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Merfyn Turner

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Merfyn Turner
Born
Merfyn Lloyd Turner

(1915-10-20)20 October 1915
Penygraig, Rhondda, Wales, United Kingdom
Died6 August 1991(1991-08-06) (aged 75)
London, England, United Kingdom
NationalityBritish
Occupations
  • Prison social worker
  • author

Merfyn Lloyd Turner (20 October 1915 – 6 August 1991) was a Welsh prison social worker and author. In World War II he was refused recognition as a conscientious objector, which led in turn to his refusing to submit to a medical examination as an essential preliminary to call-up; for this refusal he was sentenced to three months imprisonment, giving him a life-long concern for prison reform. On release from prison, he was allowed registration as a conscientious objector, and joined the Pacifist Service Unit in Tiger Bay, Cardiff. In 1944 he moved to the settlement Oxford House, Bethnal Green, joining fellow conscientious objectors Guy Clutton-Brock, John Raven and Peter Kuenstler. In 1954, he opened Norman House as a halfway home for people leaving prison.[1]

He appeared as a castaway on the BBC Radio programme Desert Island Discs on 30 July 1962.[2]

Bibliography

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  • —— (1953). Ship without Sails. An account of the Barge Boys' Club, etc. Hutchinson & Co.
  • —— (1961). Safe Lodging the Road to Norman House. Hutchinson & Co.
  • —— (1964). A pretty sort of prison. Hutchinson & Co.

Papers

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References

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  1. ^ Cook, Tim. "Turner, Merfyn Lloyd". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/50489. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  2. ^ "Desert Island Discs - Castaway : Merfyn Turner". BBC Online. BBC. Retrieved 27 July 2014.