Gurney family (Norwich)

The Gurneys of Norwich were an influential family of English Quakers who established Gurney's bank in 1770 and had a major influence on the development of the city. The bank merged into Barclays in 1896. Members of the family still live in the United Kingdom.

The Gurneys were 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 a younger branch of this ancient family held certain manors in Norfolk in the time of King Henry II.

In the 17th century, John Gurney (1655–1721) left his hometown of Maldon for Norwich to live and work among the Quakers of the city. Arriving in Norwich in 1667, he became active in the woollen trade. In 1687 he married Elizabeth Swanton (d 1727) of Woodbridge, by whom he had eight children. He died as a wealthy man in 1721 and was buried in "the old Dutch garden that the Friends had bought as their burial ground, the Gildencroft or Buttercup Field," on the land John Gurney had been given to tend when he first arrived in Norwich. His sons John (1688–1740) and Joseph (1691–1750) continued in the woollen trade through businesses in St. Augustine's Street and Magdalen Street, respectively. Both brothers married and had numerous children.

John Gurney's sons, John (1719–1779) and Henry (1721–1777) gradually added banking transactions to their woollen trade. In 1770 they entered into partnership and formally established Gurney's Bank in 35 Tooley Street (now Pitt Street) in Norwich. When Henry died in 1777, he was succeeded by his son Bartlett (1756–1802), who also took over his uncle John's responsibilities and moved the banking business to Redwell Plain (now Bank Plain) in Norwich. The Quaker bank became renowned for its honesty, reliability and fair dealings and so people entrusted the Gurney family with their money for safekeeping. Bartlett Gurney was married twice, but died childless at Coltishall, Norfolk, in 1802. He was succeeded in control of the bank by Richard (1742–1811) and John Gurney (1749–1809), grandsons of Joseph Gurney (1691–1750).

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