Gurney was born at Earlham Hall near Norwich, the tenth child of John Gurney of Gurney's Bank. He was always called Joseph John. He was the brother of Samuel Gurney, Elizabeth Fry, a prison and social reformer, and Louisa Hoare, a writer on education, and also the brother-in-law – through his sister the campaigner Hannah Buxton – of Thomas Fowell Buxton, who was also an anti-slavery campaigner. He was educated by a private tutor at Oxford, members of non-conformist religious groups being ineligible to matriculate in his day at the English universities. In 1817 Gurney joined his sister Elizabeth Fry in her attempt to end capital punishment and institute improvements in prisons. They talked with several Members of Parliament but had little success. In 1818 Gurney was a recorded Quaker minister. Eventually Robert Peel, the Home Secretary, took an interest in prison reform and introduced the Gaols Act 1823, which called for paying salaries to wardens and putting female warders in charge of female prisoners. It also prohibited the use of irons or manacles. Gurney and Fry visited prisons all over Great Britain to gather evidence of the horrible conditions in them to present to Parliament. They published their findings in a book entitled Prisons in Scotland and the North of England. Gurney campaigned against slavery during trips to North America and the West Indies from 1837-1840. He promoted the Friends' belief inworld peace in Ireland, Scotland, the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, and Denmark. He also continued to promote the abolition of capital punishment. Gurney also advocated total abstinence from alcohol. He wrote a tract on the subject called Water Is Best. While Gurney was preaching in the United States he caused some controversy that resulted in a split among Quakers. He was concerned that Friends had so thoroughly accepted the ideas of the inner light and of Christ as the Word of God that they no longer considered the actual text of the Bible and the New Testament Christ important enough. He also stressed the traditional Protestant belief that salvation is through faith in Christ. Those who sided with him were called Gurneyite Quakers. Those who sided with John Wilbur, his opponent, were called Wilburites. Gurney was an early supporter of Earlham College in Richmond, Indiana and the college was named after his family home, Earlham Hall, in honour of his support and encouragement. . As a boy George Borrow used to fish the River Yare near Earlham Hall and on one occasion was caught by Joseph John Gurney. Gurney later invited the boy into the hall to see his books. In his semi-autobiographical novelLavengro, Borrow recalls the hall with great precision: "On the right side is a green level, a smiling meadow, grass of the richest decks the side of the slope; mighty trees also adorn it, giant elms, the nearest of which, when the sun is nigh its meridian, fling a broad shadow upon the face of the ancient brick of an old English Hall. It has a stately look, that old building, indistinctly seen, as it is, among the umbrageous trees." George Borrow describes Joseph John Gurney's objections to fishing: "'Canst thou answer to thy conscience for pulling all those fish out of the river, and leaving them to gasp in the sun?' said a voice, clear and sonorous as a bell. I started and looked round. Close behind me stood the tall figure of a man, dressed in raiment of quaint and singular fashion, but of goodly materials. He was in the prime of vigour and manhood; his features handsome and noble, but full of calmness and benevolence; at least I thought so, though they were shaded by a hat of finest beaver, with broad drooping eaves. 'Surely that is a very cruel diversion in which thou indulgest my young friend?' he continued. 'I am sorry for it... but I do not think it cruel to fish.... Simon Peter was a fisherman.' 'True, but they did not follow fishing as a diversion.' Whether from the effect of his words, or from want of inclination for the sport, I know not, but from that day I became less and less a practitioner of that 'cruel fishing'."
Works
Essays on the Evidences, Doctrines and Practical Operations of Christianity
