The Dictionary of Australasian Biography/Turner, Lieut.-Colonel George Napier
Turner, Lieut.-Colonel George Napier, commanding brigade Victorian Field Artillery, son of James Turner, of Melbourne, by his marriage with Miss Agnes Aitken, was born in Melbourne on June 15th, 1842. He married in Melbourne, on Dec. 14th, 1871, Miss Margaret T. Carson. On the death of his father, in May 1867, he became senior partner in the firm of James Turner & Son, of Melbourne, station and wool agents. In 1885 the business was amalgamated with the Union Mortgage and Agency Co., Ltd., of whose Australian Board Lieut.-Col. Turner has since been chairman. He received his first commission in the St. Kilda Battery of Artillery Volunteers in 1863, and rose to the rank of captain. When he left to take the position of staff-officer of the Home District he was promoted to be major. In 1884 he was appointed to command the brigade of field artillery, with the rank of lieutenant-colonel. He was A.D.C. to his Excellency Sir Henry B. Loch, 1886-9, and A.D.C. to his Excellency the Earl of Hopetoun, 1889. He has been a member of the Victorian Council of Defence since its establishment in 1884.