An introduction to Thomas Turner and his diaries appears in Vaisey, David, ed. The Diary of Thomas Turner, 1754-1765. New edition. East Hoathly: CTR Publishing, 1994, pp. xvii-xxxix.
Vaisey’s biographical entry for Turner in the ODNB can be found at Vaisey, David. “Turner, Thomas (1729–1793), diarist and shopkeeper.” Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. 23 Sep. 2004; Accessed 2 Jun. 2025. https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-48266 [paywall]. An alternative biographical entry for Turner is available in Wikipedia .
Brief biographies of villagers appearing in Turner’s diaries can be found in Vaisey, David, ed. The Diary of Thomas Turner, 1754-1765. New edition. East Hoathly: CTR Publishing, 1994, Appendix B, pp. 326-339. Further information about many of these residents is available in Jane Seabrook’s book, East Hoathly: A Sussex Parish and its People. East Hoathly: CTR Publishing, 2019.
The lives of several young women from East Hoathly are examined in Falcini, Louise. ‘Accounting for Illegitimacy: Parish Politics and the Poor’. In Providing for the Poor: The Old Poor Law, 1750-1834, edited by Peter Collinge and Louise Falcini. London: Royal Historical Society, 2022, pp.25-49. https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv2vr8vph.10. This includes: Ann Durrant (later Hyland), Ann Cain (later Ling), Elizabeth Day (formerly Dan), Sarah Vinal (later Tull) and her sister, Mary Vinal (later Parkes).
Further short biographies, or expanded biographies will appear on these pages.