John Gurney

John Gurney lived his entire life in Cornwall, England. He was married to Isabella (Bell) Carter in about 1784. They were the parents of Samuel Gurney who subsequently emigrated to Prince Edward Island, Canada.

The name Gurney came to England with the ancestors of the Gurney family in the Norman Conquest of 1066. The Gurney family lived in Gournay-en-Brai in the Siene-Maritime region of France. (Spelling variations include: Gourney, Gurney, Gurnie, Gurnee, Gournie, Gournee, Gurnay, Gournay, Gurnard and many more).

First found in Norfolk where they were anciently seated as Lords of the manor of Bray, and were granted the lands by William the Conqueror for their assistance at the Battle of Hastings in 1066 A.D. Through the Norfolk branch came the Gurney family (along with the Barclay family) who founded Barclay's Bank. They were prominent Quakers at that time. One of the daughters of the family - Elizabeth Gurney, became Elizabeth Fry - the champion and advocates for the better and more humane treatment of prisoners and convicts in England's jails.

Clearly there is another branch that settled in North Devon, as per John Gurney (above).

Besides their son Samuel, John and Isabella had several children - one of whom was very famous in his day, though little remembered today (see below):

Anna Peter Gurney - christened at Padstow, Cornwall on the 29th of December, 1785. (source of the 'name' Peter - likely a surname, is not yet known)

Henry Peter Gurney - christened at Padstow, Cornwall on the 14th of March, 1787.

Elias Thomas Peter Gurney - christened at Padstow, Cornwall on the 28th of August, 1788.

John Gurney - christened at Treator, Padstow, Cornwall on the 6th of January, 1792.

Goldsworthy Gurney - born at Avon House, Treator, Padstow, Corwall on the 14th of February 1793. He was baptized at Padstow on the 26th of June, 1793. He died - either at Launcells, near Stratton - or at Reeds, Cornwall. He was married to Elizabeth Symons in March of 1814. He was talented, distinguished and famous - indeed, knighted by Queen Victoria.

GURNEY, the name of a philanthropic English family of bankers and merchants, direct descendants of Hugh de Gournay, lord of Gournay, one of the Norman noblemen who accompanied William the Conqueror to England. Large grants of land were made to Hugh de Gournay in Norfolk and Suffolk, and Norwich has since that time been the headquarters of the family, the majority of whom were Quakers. Here in 1770 the brothers John and Henry Gurney founded a banking_house, the business passing in 1779 to Henry's son, Bartlett Gurney. On the death of Bartlett Gurney in 1802 the bank became the property of his three cousins, of whom John Gurney (1750_1809) was the most remarkable. One of his daughters was Elizabeth Fry; another married Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton. Of his sons one was JOSEPH John Gurney (1788_1847), a well_known philanthropist of the day; another, Samuel Gurney (1786_1856) assumed on his father's death the control of the Norwich bank. Samuel Gurney also took over about the same time the control of the London billbroking business of Richardson, Overend & Company, in which he was already a partner. This business had been founded in 1800 by Thomas Richardson, clerk to a London bill_discounter, and John Overend, chief clerk in the bank of Smith, Payne & Company at Nottingham, the Gurneys supplying the capital. At that time bill_discounting was carried on in a spasmodic fashion by the ordinary merchant in addition to his regular business, but Richardson considered that there was room for a London house which should devote itself entirely to the trade in bills. This, at that time, novel idea proved an instant success. The title of the firm was subsequently changed to Overend, Gurney & Company, and for forty years it was the greatest discounting_house in the world. During the financial crisis of 1825 Overend, Gurney & Company were able to make short loans to many other bankers. The house indeed became known as "the bankers' banker," and secured many of the previous clients of the Bank of England. Samuel Gurney died in 1856. He was a man of very charitable disposition, and during the latter years of his life charitable and philanthropic undertakings almost monopolized his attention. In 1865 the business of Overend, Gurney & Company, which had come under less competent control, was converted into a joint stock company, but in 1866 the firm suspended payment with liabilities amounting to eleven millions sterling.