The Worshipful Company of Turners

Supporting the Craft, City and Charity for over four hundred years

The Turners’ Company and the Crown Jewels

A Past Master of the Turners’ Company, Professor James Tennant, Mineralogist to Queen Victoria, supervised the recutting of the legendary Koh-i-Noor diamond. He transformed it from a large, flawed gem to the fabulous 105.6 carat oval brilliant to be seen in the Queen Mother’s Crown today.


Lady Gertrude Crawford, a remarkable turner

Lady Gertrude Eleanor Crawford was borne into an aristocratic family of turners but established her own mark as a lady turner at a time in history when it was very much a man’s world but proved she was as good as any of them. She was recognised by the Turners’ Company for her skill as […]


The Turners’ Consort

The Turners’ Company charity has commissioned a ‘consort’ of eight turned medieval-style recorders. Made by Tim Cranmore, one of the UK’s leading instrument makers, the Turners' Consort will be loaned to the Guildhall School of Music & Drama for teaching and student performances.


History of church bells

Bells are amongst the smallest, largest and loudest of musical instruments. First cast over 5,000 years ago, bells become common in the medieval monasteries of Europe. In the City of London, the Turners’ Company is closely linked to the bells of St Paul’s Cathedral, Bow Church and St Lawrence Jewry.


Ghenadi Vasiliev – 2017 Bursary Winner

Ghenadi Vasiliev was awarded a Turners' Company Bursary in 2017. This enabled him to study with four of the world's leading woodturners: Rod Page and Mark Sanger in the UK; and Steve Sinner and Joe Meirhaeghe in the USA. Ghenadi describes his experience in this report.


Richard Gardner Williams Sentiment 2018

The 71st Richard Gardner Williams Commemoration Banquet was held on 28th February 2018 in Apothecaries' Hall. Past Master John Bridgeman gave the Sentiment to celebrate the life and generosity of the principal benefactor of the Turners' Company.


Cockpit Arts Turners Award recipient Darren Appiagyei tells his story

Darren Appiagyei looks set to be the face of a new generation of woodturners. Despite graduating only last year, his beautifully hand crafted pieces caught the eye of The Worshipful Company of Turners, which has pledged to support him during his first year at Cockpit Arts.


Bog-standard excellence

Nigel Fleckney prepares ancient timber reclaimed from fens and other hardwoods for use as furniture. Northamptonshire is caricatured as the “county of spires and squires”, its Jurassic limestone yielding the optimal raw material for church steeples and stately piles that weather the centuries.


London Turners and Woodwind Heritage

There was an explosion of secular music in the Renaissance Period. For almost two centuries, London woodwind instrument making was dominated by a network of over 140 London Turners. John Bridgeman explores the fascinating development of the English recorder from Henry VIII to the present day.


REME and The Turners’ Company

The Turners' Company has had a close relationship with REME since its formation in May 1942, in the middle of WWII. But the role of turners in supporting the army goes back to much earlier times, when mediaeval siege engines like the Trubuchet played a major role in warfare, explains John Bridgeman.


The Turners and the Navy

The turners' craft has had a huge influence on world events from the very earliest days of sail. Archimedes invented the compound pulley in about 250 BC. More recently, wooden bearings were used on the USS Nautilus, the first nuclear-powered submarine. John Bridgeman tells the story ...


Henry Llewelyn Howell and the Turners’ Company

Henry Llewelyn Howell (1851 – 1935) was Master of the Turners' Company in 1910 - and in his memory the Company was given a beautiful silver porringer. As the H Llewelyn Howell Memorial Trophy, this is awarded to the Company's Craft Prize-Winners from the Royal Navy.


Liveryman Dame Fiona Woolf – my year as Lord Mayor

Dame Fiona Woolf, an Honorary Liveryman of the Turners' Company, was appointed Lord Mayor of the City of London in 2013. She opened Wizardry in Wood in 2012. In this feature article she talks about her long interest in woodturning, the Turners' Company and her hectic year as Lord Mayor.


Marriages are made in Bond Street, by Penrose Halson

In April 1939 Heather Jenner and Mary Oliver, aged 24, opened the first ever Marriage Bureau in Bond Street. Past Master Penrose Halson uncovers the fascinating true stories from the Bureau in her book, 'Marriages are made in Bond Street, published by Macmillan, and available to buy in shops and online.


A fisherman’s tale

Turners with even a passing interest in fly fishing can take great pride in the Company’s association with the Ustonson Dynasty: Royal Warrant Holders and suppliers of fishing tackle to three British monarchs, George IV, William IV and Queen Victoria.


Their romance outraged Queen Victoria: The story of Ashmead Burdett-Coutts and the Baroness

William Lehman Ashmead Bartlett Burdett- Coutts was Master of the Turners’ Company for two years, from May 1888 to May 1890. When only 30, he married the Baroness, who was then 67 years old. Queen Victoria was outraged, calling it the mad marriage.


Back to the early Bronze Age

In 2011 an early Bronze Age, 4000 years old cist burial chamber was discovered on Dartmoor. Inside were the cremated remains of a female and, almost uniquely for this period, well preserved grave goods including four lathe-turned ear studs.


Patricia Spero, Professional Turner

I have been a woodturner for about 9 years and am now a member of the Register of Professional Turners committee. My work is purely decorative and my inspiration comes from leaves, flowers and trees. I enjoy piercing, carving, inlaying and colouring and use these techniques on most of my work.


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