Stanley Turner was born in Aylesbury, England, and studied art in London before immigrating to Canada around 1903. In 1911 he moved to Toronto, where he joined the advertising department of T. Eaton Company and then Rous and Mann, where he worked under Group of Seven founder Franklin Carmichael. Turner is best known for his expertly wrought etchings of street scenes of Toronto and Quebec City and for colour woodcuts in a Japanese style. He also did illustrations for historical novels and magazines, including Maclean’s, and was a skilled draughtsman, cartographer and printmaker. During the Second World War he was twice commissioned by the Globe and Mail to prepare illustrated war maps.