Samuel Gurney (1786–1856)

Samuel Gurney (18 October 1786 – 5 June 1856) was an English banker and philanthropist from the Gurney family of Norwich. He should not be confused with his second son, Samuel (1816–1882), also described as banker and philanthropist, and a Member of Parliament.

Gurney was born at Earlham Hall near Norwich, England, 18 October 1786, the second son of John Gurney (1749–1809), a Quaker banker of Norwich, and Catherine, the daughter of Daniel Bell (1728–1750), a London merchant from Stamford Hill. The family's Gurney's Bank was founded in 1770.

Gurney was educated at Wandsworth, Surrey, and at Hingham, Norfolk. Among his siblings were Joseph John Gurney, Daniel Gurney (1791–1880),Elizabeth Fry, Louisa Hoare (1784–1836), the wife of Samuel Hoare, and Hannah Buxton, the wife of Sir Thomas Buxton. At the age of 14, Gurney was placed in the counting-house of his brother-in-law, Joseph Fry (1777–1861), a tea merchant and banker, at St Mildred's Court, Poultry, in the City of London.

The wealth that came to Gurney from his father-in-law, as well as that bequeathed to him by his father, helped him to rapid progress as a partner in Richardson and Overend, with which he had become connected in 1807. The 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 in Nottingham, with the Gurneys supplying the capital. At that time bill discounting was carried on sporadically by ordinary merchants in addition to their regular business, but Richardson considered that there was room for a London house that would itself entirely to trading in bills. This novel idea proved an instant success. On his father's death in 1809, Samuel Gurney assumed the control of the Norwich bank. At the same time he took control of Richardson and Overend, whose name was subsequently changed to Overend, Gurney and Company.

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