Henry Gyles Turner

Who was Henry Gyles Turner?

Henry Gyles Turner, commonly referred to as "Gyles Turner" was a notable Australian banker and historian.

Turner was born at Kensington, London. He was educated at the Poland-street academy and at 15 years of age was apprenticed to William Pickering, the publisher. In 1850 he joined the London joint stock bank and in September 1854 sailed for Australia, arrived in Melbourne on 4 December, and joined the staff of the Bank of Australasia. In 1865 he became accountant of this bank, and in 1870 general manager of the Commercial Bank of Australia, then a comparatively small institution. Under his management it became one of the leading banks of Australia. In the bank crisis of 1893 it suffered very heavy losses and did not recover its position for many years. There can be no doubt that there was much over-trading, and Turner was blamed for the bad state of affairs. He was, however, away in Europe on leave from February 1888 to March 1889, and it was during this period that the "boom" was at its height. He had hoped to retire at a comparatively early age, but now had to set himself to recover the lost fortunes of the bank.