An author, Gurney was a Cornishwoman born in Launceston. She married Charles Gurney of Trebursye. Her long poem, ‘Blue Stocking over the Border’ was published anonymously in the Edinburgh Review in 1828. She is also the author of published volume, Rhymes for my children by a Mother (1835).
The Hypatia Trust has obtained a collection of her dated and original notebooks in her own hand with fair copies of her poems, and other writings covering the period from 1814 to 1855. Though these are not set out in personal diary form with specific entries on specific dates, the working diary that emerges is clear.
Professor Charles Thomas, in his manuscript archive, holds copies of the Gurney family children’s newspaper, being the Dunheved Gazette & Launceston Flying Post. In the family, only Charles Gurney appears not to have written for publication.