The Gurneys were an influential family of English Quakers, who had a major part in the development of Norwich, England. They established Gurney's Bank in 1770, which merged into Barclays Bank in 1896. They established successful breweries.[1] A number of family members were abolitionists.[2] Members of the family still live in the United Kingdom.
The Gurney family were a prominent Norfolk dynasty of bankers, wool merchants and brewers... A letter written in 1799 by David Barclay to his son-in-law Richard Gurney, now held in the Barclays archive, questioned the wisdom of finding a position in the [brewery] business for his grandson, Hudson Gurney. He writes that he does not want "my dear Grandson… placed so young in a situation dangerous to youth".
Joseph John Gurney was the brother of the famous prison reformer Elizabeth Fry and worked with her in agitating for greater social reform, not only with regard to prisons but also in support of the abolition of slavery. Born to a prominent Quaker banking family in Norwich, Gurney had close connections to the anti-slavery movement, another of his sisters, Hannah, married the prominent abolitionist Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton...