Thomas Gurney (shorthand writer)

Thomas Gurney (1705–1770) was an early English shorthand-writer and developer of shorthand style used by Charles Dickens.

Early life

Gurney was born at Woburn, Bedfordshire, on 7 March 1705. His father, John, though of an ancient family (his descent is traced in the "Record of the House of Gournay"), belonged to the yeoman class, and was a substantial miller with a large family. Thomas was intended for a farmer, but his inclination for books and mechanics was so decided, that when put to farming he ran away twice.

He then learned

.

His connection with shorthand was brought about accidentally. In order to obtain a work on astrology, about which he had a boyish curiosity, he purchased at a sale a lot containing an edition of William Mason's "Shorthand," which he studied to such purpose that at the age of 16 he began to take down sermons. His notebook of 1722–3 is still preserved, and shows that at that time he used Mason's system with very little alteration.

Career

In 1737 Gurney came to London, and was soon afterwards appointed shorthand-writer at the

, and trials in divers parts of the Kingdom" and "in the Honorable House of Commons" (postscript to 4th edition of Brachygraphy).

Return to clockmaking

In 1749 Gurney was carrying on business as a

to the second edition, published in 1752.

Later life and death

The profession of shorthand-writer or teacher yielded at that time a slender income, and Gurney was glad to continue his business as a clockmaker, and to supplement his income by designing patterns for

-printing for one of his friends who was a manufacturer. He held his appointment at the Old Bailey till his death on 22 June 1770.

Personal life

He married in 1730 Martha, daughter of Thomas Marsom, an ironmonger in Luton, Bedfordshire, son of the reverend Thomas Marsom of Luton who was once imprisoned with John Bunyan for attending "unlawful assemblies or conventicles". Following the death of his first wife on 29 May 1756 he married Rebeccah Wicks on 7 October 1756 and they had one child, Rebecca.

References

Attribution

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Stephen, Leslie; Lee, Sidney, eds. (1890). "Gurney, Thomas". Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 23. London: Smith, Elder & Co.