Gurney was born on 9 February 1836. Her parents were Emma (born Rawlings) and Joseph Gurney. Her father was one of parliament's shorthand writers[1] and a biblical scholar who wrote for the Religious Tract Society.[2] She was born at the family home in Denmark Hill in South London.[1]
Gurney received an education from her father, from whom she inherited his appreciation of learning. She taught herself Latin, Greek, Italian and briefly went to a school based in Wincobank Hall, near Rotherham. She later learnt German and Spanish. She took charge of the education of her half-sisters, from her father's second marriage until she was replaced by a governess. She later became the secretary of Wandsworth's elementary school for girls organised by the British and Foreign School Society.[1]
She was a key figure in the Women's Education Union and they decided to create a company to achieve their educational aims. They successfully presented the scheme at a public meeting at the Royal Albert Hall in June 1872.[3] The new company was registered as the Girls' Public Day School Company with a nominal share capital of £12,000. The key figures in the creation of the GPDSC were Gurney, Maria Grey, Emily Shirreff and Lady Stanley.[1]
In 1872 she published a history of Camden Collegiate Schools which was titled Are We to Have Education for Our Middle-class Girls?. The book had an introduction by Maria Grey.[4]
In 1879 she left Tyndale Lodge, near Wimbledon, where she had lived with her father till he died. She moved to live in Kensington, with her sister Amelia.[1]
She and the MP William Henry Stone, who was the chairman of the Girl's Public Day School Company, gave evidence to the Royal Commission on Secondary Education in 1894.[5]
She died in Kensington on 8 October 1917. She was buried in Putney Vale Cemetery. She left £1,000 to fund a GPDSC scholarship.[1] Research has found that Gurney's substantial contribution to education has been "largely excluded from the historical record".[6]
