Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 23.djvu/364

 she died in 1837. Gurney himself died, 14 June 1880, at his seat near North Runcton, Norfolk.

[Times, 17 June, Lynn Advertiser, 19 June, and Norwich Mercury, 25 June 1880.]  GURNEY or GURNAY, EDMUND (d. 1648), divine, was son of Henry Gurney of West Barsham and Ellingham, Norfolk, by his wife Ellen, daughter of John Blennerhasset of Barsham, Suffolk. He matriculated at Queens' College, Cambridge, on 30 Oct. 1594, and graduated B.A. in 1600. He was elected Norfolk fellow of Corpus Christi College in 1601, proceeded M.A. in 1602, and B.D. in 1609. In 1607 he was suspended from his fellowship for not being in orders, but was reinstated by the vice-chancellor. In 1614 he left Cambridge, on being presented to the rectory of Edgefield, Norfolk, which he held till 1620, when he received that of Harpley in the same county. Gurney was inclined to puritanism, as appears from his writings. On one occasion he was cited to appear before the bishop for not using a surplice, and on being told he was expected to always wear it, ‘came home, and rode a journey with it on.’ He further made his citation the occasion for publishing his tract vindicating the Second Commandment. Fuller, who was personally acquainted with him, says: ‘He was an excellent scholar, could be humourous, and would be serious as he was himself disposed. His humours were never prophane towards God or injurious towards his neighbours.’ Gurney died in 1648, and was buried at St. Peter's Mancroft, Norwich, on 14 May in that year. His successor at Harpley was instituted on the following day. It is therefore plain that Gurney conformed to the covenant, and that the Dr. Gurney whom Walker mentions as a sequestered clergyman living in 1650 was another person (Sufferings, pt. ii. p. 260). Gurney was married, and apparently had a son called Protestant (d. 1624—monument at Harpley). His wife's name was Ellen. Gurney wrote: On the title-pages of his books Gurney spells his name Gurnay, but members of his family are usually described as Gurney.
 * 1) ‘Corpus Christi,’ Cambridge, 1619, 12mo. This is a treatise against Transubstantiation, in the form of a homily on Matt. xxvi. 26.
 * 2) ‘The Romish Chain,’ London, 1624.
 * 3) ‘The Demonstration of Antichrist,’ London, 1631, 18mo.
 * 4) ‘Toward the Vindication of Second Commandment,’ Cambridge, 1639, 24mo, a homily on Exod. xxxiv. 14, answering eight arguments commonly alleged in favour of image worship.
 * 5) A continuation of the preceding appeared in 1641, and was republished in 1661 as ‘Gurnay Redivivus, or an Appendix unto the Homily against Images in Churches,’ London, 24mo.

 GURNEY, EDMUND (1847–1888), philosophical writer, was third son and fifth child of the Rev. [q. v.] He was born on 23 March 1847 at Hersham, near Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, where his father resided for some time before becoming rector of St. Mary's, Bryanston Square, in November of that year. At the age of ten he lost his mother, who had more musical taste than she was able to gratify. From that time he went in succession to several day-schools in London till, early in 1861, he was sent away from home to a school at Blackheath. There he remained for nearly three years, passing meanwhile, with eight brothers and sisters, on the death of their father, under the guardianship of their uncle, [q. v.] At Blackheath Edmund was a handsome, attractive boy, doing fairly well in both classics and mathematics, and practising the violin more sedulously than successfully. From the beginning of 1864 he read with a private tutor at Hatfield-Broadoak. Though music at this time was his chief interest, he gained a minor scholarship at Trinity College, Cambridge, in the spring of 1866. Going into residence in October he continued his musical practice, was successful in athletic sports, to which he brought a large and finely developed frame, and attracted friendship by a peculiar warmth and closeness of sympathy. In classical study he made such way as to share with another the Porson prize in 1870. He was fourth classic in February 1871. He attained a fellowship at his college in October 1872.

Gurney's undergraduate course had been lengthened by broken residence, caused by a depression of body and mind which was apt with him to follow upon moods of high enthusiasm and consuming activity. As soon as he took his bachelor's degree in 1871, being in moderately easy circumstances, he was free to follow his natural bent. This now turned him to philosophy, though he always retained the keenest interest in letters and poetry. Strongest, however, remained his passion for music. After an Italian journey in the winter of 1871–2 he began to associate at Harrow with some youthful enthusiasts banded under the influence of a leader into a