 According to the later account of William Green, himself a piper to the Duke, during this time his uncle William Cant (1751–1821), also a piper, worked for Turnbull as postboy, and learned with him.Green also stated that Turnbull was the best piper in the region, and that John Peacock, then a teenager, studied the pipes with Turnbull around this time, having initially learned from Old William Lamshaw (1712–1796).As Green was born in the year Turnbull died, he cannot have known him directly, but he is likely to have reported accurately what he was told about him when young, particularly by his uncle William Cant.