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Merfyn Lloyd Turner (20 October 1915 – 6 August 1991) was a Welsh prison social worker and author. In World War II he was refused recognition as a conscientious objector, which led in turn to his refusing to submit to a medical examination as an essential preliminary to call-up; for this refusal he was sentenced to three months imprisonment, giving him a life-long concern for prison reform. On release from prison, he was allowed registration as a conscientious objector, and joined the Pacifist Service Unit in Tiger Bay, Cardiff. In 1944 he moved to the settlement Oxford House, Bethnal Green, joining fellow conscientious objectors Guy Clutton-Brock, John Raven and Peter Kuenstler. In 1954, he opened Norman House as a halfway home for people leaving prison.

He appeared as a castaway on the BBC Radio programme Desert Island Discs on 30 July 1962.

Bibliography

• —— (1953). Ship without Sails. An account of the Barge Boys' Club, etc. Hutchinson & Co.
• —— (1961). Safe Lodging the Road to Norman House. Hutchinson & Co.
• —— (1964). A pretty sort of prison. Hutchinson & Co.

Papers

• Turner, Merfyn (1969). "The Lessons of Norman House". The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science. 381 (1): 39–46. doi:10.1177/000271626938100106. ISSN 0002-7162. S2CID 144290369.

References

1. Cook, Tim. "Turner, Merfyn Lloyd". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/50489. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
2. "Desert Island Discs - Castaway : Merfyn Turner". BBC Online. BBC. Retrieved 27 July 2014.

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