George Turnour

George Turnour Jnr, CCS (1799–1843) was a British colonial administrator, scholar and a historian. A member of the Ceylon Civil Service, he served as a Government Agent, Assistant Colonial Secretary and Treasurer of the Colony. He is known for his translation of the Mahavamsa, the Great Chronicle of Sri Lankan history which was published in 1837. Along with James Prinsep and Captain Edward Smith, he began to decipher the inscriptions on the first discovered Pillar of Ashoka.

Born in Ceylon on 11 March 1799, his father was the Honorable George Turnour Snr, the son of the British politician Edward Garth-Turnour, 1st Earl Winterton. George Turnour Snr came to India joining the Bengal Native Infantry as an ensign. He landed in Ceylon in 1783 with the 73rd Regiment. In 1795, he was appointed Fort Adjutant of the Jaffna Fort and later made Commandant of the Mannar Fort in 1797. He Maria Emilie de Beaussett, niece of Cardinal Duc de Beaussett. In 1799, Lieutenant Turnour was dismissed from command following an inquiry instituted by the Governor on irregularities in the Mannar Pearl Fishery which found "gross and incalculable fraud". Thereafter, Turnour Snr tried his hand in trading business between Indian and Ceylon which failed, prompting him to return to Jaffna insolvent in 1807. He was able to gain appointment as Revenue Agent of the Wanni, Assistant Collector of Jaffna in 1831 and served as Sitting Magistrate and Fiscal. He died in April 1813.

George Turnour Jnr was the eldest of six siblings, he had one younger brother Edward Archer and four sisters Anne Emily, Frances, Elizabeth and Jane. In 1811, he was sent to England for education under the patronage of Sir Thomas Maitland.

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