's father; she was a preocious, indulged and confident child and something of a brat. At nine she was ordering her own harpsichord and refusing to give Pepys a lesson on it when he asked her (although he could play several string and wind instruments, he never mastered a keyboard). When Elizabeth sent her a gift of doves, "The" distiguished herself by writing her a rude letter, complaining that they had come in an inadequate cage; she grumbled about...[spoiler].... Mother and daughter made a remarkably strong-minded pair."

Claire Tomalin, "Samuel Pepys: The Unequal Self," pp233-234
(Typos courtesy the typist)

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