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John Gurney (10 November 1749 – 28 October 1809) was anEnglishbanker and member of theGurney family ofNorwich. Besides his role as a partner inGurney's bank he is notable as the father of thesocial reformersElizabeth Fry andJoseph John Gurney, the writerLouisa Hoare and the bankerSamuel Gurney.
John Gurney was born in 1749 into an influentialQuaker family that establishedGurney's bank in 1770. At the turn of the 19th century, the family business was led by Bartlett Gurney (1756–1802). When he died childless in 1802, members from another branch of the family succeeded him and John and his brother Richard (1742–1811) became partners in the bank in 1803.[1]
John Gurney lived atEarlham Hall in Norwich.[2] On 26 May 1775 at Tottenham, London, he married Catherine Bell (1755–1794), daughter of Daniel Bell and Catherine Barclay, a member of theBarclay family, who were among the founders ofBarclays Bank. Catherine's sister wasPriscilla Wakefield, a writer onfeminist economics and children's literature. John Gurney and his wife had 13 children, including the bankersSamuel Gurney andDaniel Gurney, thesocial reformersElizabeth Fry andJoseph John Gurney, while Hannah marriedSir Thomas Buxton. Another daughter wasLouisa Hoare, the writer on education. When John Gurney's wife died in 1794, Elizabeth as became partly responsible for the care and training of her younger siblings.
In the 19th century, the Gurney family was known for its wealth: InGilbert and Sullivan's 1875comic opera "Trial by Jury", a character describes his accumulation of wealth untilat length I became as rich as the Gurneys.[3]
On John Gurney's death in 1809, his sonSamuel Gurney assumed the control of Gurney's Bank in Norwich. About the same time, he also took over control of the London billbroking business ofRichardson, Overend & Company, whose title was subsequently changed toOverend, Gurney and Company. It went on to become the world's largest discounting house.
John Gurney and his wife Catherine Bell had 13 children, of whom several died young. The surviving children include