# Alfred Gurney

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**Alfred Gurney** (1843 – 1898) was an English cleric and writer.

## Early life

The second son of [John Hampden Gurney](/source/John_Hampden_Gurney), he was a brother of [Edmund Gurney](/source/Edmund_Gurney) the psychic researcher. His father having died in 1862, the five children were brought up by [Russell](/source/Russell_Gurney) and [Emelia Gurney](/source/Emelia_Gurney), their uncle and aunt.[1][2]

Gurney was educated at [Exeter College, Oxford](/source/Exeter_College,_Oxford), matriculating there in 1862, and graduating B.A. in 1866, M.A. in 1869. He entered the [Inner Temple](/source/Inner_Temple) in 1867.[3][4]

## Curate

Changing career, Gurney went into the church. [Richard William Randall](/source/Richard_William_Randall) at [All Saints](/source/Church_of_All_Saints,_Clifton), [Clifton](/source/Clifton,_Bristol) offered him a chance 1872 to be ordained and become his curate. This was a false start, because [Charles Ellicott](/source/Charles_Ellicott) as bishop refused to ordain Gurney, citing Randall's [ritualism](/source/Ritualism_in_the_Church_of_England).[5] Gurney then became curate to [Arthur Wagner](/source/Arthur_Wagner); in 1877 he was assistant curate at [St Bartholomew's Church, Brighton](/source/St_Bartholomew's_Church,_Brighton).[6][7] At this period of his life he met Ellen Beardsley, mother of [Aubrey Beardsley](/source/Aubrey_Beardsley); whom he later encouraged as an artist.[8]

## Vicar of Pimlico

Gurney was from 1879 vicar of [St Barnabas](/source/Church_of_St_Barnabas,_Pimlico), [Pimlico](/source/Pimlico), in London—an 1850 church associated with the [Oxford Movement](/source/Oxford_Movement)—and became known for religious verse.[9][10] He formed what has been called a "Catholic-minded community" around the church.[11]

Bringing in church music, Gurney formed a choir under [Thomas Helmore](/source/Thomas_Helmore). [George Herbert Palmer](/source/George_Herbert_Palmer_(musician)) was organist. Services used [incense](/source/Incense).[12]

During the 1890s Gurney had the original decoration of St Barnabas, by [Thomas Cundy](/source/Thomas_Cundy_(junior)), elaborated by [George Frederick Bodley](/source/George_Frederick_Bodley). Glass by [Charles Kempe](/source/Charles_Kempe) and [Ninian Comper](/source/Ninian_Comper) was introduced, replacing that by [William Wailes](/source/William_Wailes).[13]

## Interests and connections

From 1882, Gurney was corresponding with [Christina Rossetti](/source/Christina_Rossetti).[14] She became his friend and occasional visitor.[15] He gave a lecture on her late brother [Dante Gabriel Rossetti](/source/Dante_Gabriel_Rossetti) in 1883 at [Somerville College, Oxford](/source/Somerville_College,_Oxford), and wrote a work of criticism, *A Dream of Fair Women*.[16]

Gurney was a [Wagnerian](/source/Wagnerian), who wrote on *[Parsifal](/source/Parsifal_(opera))*. In 1889, he travelled to [Bayreuth](/source/Bayreuth) to hear it performed, with his aunt Emilia Russell Gurney.[17] She was a prominent member of the "Cowper-Temple circle", a loose evangelical and ecumenical Christian group around [William Cowper-Temple, 1st Baron Mount Temple](/source/William_Cowper-Temple,_1st_Baron_Mount_Temple) and [Georgiana Cowper-Temple, Lady Mount Temple](/source/Georgiana_Cowper-Temple,_Lady_Mount_Temple), attending their "Broadlands conferences" from 1874 to 1888; and also a founder of the [Kensington Society](/source/Kensington_Society_(suffragette_group)).[18][19] Alfred Gurney attended the 1876 Broadlands conference.[20] He has also been considered a follower of [Andrew Jukes](/source/Andrew_Jukes_(theologian)).[21]

In 1891, Gurney encouraged the young, ailing Aubrey Beardsley, who was now working in London, to go into illustration; he was then supported by friends such as [Aymer Vallance](/source/Aymer_Vallance).[22] In 1897 Gurney was the dedicatee of *Hymns and Carols for Christmas-tide* by [George Ratcliffe Woodward](/source/George_Ratcliffe_Woodward).[23]

## Death

Gurney died in [Roehampton](/source/Roehampton), in 1898.[24]

## Works

- *Verses* (1870)[25]
- *The Vision of the Eucharist, and other poems* (1882)[26]
- *A Dream of Fair Women, a Study of some Pictures by Dante Gabriel Rossetti* (1883).[27]
- *A Christmas Faggot* (1884)[28]
- *Parsifal: A Festival Play by Richard Wagner: a Study* (1888)[29]
- *Our Catholic Inheritance in the Larger Hope: An Essay* (1888)[30]
- *Voices from the Holy Sepulchre and other poems* (1889)[26]
- *George Chapman. A Narrative of a Devoted Life* (1893), editor[31][32]
- *Day-dreams* (1896)[26]
- *Love's Fruition* (1897)[26]
- *Amor Ordinatus. Essays and Addresses* (1905)[33]

As a critic, Gurney was noted for religious interpretation of works that went further than the authors' intentions.[9][34][35]

## Family

In 1866, Gurney married Alice Blanche Gibbs, daughter of [William Gibbs](/source/William_Gibbs_(businessman)), and they had two sons, Cyril, and William Hampden.[27][36][37] Alice died in 1871.[38]

## Notes

1. Morse, Elizabeth J. Morse. 56343.

1. Lesley Higgins (27 August 2015). [*The Collected Works of Gerard Manley Hopkins: Diaries, Journals, and Notebooks*](https://books.google.com/books?id=LCLuCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA70). Oxford University Press. p. 70. ISBN 978-0-19-953400-5.

1. [Alumni Oxonienses: the Members of the University of Oxford, 1715-1886/Gurney, Alfred](https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Alumni_Oxonienses%3A_the_Members_of_the_University_of_Oxford%2C_1715-1886%2FGurney%2C_Alfred)

1. Gordon Epperson (1 January 1997). [*The Mind of Edmund Gurney*](https://books.google.com/books?id=VNt-fNHfhj0C&pg=PA138). Fairleigh Dickinson Univ Press. p. 138. ISBN 978-0-8386-3720-3.

1. John Fetherstonhough Briscoe & Henry Falconar Barclay Mackay (1932). *A Tractarian at Work: A Memoir of Dean Randall*. Mowbray. p. 143.

1. Brocard Sewell (1983). [*In the Dorian Mode: A Life of John Gray, 1866–1934*](https://archive.org/details/indorianmodelife0000sewe/page/77). Tabb House. p. [77](https://archive.org/details/indorianmodelife0000sewe/page/77). ISBN 978-0-907018-18-6.

1. *The Church Union Gazette*. English Church Union. 1877. p. 173.

1. Peter Raby (1998). *Aubrey Beardsley and the Nineties*. Collins & Brown. p. 17. ISBN 978-1-85585-611-0.

1. Anne Dzamba Sessa (1979). [*Richard Wagner and the English*](https://books.google.com/books?id=lMDdEWuXU44C&pg=PA124). Fairleigh Dickinson Univ Press. pp. 124–5. ISBN 978-0-8386-2055-7.

1. ["St. Barnabas Church, St. Barnabas Street, Pimlico — the first Tractarian church"](http://www.victorianweb.org/art/architecture/churches/stbarnabas/index.html). Retrieved 17 December 2015.

1. Chris Snodgrass (1995). *Aubrey Beardsley: Dandy of the Grotesque*. Oxford University Press, Incorporated. p. 156. ISBN 978-0-19-509062-8.

1. Chris Snodgrass (1995). *Aubrey Beardsley: Dandy of the Grotesque*. Oxford University Press, Incorporated. p. 308. ISBN 978-0-19-509062-8.

1. University of London Dominic Janes Lecturer in Art History Birkbeck College (11 March 2009). [*Victorian Reformation: The Fight Over Idolatry in the Church of England, 1840-1860*](https://books.google.com/books?id=YfmIZvCXUDcC&pg=PA60). Oxford University Press, USA. p. 60. ISBN 978-0-19-970283-1.

1. Christina Rossetti. [*Christina Rossetti*](https://books.google.com/books?id=1feRtcvAwnMC&pg=PA120). Ardent Media. p. 120. GGKEY:J92Y5LQ78K4.

1. Christina Georgina Rossetti (1997). [*The Letters of Christina Rossetti: 1882-1886*](https://archive.org/details/lettersofchristi0001ross). University Press of Virginia. p. [76](https://archive.org/details/lettersofchristi0001ross/page/76). ISBN 978-0-8139-1929-4.

1. Christina Georgina Rossetti (1997). [*The Letters of Christina Rossetti: 1882-1886*](https://archive.org/details/lettersofchristi0001ross). University Press of Virginia. p. [122](https://archive.org/details/lettersofchristi0001ross/page/122). ISBN 978-0-8139-1929-4.

1. *Letters of Emilia Russell Gurney*. 1902. p. 212.

1. Susan Petrilli (2009). [*Signifying and Understanding: Reading the Works of Victoria Welby and the Signific Movement*](https://books.google.com/books?id=-xcSsPqFgakC&pg=PA143). Walter de Gruyter. p. 143 note 7. ISBN 978-3-11-021850-3.

1. Morse, Elizabeth J. "Gurney, Emilia Russell". 56343.

1. James Gregory (30 November 2009). [*Reformers, Patrons and Philanthropists: The Cowper-temples and High Politics in Victorian England*](https://books.google.com/books?id=SvcBAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA324). I.B.Tauris. p. 324 note 158. ISBN 978-0-85771-625-5.

1. Russell, George William Erskine (1903). ["The Household of Faith; portraits and essays"](https://archive.org/stream/TheHouseholdOfFaith#page/n227/mode/2up). *[Internet Archive](/source/Internet_Archive)*. London: Hodder and Stoughton. pp. 213–4. Retrieved 18 December 2015.

1. Macfall, Haldane (1911). ["A History of Painting"](https://archive.org/stream/historyofpaintin08macf#page/262/mode/2up). Vol. VIII The Modern Genius. Boston: Dana Estes & Co. p. 261. Retrieved 18 December 2015.

1. Giles, Gordon. "Woodward, George Ratcliffe". 76311.

1. Malcolm Easton (1972). *Aubrey and the Dying Lady: a Beardsley riddle*. Secker and Warburg. p. 159.

1. Alfred Gurney (1870). [*Verses*](https://archive.org/details/versesgurney00gurnrich). W. H. Hodge.

1. ["Alfred Gurney (Gurney, Alfred, 1845-1898), The Online Books Page"](http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/book/lookupname?key=Gurney%2C%20Alfred%2C%201845-1898). Retrieved 17 December 2015.

1. ["Alfred Gurney, ??-1900/1901, The Correspondence of James McNeill Whistler :: Biography"](http://www.whistler.arts.gla.ac.uk/correspondence/people/biog/?bid=Gurn_A&initial=G). Retrieved 17 December 2015.

1. [A Christmas Faggot](https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/A_Christmas_Faggot)

1. Alfred Gurney (1888). [*Parsifal: A Festival Play by Richard Wagner: a Study*](https://books.google.com/books?id=9QJTNAEACAAJ). Kegan Paul, Trench, Company.

1. Alfred Gurney (1888). [*Our Catholic Inheritance in the Larger Hope: An Essay*](https://archive.org/details/ourcatholicinhe00gurngoog). K. Paul, Trench.

1. R. S. & Alfred Gurney (1893). [*George Chapman. A Narrative of a Devoted Life*](https://books.google.com/books?id=qHmHoAEACAAJ)

1. Wakeling, George (1895). ["The Oxford Church Movement: sketches and recollections"](https://archive.org/stream/a611870400wakeuoft#page/228/mode/2up/search/Gurney). *[Internet Archive](/source/Internet_Archive)*. London: S. Sonnenschein. p. 234. Retrieved 18 December 2015.

1. [*Amor Ordinatus. Essays and Addresses. By the Late Alfred Gurney ... Edited by His Sister, with the Help of H. H. Jeaffreson*](https://books.google.com/books?id=ZrUSMwEACAAJ). London. 1905.

1. Andrea Rose (1901). [*The Germ: Literary Magazine of the Pre-Raphaelites*](https://books.google.com/books?id=SvPQwMeNeqUC&pg=PA20). Ashmolean Museum. p. 20. ISBN 978-1-85444-024-2.

1. ["Seeing the Sacred: Burne-Jones's Reception as a 'Great Religious Painter'"](http://www.19thc-artworldwide.org/summer15/crossman-on-burne-jones-s-reception-as-a-great-religious-painter). Retrieved 18 December 2015.

1. Sir Bernard Burke (1871). [*A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry of Great Britain & Ireland*](https://books.google.com/books?id=161CAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA499). Harrison. p. 499.

1. Bernard Burke (1906). [*A genealogical and heraldic history of the landed gentry of Great Britain & Ireland*](https://books.google.com/books?id=FIcTAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA636). Рипол Классик. p. 636. ISBN 978-5-88372-227-0.

1. ["Alice Blanche Gibbs, Mrs Alfred Gurney (1843–1871) and her Child 13883, National Trust Collections"](http://www.nationaltrustcollections.org.uk/object/13883). Retrieved 17 December 2015.

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Alfred Gurney](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Gurney) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Gurney?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.