 In 1843 Turner had been appointed honorary professor of physiology at the Manchester Royal Institution, where, with the exception of two years, he delivered an annual course of lectures until 1873.He was nominated a fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of England in 1843, and he served on its council from 1865 to 1873.He was occupied from 1852 with the Manchester and Salford Sanitary Association, and the condition of factory hands.