Richard Gurney

Richard Gurney (1790–1843) was the young Judge of the Stannary Courts of Devon whose corrupt practices were exposed by The Trial of Mary Ann Tocker in 1818. Following the trial, he wrote a pamphlet expounding the Law of Libel at the time and attempting to defend his actions.

Early Life Richard Gurney grew up in Tregony, Cornwall. He was the youngest of the three children of Rev. Richard Gurney and Bridget Oban. He aspired to be a writer and a poet. After his father failed to obtain a naval commission for him, he went to London to study Law. He was admitted to the Inner Temple on 14th January 1812.

Vice-Warden of the Stannaries of Devon 1812 – 1817 In December 1812, at just 22 years of age, Richard Gurney was appointed Vice-Warden of the Stannaries of Devon. He tried cases concerning mining disputes under Stannary law. This post was obtained for him by his father, Rev. Gurney, as a reward for helping Lord Yarmouth's candidate to be returned as the representative for the Borough of Tregony in the 1812 elections. Rev. Gurney was also instumental in obtaining bribes for the voters. When questioned by the Select Committee of Parliament looking into corrupt electoral practices in the Borough, he denied all knowledge of the bribes and was tried for perjury. When Richard heard Robert Gifford, (later 1st Baron Gifford,) questioning his father's honesty, he challenged him to a duel. Refused satisfaction, he struck Robert Gifford with his horse whip and was charged with assault. When the case came to trial in 1814, Richard Gurney was sentenced to six months imprisonment in the Marshalsea prison.[1] In 1816 and again in 1818, Richard Gurney was outlawed in Plymouth and Dock for debt and fled the country. He spent months at the gaming tables of Paris in the company of Major John Richardson, a Canadian gambler and author. Richardson's biographer writes of Gurney as a "poet, solicitor, and former Vice-Warden of the Stannaries of Devon, who owing to a predilection for the gaming table, neglected to attend court, took higher fees than allowed and, obliged to leave England, took refuge in Paris in 1818."[2] As Vice -Warden of the Stannaries, he received an income of £50 a year yet only heard two cases. He lost his position after his corrupt behaviour was exposed by the publication of an anonymous letter in the West Briton newspaper in 1817. When Gurney discovered that the writer of the letter was Mary Ann Tocker, his former secretary's sister, he had her tried for Libel.

His political career Richard Gurney stood for parliament in the Borough of Tregony three times and failed each time. In 1830, he claimed to be elected member of parliament for Tregony in Cornwall, but did not succeed in obtaining the seat. He petitioned parliament claiming to have been returned by the legal returning-officer and accusing his opponents of bribery.The petition was found frivolous and vexatious and Gurney was awarded costs.[3] In 1834, Richard Gurney fled the to the Continent to escape debt.[4] He was the author of:

  • Fables on Men and Manners, 1809.
  • Romeo and Juliet Travesty, 1812.
  • Observations on a libel; for which an indictment was instituted by Richard Gurney, Jun. of the Inner Temple, Special Pleader, Vice-Warden of the Stannaries of Devon, against Mary Ann Tocker; of which the Defendant was found not guilty, 1818.
  • The Battle of Salamanca, a Poem, 1820.
  • The Maid of Prague, 1841.

He died at Bonn, Germany, in 1843. His wife, Catherine Harriet, died in 1876.[5]

He was the father of Archer Thompson Gurney, clergyman, hymn-writer and poet.

References

  1. ↑ "Law Report." Times [London, England] 6 May 1814: 2. The Times Digital Archive. Web. 20 Sept. 2018
  2. ↑ Beasley, David (2004). The Canadian Don Quixote; The Life and Works of Major John Richardson... ISBN 0 915317 184.
  3. ↑ Hansard Tregony Election HC Deb 30 August 1831 vol 6 cc870-1870
  4. ↑ Gurney, Augustus William (1887). Memoir of the Reverend Archer Gurney. unpublished, the original manuscript is in the British Library.
  5. ↑ Bibliotheca Cornubiensis, pp. 200, 1213
Attribution

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: "Gurney, Archer Thompson". Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.


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