Hudson Gurney, FRS FRAS FLS MRSI DL JP

• "GURNEY, Hudson (1775-1864), of Keswick, Norf.", The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1790-1820, ed. R. Thorne, 1986
• Burke, Bernard, Sir. A genealogical and heraldic history of the landed gentry of Great Britain & Ireland 6th ed. London : Harrison 1879. Vol I. page 702

Hudson Gurney11,18,19,20,21,22 was born on 19 Jan 1775 in Old Courthouse, Magdalen Street, Norwich, died on 9 Nov 1864 in Keswick Hall, Norfolk aged 89, and was buried in Intwood.+

Basic notes: He was awarded with FRS FRAS FLS MRSI DL JP. He worked as a Partner, Gurney's Bank. He worked as a Partner, Barclay, Perkins Brewery. He was a Quaker until 1804, when he was Disowned. He was disowned for contributing to a fund for military purposes He worked as a Member of Parliament for Shaftesbury in 1812. He worked as a Member of Parliament for Newtown, Isle of Wight 1816 to 1832. He worked as a High Sheriff of Norfolk in 1835. Miscellaneous: Hudson Gurney, 9 Nov 1864. Died at Keswick, near Norwich, in his 90th year, Mr. Hudson Gurney. He was the eldest son of Mr. Richard Gurney, who died at Keswick in 1811. Educated by Dr. Thomas Young, of scientific celebrity, he became connected early in life with the great banking firm of the Gurneys, of which he was for many years senior partner, as well as with the noted London brewery of Barclay and Co., his mother being the daughter and heiress of Mr. David Barclay, of Youngbury, Herts. In 1809 he married Margaret, daughter of Robert Barclay, of Ury, descended from the celebrated Barclay, the Apologist for the Quakers. Mrs. Gurney died at Keswick on December 16th, 1855. In politics Mr. Gurney was, in many respects, decidedly Conservative, though on some points he held opinions more in accordance with the most advanced Liberalism, and, as a perfectly independent member, allied himself to no party in particular. His Parliamentary career commenced in 1812, when he was elected for Shaftesbury; from the year 1816 he represented Newport, Hants., in six successive Parliaments. In 1835 he served the office of High Sheriff for the county of Norfolk. He was a man of high literary attainments, and was vice-president of the Society of Antiquaries, a Fellow of the Royal and Linnæan Societies, vice-president of the Norwich Museum, the Literary Institute, and of the Norfolk and Norwich Archæological Society. As an author his chief production was probably the beautiful poem in English verse under the title of "Cupid and Psyche," a mythological tale from the "Golden Ass" of Apuleius; in 1801 it had reached a third edition, and was afterwards reprinted in Mr. Davenport's "Poetical Register." He also published, for private distribution, in 1843, a translation into English verse of the "Orlando Furioso" of Ludovico Ariosto; and in 1847, in a letter to Mr. Dawson Turner, "Proofs that Norwich, and not Caistor, was the Venta Icenorum." In his latter years, confined almost entirely to his own residence, "he reversed in his hours the usual custom, amusing himself with his books and writings till four or five o'clock in the morning, and, of course, rising comparatively late in the day." His estate, real and personal included, was valued at £1,200,000.

Hudson married Margaret Barclay, 11 daughter of Robert Barclay and Sarah Anne Allardice, on 27 Sep 1809 in Marylebone Church, London. Margaret was born on 14 Oct 1780 and died on 16 Dec 1855 aged 75.

Source: Charles E G Pease