The Diary · Character

Mrs. Turner

A neighbor and friend whose garden confidences and distilled waters carry the small change of parish gossip into Pepys's busy household.

supporting

Also known as Turner, Mrs. The. Turner, Madam Turner

First appearance: January 1659–60

As a supporting figure in The Diary, Mrs. Turner is not background color—the story leans on what they do once the chapter opens.

Visits Pepys with Madame Morrice and Joyce; plays cards and dines at his home.

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Mrs. Turner walks with Pepys in his garden, trading stories of scorned suitors and shabby families, and sends her daughter along when his wife leaves for the country. She is the kind of neighbor who knows everyone's business and shares it with relish, distilling waters for his father and lending her daughter as a traveling companion. Through her, the diary's domestic and parish worlds stay woven into its public concerns.

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Character Web

20 connections

A slice of how Mrs. Turner sits in the book — open the reader for the full interactive map.

Relationship types

Other

Character groups

Naval and Court Officials
Protagonist

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Narrative arc

Story tension across the book — this chapter sits in Exposition.

Setup
Escalation
Breaking point
Aftermath
Closing

The emotional and psychological peak occurs when the news of the impending naval battle throws the Board into…

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In the story

Mrs. Turner appears across 12 companion beats. Open any chapter in the free preview to see the notes beside the text.

January 1659–60
Visits Pepys with Madame Morrice and Joyce; plays cards and dines at his home.
January 1661–62
Visited by Pepys and Elizabeth; she remains ill.
July 1663
Pepys shares with her and others the story of being frightened at Chatham.
December 1663
Grieves the death of her brother; consults Pepys about arranging a funeral achievement.
January 1663–64
Pepys briefly speaks with her after visiting Auditor Beale's.
December 1664
Dines with Pepys and cousin Roger, and later visits cousin Scott's.
December 1666
Pepys and his wife visit her to take leave before she returns to the North.
December 1667
Visits Pepys and reports that William Penn has become a Quaker and is melancholy, and that his father is a hypocritical rogue.
April 1668
Gives Pepys a cellar of waters for his father and discusses her husband's position.
May 1668
Dines with Pepys on the 3rd; shows him her house on the 15th.
July 1668
Sups with Pepys and family on the 19th and visits on the 7th.
March 1668–69
Visited by Pepys; her daughter Betty is mentioned.

Chapter companion notes

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See Mrs. Turner in January 1659–60