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

Early life

The second son of John Hampden Gurney, he was a brother of

Edmund Gurney Edmund Gurney (23 March 184723 June 1888) was an England, English psychologist and parapsychologist. At the time the term for research of paranormal activities was "psychical research". Early life Gurney was born at Hersham, near Walton-on-Tham ...

the psychic researcher. His father having died in 1862, the five children were brought up by Russell and Emelia Gurney, their uncle and aunt. Gurney was educated at

Exeter College, Oxford Exeter College (in full: The Rector and Scholars of Exeter College in the University of Oxford) is one of the Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England and the fourth-oldest college of the un ...

, matriculating there in 1862, and graduating B.A. in 1866, M.A. in 1869. He entered the

Inner Temple The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, commonly known as the Inner Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court and is a professional associations for barristers and judges. To be called to the Bar and practise as a barrister in England and Wal ...

in 1867.

Curate

Changing career, Gurney went into the church. Richard William Randall at All Saints,

Clifton Clifton may refer to: People *Clifton (surname) *Clifton (given name) Places Australia * Clifton, Queensland, a town **Shire of Clifton *Clifton, New South Wales, a suburb of Wollongong *Clifton, Western Australia Canada *Clifton, Nova Scotia ...

offered him a chance 1872 to be ordained and become his curate. This was a false start, because

Charles Ellicott Charles John Ellicott (1819–1905) was a distinguished English Christian theologian, academic and churchman. He briefly served as Dean of Exeter, then Bishop of the united see of Gloucester and Bristol. Early life and family Ellicott was bo ...

as bishop refused to ordain Gurney, citing Randall's

ritualism Ritualism, in the history of Christianity, refers to an emphasis on the rituals and liturgical ceremonies of the church. Specifically, the Christian ritual of Holy Communion. In the Church of England, Anglican church in the 19th century, the rol ...

. Gurney then became curate to

Arthur Wagner Arthur Douglas Wagner (13 June 1824 – 14 January 1902) was a Church of England clergyman in Brighton, East Sussex, England. He served for more than 50 years at St Paul's Church in the town—first as a curate, then from 1873 as its vicar. As ...

; in 1877 he was assistant curate at

St Bartholomew's Church, Brighton St Bartholomew's Church, dedicated to the apostle Bartholomew, is an Anglican church in Brighton, England. The neo-gothic building is located on Ann Street, on a sloping site between Brighton railway station and the A23 London Road, adjacent t ...

. At this period of his life he met Ellen Beardsley, mother of

Aubrey Beardsley Aubrey Vincent Beardsley (21 August 187216 March 1898) was an English illustrator and author. His black ink drawings were influenced by Woodblock printing in Japan, Japanese woodcuts, and depicted the grotesque, the decadent, and the erotic. He ...

; whom he later encouraged as an artist.

Vicar of Pimlico

Gurney was from 1879 vicar of

St Barnabas Barnabas (; arc, ܒܪܢܒܐ; grc, Βαρνάβας), born Joseph () or Joses (), was according to tradition an early Christian, one of the prominent Christian disciples in Jerusalem. According to Acts 4:36, Barnabas was a Cypriot Jew. Name ...

Pimlico Pimlico () is an area of Central London in the City of Westminster, built as a southern extension to neighbouring Belgravia. It is known for its garden squares and distinctive Regency architecture. Pimlico is demarcated to the north by London V ...

, in London—an 1850 church associated with the

Oxford Movement The Oxford Movement was a movement of high church members of the Church of England which began in the 1830s and eventually developed into Anglo-Catholicism. The movement, whose original devotees were mostly associated with the University of O ...

—and became known for religious verse. He formed what has been called a "Catholic-minded community" around the church. Bringing in church music, Gurney formed a choir under

Thomas Helmore Thomas Helmore (7 May 1811, in Kidderminster – 6 July 1890, in Westminster) was a choirmaster, writer about singing and author and editor of hymns and carols. Helmore's father was a congregationalist minister (also called Thomas). During th ...

George Herbert Palmer George Herbert Palmer (March 9, 1842 – May 7, 1933) was an American scholar and author. He was a graduate, and then professor at Harvard University. He is also known for his published works, like the translation of ''The Odyssey'' (1884) and ot ...

was organist. Services used

incense Incense is aromatic biotic material that releases fragrant smoke when burnt. The term is used for either the material or the aroma. Incense is used for aesthetic reasons, religious worship, aromatherapy, meditation, and ceremony. It may also be ...

. During the 1890s Gurney had the original decoration of St Barnabas, by Thomas Cundy, elaborated by

George Frederick Bodley George Frederick Bodley (14 March 182721 October 1907) was an English Gothic Revival architect. He was a pupil of Sir George Gilbert Scott, and worked in partnership with Thomas Garner for much of his career. He was one of the founders of Watt ...

. Glass by

Charles Kempe Charles Eamer Kempe (29 June 1837 – 29 April 1907) was a British Victorian era designer and manufacturer of stained glass. His studios produced over 4,000 windows and also designs for altars and altar frontals, furniture and furnishings, lich ...

and

Ninian Comper Sir John Ninian Comper (10 June 1864 – 22 December 1960) was a Scottish architect; one of the last of the great Gothic Revival architects. His work almost entirely focused on the design, restoration and embellishment of churches, and the des ...

was introduced, replacing that by

William Wailes William Wailes (1808–1881) was the proprietor of one of England's largest and most prolific stained glass workshops. Life and career Wailes was born and grew up in Newcastle on Tyne, England's centre of domestic glass and bottle manufacturing. ...

Interests and connections

From 1882 Gurney was corresponding with

Christina Rossetti Christina Georgina Rossetti (5 December 1830 – 29 December 1894) was an English writer of romantic, devotional and children's poems, including "Goblin Market" and "Remember". She also wrote the words of two Christmas carols well known in Brit ...

. She became his friend and occasional visitor. He gave a lecture on her late brother

Dante Gabriel Rossetti Gabriel Charles Dante Rossetti (12 May 1828 – 9 April 1882), generally known as Dante Gabriel Rossetti (), was an English poet, illustrator, painter, translator and member of the Rossetti family. He founded the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhoo ...

in 1883 at

Somerville College, Oxford Somerville College, a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England, was founded in 1879 as Somerville Hall, one of its first two women's colleges. Among its alumnae have been Margaret Thatcher, Indira Gandhi, Dorothy Hodgkin, Ir ...

, and wrote a work of criticism, ''A Dream of Fair Women''. Adoramus Te Beardsley

Gurney was a

Wagnerian Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, polemicist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most op ...

, who wrote on ''

Parsifal ''Parsifal'' ( WWV 111) is an opera or a music drama in three acts by the German composer Richard Wagner and his last composition. Wagner's own libretto for the work is loosely based on the 13th-century Middle High German epic poem ''Parzival'' ...

''. In 1889 he travelled to

Bayreuth Bayreuth (, ; bar, Bareid) is a town in northern Bavaria, Germany, on the Red Main river in a valley between the Franconian Jura and the Fichtelgebirge Mountains. The town's roots date back to 1194. In the 21st century, it is the capital of U ...

to hear it performed, with his aunt Emilia Russell Gurney. 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 William Francis Cowper-Temple, 1st Baron Mount Temple, PC (13 December 1811 – 16 October 1888), known as William Cowper (pronounced "Cooper") before 1869 and as William Cowper-Temple between 1869 and 1880, was a British Liberal statesman. B ...

and Georgiana Cowper-Temple, Lady Mount Temple, attending their "Broadlands conferences" from 1874 to 1888; and also a founder of the Kensington Society. Alfred Gurney attended the 1876 Broadlands conference. He has also been considered a follower of Andrew Jukes. 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. In 1897 Gurney was the dedicatee of ''Hymns and Carols for Christmas-tide'' by

George Ratcliffe Woodward George Ratcliffe Woodward (27 December 1848 – 3 March 1934) was an English Anglican priest who wrote mostly religious verse, both original and translated from ancient authors. The best-known of these were written to fit traditional melodies ...

Death

Gurney died in

Roehampton Roehampton is an area in southwest London, in the Putney SW15 postal district, and takes up a far western strip running north to south of the London Borough of Wandsworth. It contains a number of large council house estates and is home to the U ...

, in 1898.

Works

*''Verses'' (1870) *''The Vision of the Eucharist, and other poems'' (1882) *''A Dream of Fair Women, a Study of some Pictures by Dante Gabriel Rossetti'' (1883). *''A Christmas Faggot'' (1884) *''Parsifal: A Festival Play by Richard Wagner: a Study'' (1888) *''Our Catholic Inheritance in the Larger Hope: An Essay'' (1888) *''Voices from the Holy Sepulchre and other poems'' (1889) *''George Chapman. A Narrative of a Devoted Life'' (1893), editor *''Day-dreams'' (1896) *''Love's Fruition'' (1897) *''Amor Ordinatus. Essays and Addresses'' (1905) As a critic, Gurney was noted for religious interpretation of works that went further than the authors' intentions.

Family

In 1866 Gurney married Alice Blanche Gibbs, daughter of William Gibbs, and they had two sons, Cyril, and William Hampden. Alice died in 1871.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gurney, Alfred 1843 births 1898 deaths 19th-century English Anglican priests English male poets