Margot Turner

Brigadier Dame Evelyn Marguerite Turner, DBE, RRC (10 May 1910 – 24 September 1993), known as Margot Turner, was a British military nurse and nursing administrator. A prisoner of war during the Second World War, she resumed her career following liberation and served in a succession of foreign postings.

Dame Margot Turner
Born(1910-05-10)10 May 1910
Finchley, Middlesex
Died24 September 1993(1993-09-24) (aged 83)
Brighton, East Sussex
AllegianceUnited Kingdom
Service/branchBritish Army
Years of service1937–1968
RankBrigadier
Commands heldQueen Alexandra's Royal Army Nursing Corps (1964–68)
Battles/warsSecond World War
AwardsDame Commander of the Order of the British Empire
Royal Red Cross
Mentioned in Despatches
Other workColonel-Commandant Queen Alexandra's Royal Army Nursing Corps (1969–74)

Nursing career

Turner served with Queen Alexandra's Imperial Military Nursing Service from 1937 to 1949 and Queen Alexandra's Royal Army Nursing Corps (QARANC) from 1949 to 1968. She served as Matron-in-Chief of QARANC and Director, Army Nursing Services (1964–68) and was Colonel-Commandant of QARANC from 1969 to 1974.

Prisoner of war

Turner's obituary in The Independent recounted her horrific experiences as a prisoner of war held by the Japanese.[1] The television series Tenko was created by Lavinia Warner after she had worked as a researcher for the edition of the television programme This Is Your Life which featured Turner, and was convinced of the dramatic potential of the stories of women prisoners of the Japanese.[2]

Honours
  • Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE; 1946)
  • Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE; 1965)

Death

Turner died at St. Dunstan's home for disabled ex-servicemen and women near Brighton, East Sussex on 24 September 1993, aged 83 with nurses and her carer Geoffrey Wilcock present.

References
  1. Obituary in The Independent
  2. Warner and Sandilands Women Beyond the Wire: A Story of Prisoners of the Japanese 1942–45, 1982, dustjacket
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