Anna Gurney (31 December 1795–6 June 1857) was an Old English scholar, philologist, philanthropist, geologist, archaeologist, botanist, abolition campaigner, and member of the Gurney family of Norfolk.
A daughter to Richard and Rachel Gurney, Anna was brought up a Quaker. She learnt Latin, Greek, Hebrew, and Anglo-Saxon from an early age, in 1819 anonymously publishing for private circulation A Literal Translation of the Saxon Chronicle, the first translation of this text. She lived in a cottage at Northrepps from 1825 with Sarah-Maria Buxton, the pair becoming known as the "Cottage Ladies". Here, the pair worked with Thomas Fowell Buxton from 1834 on a campaign over the treatment of indigenous peoples in the British Empire which resulted in the Parliamentary Select Committee on Aboriginal Tribes, for which Gurney wrote the bulk of its final report. Gurney lived at the Northrepps cottage for the remainder of her life after Sarah Buxton's death in 1839, though continued to travel the world and study new languages. She was the first woman to be elected as a member of both the British Archaeological Association and the Philological Society, in 1845 and 1847 respectively. Following her death in 1857 at the house of her half-brother Hudson Gurney in Keswick near Norwich, she was buried in St Martin's Church in Overstrand.
Early life and education
Anna Gurney was born on 31 December 1795, likely at Keswick Hall, near Norwich, Norfolk, in England. She was daughter to Richard Gurney (1742–1811) and his second wife Rachel Gurney, (–1825). Richard Gurney worked as a partner of Gurney's Bank. Anna's siblings were; Richard Gurney, and her elder sister Elizabeth Gurney, and she also had a half brother in Hudson Gurney (1775–1864), who was twenty years her senior. Anna lived at Keswick Hall from childhood, alongside Sarah-Maria Buxton, sister of Thomas Fowell Buxton. Thomas was the husband of Anna's cousin, Hannah Gurney. The Gurney family were prominent Quakers.
As a child, (10 months old) Gurney contracted a disease which was probably polio, described as a "paralytic affliction", as the disease paralysed her lower limbs, meaning from a young age and for the rest of her life Anna Gurney was a wheelchair user. Richard Gurney, her father, owned two properties; Keswick Hall and Northrepps Hall, the latter being near Cromer, Norfolk. He would die in 1811, after which Anna stayed with her mother at Northrepps Cottage, also known as Overstrand Cottage, on the Northrepps estate.
Anna Gurney was schooled at home, and was brought up a Quaker. Her sister Elizabeth, her cousin Catherine Gurney, and a tutor would give her her early education. At an early age, she learnt Latin, Greek, Hebrew, and Anglo-Saxon (also known as Old English); her first steps in foreign and medieval languages were overseen by her half-brother Hudson Gurney, an adult by the time of Richard Gurney's death. She was once found as a child with an Anglo-Saxon grammar under her pillow.
Career Throughout Gurney's adult life, Anna devoted resources and time to many different causes. This included abolition work, education for children, and geology. She mainly focused her geological research on local portions of the Cromer Forest Bed formation. As adults, she and Hudson Gurney would share scholarly interests, and for decades would exchange letters almost daily. As an adult, she converted from being a Quaker to Anglicanism, and was baptised as such.
1817–25: Translations of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle and other texts Gurney in 1817 created a translation of the Kongs-Skugg-Sio, or, Speculum regale, a Norwegian text. This received a private and local printing, and was only circulated amongst her family.
In 1819, at age 23, she published A Literal Translation of the Saxon Chronicle, for which she is remembered most. Gurney identified herself for the work only through the sobriquet "A Lady in the Country." She stated in its preface that this work was far along when she had learned that a full collected edition by James Ingram, at the time a former Rawlinson Professor of Anglo-Saxon at Oxford University, was about to be published. This caused her to go ahead with publication but only "for private circulation" in a limited impression. As a result, few copies of this work survive today. She only had access to the printed texts rather than the original sources for the translation. A Literal Translation was the first translation of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. It was commended by the academic Ingram when he finally published his Saxon Chronicle with Translations in 1823. Gurney's translation was compared to that of Ingram by reviewers, who favoured Gurney's, and it retained its positive reputation through to the 20th century as it was accurate, literal, clear, and plain in style. Positive reviews included Sir Francis Palgrave calling it a "remarkable work for a young woman", and John Mitchell Kemble calling it "very creditable".
In 1820, she produced a translation of 'A Saxon homily on St Neot'. This was published in an anonymous fashion as a part of Norfolk antiquary George Gorham's work.
She became known for her philanthropic maritime rescue efforts on the coastline of Norfolk, directing rescue operations from the shore before offering foreign sailors food and shelter, and talking to them in their own languages. In 1825, she wrote the pamphlet On Means of Assistance in Cases of Shipwreck, which would be included in an edited version in The Fisherman's Friendly Visitor and Mariner's Companion, a magazine. She procured at her own expense for the town of Sheringham a Manby mortar, also known as a Manby Life Saving Rocket. This was an apparatus used to fire a line to a ship in peril.
1825–34: Northrepps Cottage, Sarah Buxton, philanthropy and the Belfry School
In 1825, after the death of her mother, her home became Northrepps Cottage, and she lived with Sarah Buxton, in a household that was matriarchal. Here, they established a base of operations for their political, scientific and artistic work. They shared an interest in zoology, natural history, and fossils, and worked together on animal welfare campaigns.
From 1827, when the Buxtons also moved to the Northrepps estate at Northrepps Hall, Gurney became part of the Buxtons' close family circle. While she and Buxton were not involved in the family's dealings in London, they were heavily engaged in their activities in Norfolk. Gurney campaigned on local Norfolk issues, sponsoring initiatives to improve the safety of local fishermen and gaining popularity through these efforts. Gurney thus established and maintained lifeboat services by Overstrand, and additionally pressured Thomas Fowell Buxton to raise discussion on lifeguard stations in the House of Commons. In 1830, Gurney lobbied Trinity House to install a light off Happisburgh; the effort was successful, and the light was set up on a small lifeboat by Happisburgh's most dangerous area of sand. It became known as the 'Gurney light'.
During their time together, Gurney and Buxton founded and ran an elementary school known as the Belfry School, located in a cobble building in Overstrand. This building notably features the initials G and B, for Gurney and Buxton, in pink pebbles at its front. The cost for each child was 1d per week. , there was still a school at the building. On top of this, Anna also educated young women while also hosting labouring men's evening classes. Her teaching was progressive and thorough, and had "an emphasis on encouragement with sweets, rather than punishment"; this was innovative at the time. They additionally gave adult tuition at Northrepps Cottage, including to William Forster in his early political career; he would later become a Liberal MP. Gurney and Sarah Buxton also financed the construction of a road through Overstrand and other infrastructure, and ran several local charities such as a clothing charity and Bible clubs. The pair also travelled Britain and Europe, being carried up a glacier at Grindelwald. While supportive of the efforts of Thomas Buxton and in close touch with him, there is scant evidence of Gurney and Sarah Buxton being involved in the Buxtons' political activities until 1834.
In 1831, Sir Francis Palgrave published a dedicatory epistle to Anna Gurney in his first volume of his History of England. In it, he described writing the book while with her at Northrepps Cottage. The pair had shared a lively scholarly and personal correspondence, possibly after Palgrave was introduced to her as the son-in-law of Dawson Turner, a close friend of Hudson Gurney. In 1834, Anna Gurney and Buxton were compiling a commonplace book together; in this, they recorded an anonymously authored poem "Lines for the 1st of August 1834 Sung by 100 Children on the Lawn at Colne House", this being the home of Priscilla Buxton's brother Edward in Norfolk. This poem expressed support for the abolition of slavery:
The children at their Belfry School were similarly instructed to sing the hymn 'the year of jubilee' to celebrate the abolition of slavery.
1834–39: Campaign for indigenous populations in the British Empire In August 1834, Priscilla Buxton withdrew from assisting her father Thomas Fowell Buxton, because of her marriage to Andrew Johnston and decision to spend time on their Scottish estate. Thomas at the time was leading the Society for the Extinction of the Slave Trade and the Civilization of Africa, as well as a campaign highlighting the injustices committed by the British Empire on its indigenous peoples. At Northrepps Cottage, Anna and Sarah Buxton thus took over from Priscilla Buxton's role in the campaign for a period of six months, though continued their work with Thomas after the newly married couple returned to London in spring 1835. Anna and Priscilla, occasionally damaging their health, frequently worked twelve-hour days during this period, usually composing Thomas's speeches. Kathryn Gleadle has argued that Anna and Priscilla's work operated under 'Thomas Fowell Buxton' like a brand name.
One aim of the political project was to allow the Xhosa people, on the Cape coast, to be treated in a humanitarian manner, and Anna and Sarah gathered masses of data such as statistics on the economic condition of the indigenous population in order to oppose the government's accused punitive action on these people. After the group heard of the death of Hintsa kaKhawuta, king of the Xhosa Kingdom, Anna drew up a pamphlet to be signed by Thomas and submitted to the Colonial Office. Anna and Sarah worked to sift and cull evidence from missionary and government sources in preparation for Thomas's second parliamentary speech on aborigines in July 1835, selecting the most compelling pieces of evidence for Thomas's use in private and parliamentary lobbying. Anna suggested that the specific South Africa campaign should become a parliamentary committee about the wider status of 'aborigines' in all British settlements. Working from this, Thomas was able to use Anna and Sarah's material influence the evangelical Secretary of State for the Colonies, Lord Glenelg, to inquire into all British settlements in terms of the treatment of colonial subjects. An Aborigines Select Committee thus began in August 1835. Thomas credited Anna for this success, writing to her, "[O]wing exclusively to you the committee was formed, & that saved a nation".
In the midst of this, Gurney's Translation of the Ynglinga saga was published in 1836. Norfolk antiquary William Gunn was one of those who received it. That year, Anna and Sarah went to Frankfurt, and were invited to an audience with Princess Elizabeth.
Report of the Parliamentary Select Committee on the Aboriginal Tribes (British Settlements)