Turner departed around the end of March (5)
I believe the answer is:
lathe
'turner' is the definition.
(a lathe is something which 'turns')
'departed around the end of march' is the wordplay.
'departed' becomes 'late' (I've seen this before).
'around' indicates putting letters inside.
'the end of' indicates one should take the final letters.
The last letter of 'march' is 'h'.
'late' placed around 'h' is 'LATHE'.
(Other definitions for lathe that I've seen before include "This is turned out" , "Rotating machine tool" , "Wood-turning machine" , "Turning device" , "Turning implement" .)