The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1866-09-28

featuring and mercantile concerns prosecuting
both with considerable success. john Gurney,
the younger, who was born on the lGtn OF July,
1853, and died on the 23d OF January, l74O, vas
q famous man In hls day. He was an intimate
friend OF both the Walpoles and by them urged
to enter Parliament; but he preferred TO devote
himself ID hie business, and take all his relu&a-
ton at home. In 1920 he was examined before
the House of Lords concerning the intended
pru blbition or Indian calicoes, whicn had lately
come to be freely imported into England. He
drew a dismal picture of the evils conso-
quent to the wooleD trade from this in
novation. Worcester and Gloucester, Bris
tol and York, ne said, were being
ruined through the preference that was
being shown to cotton over woollen clothing.
In York, the poverty OF the manufacturers was
so great that they we're obliged TO eat unwholc-
some diet, which had ocCasioned dstemOer
among them" In Norwich, he represented,
there was the greatest distress OF all. Thou
sands OF work. people we're th1own out OF en-
ployment; and the paupers were so numerous,
that on many OF the houses twenty-iour shil
lings were assessed for every pound OF rent for
poor-rates. These arguments, and the argu-
n ents of other mJnopollsts, prevailed. A law
was made IN 1921 Ito preserve and encourage
the wOOlen and silk manutactures,h whereby
all cotton clothing was forbidden, with a line OF
E5 tor each oliphse upon the wearer, and G20 on
the seller; ana John Gurney was henceforth
known as 'the famous advocate of the weaverS.'
Joseph Gurney, four years younge' than his
brother, survived him by ten years, inheritlng
the entire manufacturing business, and
leaving most OF the mercantile work to
be conducted by mis- nephews. In 1747
he was rich enough to buy the Oh
Hall at Keswick, which, with subsequent add.
tons and improvements, was made splendid
possession Tor his descendants. His two elder
sons, John and Samuel, succeeded him as manu-
tacturers. They introduced into Norwich the
IRISH Dlan OF making homespun yarns. besides
employing great numbers OF native Irish, and
were IN their time accounted great oenetactors
both to the eastern counties OF England aud to
the northern districts of England. samuel
4 mi
three sons soon retired from the manufacturing
business; Richard and Joseph TO settle down as
country gentlemen; JOnn after some prosperous
work us woostapler and spinner of Worsted
yarn, to become a partner with his cousin,
Bartlett Gurney, in the management of the
Norwich ank. This bank had been founded
by John and Henry Gurncy, sons OF the John
Quincy who had defended the wOollen mono
poly before the House Of LORDS in 1920
Succeeding their father as merchants, they
followed the example of many other wealthy
traders, ana added an irregular banking bust
ness to their ordinary trade Finding this
great source of further wealth, they at last de-
voted themselves exclusively to banking, and to
that end converted the old house IN Saint Au-
gustnG's parish into the original Norwich Bank,
in l770 From them the business descended in
1879, to Bartlett Gurney, Henry Gurneys son,
ana by him iC was transferred to its present
quarters, and enlarged by the admission OF other
partners, the principal being the younger John
Gurney already named, and he, after Bartlett
GuTneys death, in 1903, was its chief proprietor
and manager.
Himselfa good and useful man, he was the
father OF a famous family. One OF his daughters
was Elizabeth Fry, another married Sir Thomas
Fowell Buxton, and third was Priscilla Cur
ney. His two most notable sons were Joseph
John Gurney, the phiianthrOpist, and Samuel
Quincy, the millionaire.
samuel, the one whose history most concerns
US, was born atNorwiCh on the 18th OF Octo-
ber 1856.
He was John Gurney's second son and ninth
child. AT the age of seven ne was put to school
with the celebrated Doctor Parr anu at four
teen he was apprenticed to the Clothworkers'
Company in London, and placed in the count
nghOuse, in Saint Mildreds court, Poultry, in
which his brother-in-law, Joseph Fry, as part
ner in the firm of Frys IL Chapman, carried
on an extensive trade as q tea merchant, with
some irregular employment as a banker. He
took to business and liked it," according to tn e
report OF the niece, whose hrst remembrances
OF him were as an inmate in the Saint M1ldrcds
Court household. SIN the contingencies, as
well as in domestic life, he was extremely
amiable and cheerful, and was beloved by the
whole establishment Although not brought
up in conformity to the costume or speech of
the Society OF Friends, he showed no propensity
to follow fashions or gayety OF appearance,
beyond a suitable nCatness of attire" From
the very first, indeed, he seems to have been so
thoroughly man, or rather boy, OF business,
as to have cared torsno lighter occupations. In
1867, when his sister Hannah married Thomas
FoWell Buxton, he went down TO the wedding,
but, il is recorded, tired OF the festivities long
before they were over, and was glad to get back
to his bookkeeping and moneyChanging.
In the following year, however Samuel Cur
ney was married himself, his wife being Eliza
BETH the daughter of James Sheppard, of Ham
House, in Essex, a handsome residence that soon
descended to the young couple, and was their
place OF abode during nearly the whole of their
married life. The wealth that came to Samuel
Quincy from his tather-in-law, as well as that
bequeathed to him by his father, who died IN
1908, helped him to made rapid progress in the
new, business in which he had embarked little
while before, on his reaching the age Of twenty
one.
The business had begun few years earlier
| than that, growing out of a yet earlier conn6C-
ton between Joseph Smith, q wool factor IN Lon
| don, and the Norwich. Bank. Joseph Smith had
found the advantage of applylng part OF his
/ savings as a merchant to the then very slightly
| developed trade OF bill-dlscounting, and John
| Quincy, of Norwich, with whom he mad been
| acquainted long before, when both were simply
| also found the advantage OF sending up to him
| some OF Che surplus money of the Norwich
Bank, Tor investment iR the same way,
| paying TO Smith quarter per cent on the money
| lalu out IN each transaction as his commits
| slon' ms arrangement having continued tor
some time, II occurred TO Smiths confidential
| clerk, John Overend, by whom most of the bill
| business had been done, that there was room in
| Londoh ioI separate establishment devoted to
| trade IN Dllls. He asked his master to omen an
establishment OF that sort, taking him as man
| aging partner therein. This Joseph Smith re-
fused to do and OVerend resigned his clerkshiu
in consequence. He found the Norwich Gurneys
| however, more favorable to his project and
about the year 1900 the house Of Richardson
OVerend Company was founded, the CHEZ
management being in his hands, and for q
few years in those OF Thomas Richardson for
merly chief clerk in the bank of Smith, Wright
| & Gray, afterwards Esdaile q Co. Simon Mar
tin, an old clerk, and afterwards a partner il
| the Norwich Bank, went up to London to heir