Gurney (surname)

Gurney is an English surname of Anglo-Norman origin. Some families with this surname can trace their lineage back to the Counts de Gourney, who arrived in Britain with William the Conqueror in 1066.

Notable families

• The Gurney family (Norwich), Quakers in England that established Gurney's bank:
  • Anna Gurney (1795–1857), Old English scholar
  • Daniel Gurney (1791–1880), banker and antiquary
  • Elizabeth Fry née Gurney (1780–1845), prison reformer and philanthropist
  • Isabel Charlotte Gurney (Isabel Talbot, Baroness Talbot de Malahide) (1851–1932), English philanthropist.
  • John Henry Gurney (1819–1890), banker and amateur ornithologist, son of Joseph John Gurney
  • Joseph John Gurney (1788–1847), banker, brother of Elizabeth Fry and father of John Henry Gurney
  • Robert Gurney (1879–1950), English zoologist
  • Samuel Gurney (1786–1856), banker and philanthropist
  • Hudson Gurney (1775–1864), English antiquary, verse-writer, and politician

• English shorthand pioneers:
  • Thomas Gurney (shorthand writer) (1705–1770), first known official shorthand writer
  • Sir John Gurney (1768–1845), barrister and judge
  • William Brodie Gurney (1777–1855), shorthand writer and philanthropist
  • Joseph Gurney (1804–1879), British shorthand writer and biblical scholar

• English clergymen and civil servants (related to the banking family):
  • Archer Thompson Gurney (1820–1887), Church of England clergyman and hymn writer
  • John Hampden Gurney (1802–1862), Anglican clergyman and hymnist.
  • Richard Gurney (1790–1843), vice-warden of the stannaries, and father of Archer Thompson Gurney
  • Edmund Gurney (divine) (d.1648), English clergyman, divine and anti-Catholic writer
  • Russell Gurney (1804–1878), English Conservative Party politician

• American professional auto racing drivers:
  • Dan Gurney (born 1931), father of Alex Gurney
  • Alex Gurney (born 1974), son of Dan Gurney

Others with this surname

• A. R. Gurney (b. 1930), American playwright and novelist
• Andy Gurney (b. 1974), English footballer
• Alexander George Gurney (1902–1955), Australian cartoonist and comic strip creator
• Stan Gurney (1908–1942), Australian recipient of the Victoria Cross
• Bobby Gurney (1907–1994), football player
• Charles W. Gurney (1840-1913), American businessman
• Daryl Gurney (b. 1986), Northern Irish darts player
• Edmund Gurney (1847-1888), English psychologist and psychic researcher.
• Edward Gurney (1868—1938), English cricketer who played for Gloucestershire
• Edward J. Gurney (1914–1996), U.S. Representative and Senator from Florida
• Eric Gurney (1910–1992), cartoonist who worked with the Walt Disney Company
• Sir Goldsworthy Gurney (1793–1875), British scientist
• Harry Gurney (b. 1986), English cricket player
• Sir Henry Gurney (Henry Lovell Goldsworthy Gurney) (1898–1951), British High Commissioner in Malaya
• Ivor Gurney (1890–1937), English composer and war poet
• James Gurney (born 1958), artist best known as the creator and illustrator of the Dinotopia books
• Jason Gurney (1910-1973), British sculptor who fought in the Spanish Civil War
• Jeremiah Gurney (1812-1886), American daguerreotype photographer
• Joe Gurney (b. 1965), retired American ice hockey player
• John Chandler Gurney (1896–1985), U.S. Senator from South Dakota
• Oliver Gurney (1911–2001), English assyriologist and hittitologist
• Peter Gurney, guinea pig handler
• Rachel Gurney (1920–2001), English actress
• Sir Richard Gurney (d.1647), 1st Baronet, English merchant, Lord Mayor of London.
• Ronald Wilfred Gurney (1898–1953), British theoretical physicist
• Scott Gurney (b. 1976), American actor and executive producer
• Steve Gurney (b. 1963), New Zealand multisport and triathlon athlete

In fiction

• Gladys Gurney, The Simpsons character
• Jack Arnold Alexander Tancred Gurney, protagonist of Peter Barnes' 1968 play, The Ruling Class.