Author: GURNEY, Hudson
Biography:
GURNEY, Hudson (1775-1864: ODNB)
In this bibliography, all but one of the works associated with Hudson Gurney are translations and it is through his translations—particularly of Apuleius’s tale of Cupid and Psyche—that he is known to literary history. An original—but very curious—poem of his, Head of Ancient History, was issued in 1814 and is now very scarce. The ODNB attributes to him English History and Chronology in Rhyme but no trace of this book has been found. Hudson Gurney was born in Magdalen Street, Norwich, Norfolk, to Quaker parents, Richard Gurney of Keswick Hall and his first wife, Agatha Barclay. Both were connected to prominent banking families, the origins of today’s Barclays Bank. Hudson’s half-sister was Anna Gurney (1795-1857) who became a noted scholar of Anglo-Saxon. He was educated privately at the home of his maternal grandfather, David Barclay, where he knew the scientist and polymath Thomas Young (1773-1829); Gurney later wrote Memoir of the Life of Thomas Young (1831). He became a partner in the Yarmouth branch of the family bank, travelled in France in 1802-3, and in 1809 and 1811 he inherited a fortune when first David Barclay and then Richard Gurney died. On 27 Sept. 1809 at St. Marylebone, London, he married a cousin, Margaret Barclay Allardice (1780-1855); they had no children. Gurney entered politics and was elected as an independent for Shaftesbury, Dorset, in 1812. He lost his seat in 1813 but in 1816 he was returned for the borough of Newtown in the Isle of Wight and held the seat until 1832. While at Westminster he tended to support Whig causes (rather less as time went on) and showed particular interest in financial matters and banking regulations: his maiden speech was on the gold coin bill. From 1818 he was a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries and later served as vice-president. He was also a Fellow of the Royal Society and a member of the British Archaeological Society. In 1817 he built an entirely new Keswick Hall and the old Gurney home became known as Keswick Old Hall. Gurney died on 9 Nov. 1864, predeceased by his wife, and was buried in the churchyard of All Saints at Intwood, Norfolk. His will left effects of under £1,100,000—making him one of the wealthiest of authors in this database. (ODNB 7 Mar. 2025; ancestry.co.uk 7 Mar. 2025; historyofparliamentonline 7 Mar. 2025) SR