Born in 1884, James Turton was the son of a surgeon who practised in Brighton. He was educated at Epsom College and St Bartholomew's Hospital. He passed the Conjoint examination in 1907 and graduated MB BS in 1909, becoming FRCS two years later. He was house surgeon to Sir Crisp English at St George's Hospital before being mobilised as Lieutenant-Commander in the Royal Navy at the outbreak of war in 1914. He served in the ships of the Grand Fleet. He was appointed honorary assistant surgeon to the Royal Sussex County Hospital in 1921, becoming full surgeon in 1927 and senior surgeon in 1944. His sound practical approach to the problems of running a complicated and busy hospital was well known, and his services were in great demand as chairman of medical committees. In 1947, he was appointed a representative of the Royal Colleges and the BMA on the Spens Committee that decided the remuneration of consultants in hospital practice and he became a member of the South East Metropolitan Hospital Board the same year. He was Past President of the Brighton and Sussex Medico-Chirurgical Society and a former Chairman of the Mid-Sussex Hospital Management Committee. He died at his home on 16 February, 1977, survived by his daughter, Mary, who nursed him in his last days. His wife, Ethel, predeceased him.