Introduction

Biography

John was the eld­est son of Sir John Gur­ney, Bar­on of the Ex­cheq­uer.

He was edu­cat­ed at Tri­ni­ty Col­lege, Cam­bridge (AB 1824, AM 1828).

On tak­ing Ho­ly Or­ders, he be­came cur­ate of Lut­ter­worth, Lei­ces­ter­shire (1824–44); and sub­se­quent­ly rec­tor of St. Ma­ry’s, Ma­ry­le­bone; and pre­ben­da­ry of St. Paul’s Ca­thed­ral.

He was an ac­tive sup­port­er of the So­ci­ety for Pro­mot­ing Chris­tian Know­ledge and oth­er re­li­gious so­cie­ties.

Works

• Church Psal­mo­dy: Hints for the Im­prove­ment of a Col­lect­ion of Hymns Pub­lished by the So­ci­ety for Pro­mot­ing Chris­tian Know­ledge, 1853
• A Col­lect­ion of Hymns for Public Wor­ship (Lut­ter­worth, 1838) (known as his Lut­ter­worth Col­lect­ion)
• Psalms and Hymns for Pub­lic Wor­ship, Se­lect­ed for Some of the Church­es of Ma­ry­le­bone (Lon­don: 1851) (known as his Ma­ry­le­bone Col­lect­ion)