Prints
Mill River Golf - Jack Turner
Mill River Golf - Jack Turner
Title: Mill River Golf, No. 11 Green, P.E. Island
Photographer: Jack Turner
Image Size: 15 x 19 1/2” (38.1 x 49.5 cm)
Description: Hand-tinted photo print tipped onto Bristol paper backing. Also, includes original backing made of press-board which is titled and initialed by the artist.
“The taking of photographs is not permitted…. Any officers or soldiers (or other persons subject to military law) found in possession of a camera will be placed under arrest…” - British Army General Orders, March 1915
Brenton Harold “Jack” Turner (1889–1989) was a gunner in WWI. An award-winning amateur photographer before the war, he decided to smuggle a small German-made camera with him when he went overseas in 1915. Years later, Turner said“I didn’t know what kind of inspection they’d have, so I made pockets in under my sleeve to hide it.” The officers in his company, mostly Islanders like himself, turned a blind eye to the illegal camera. He developed his negatives on leave, or on the battlefield: “In old cellars or any dark place you could get.” In a 1979 interview, Turner said, “It never crossed my mind, the future of these pictures, I just took them to suit myself.” Jack Turner’s work represents a unique look at life at the front during the Great War, shot through the lens of an ordinary soldier, not an official war photographer. After the war, Turner returned to Prince Edward Island, married, and took up farming in Knutsford, near O'Leary. After retirement from farming in 1952, Turner returned to photography making prints from his WWI negatives. He also produced a number of new hand-colored images of Prince Edward Island – mainly rural scenes - for the tourist trade.
Mill River Golf Course is located in O’Leary, P.E.I. The course opened in 1971 and was rated for a time in the Top 100 Public Courses in Canada. The course was originally designed by Canadian golf architect Robbie Robinson.