Gurney Genealogy Library Updated 29 May 2026 by Allen Gurney

John de Gournay IV (fl. c. 1330–1370)

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Lord of Harpley 1354; father of Edmund Gournay, steward of John of Gaunt.

Born
c. 1330, Norfolk. Son of John de Gournay III (G25) and Jane de Lexham. First attested in a deed of his great-uncle John (Rector of Harpley), 1331 — while still a young child or infant. 1
Died
c. 1370 or later. Active as lord of Harpley in 1354 (28 Edw. III). Son Edmund Gournay (G23) died 1387. 2
Occupation / Status
Lord of Harpley and Hardingham, Norfolk. Held manorial court at Harpley 1354. 3
Buried
Unknown. No record. 2
Marriage(s)
Unknown. No wife is named in any source consulted. By an unnamed wife, father of Edmund Gournay (d. 1387) and at least two further children per the pedigree. 4

Highlights

  • His court roll survives — one of the earliest personal records for this generation. Daniel Gurney cites a manorial court record: John IV "kept his first court at Harpley on Friday the vigil of St. Laurence, 28th Edward III (1354)." The feast of St. Laurence is 10 August; the vigil would have been 9 August 1354. This is not merely an attestation that John IV existed — it is a specific day in his life, the first occasion on which he exercised the judicial authority of a lord over his tenants. 5
  • He is the last Harpley lord before the family's great transition. John IV is the final generation of the junior Gournay branch to be seated primarily at Harpley. His son Edmund (G23) married Katherine de Wauncy, heiress of West Barsham, thereby bringing that manor into the family — and from Edmund's generation onward the Gurneys are primarily described as the "Gurneys of West Barsham." Harpley remained in the portfolio but ceased to be the primary seat. 6
  • He also — possibly — presented to the church of Harpley in 1332. In 1332, "either he or his father presented to the church of Harpley; but more probably this John de Gurney [IV], as he is called John de Gurney junior" in the deed. If so, John IV exercised the right of advowson (the right to nominate a parish clergyman) as a very young man (a child, effectively) immediately upon his grandfather's death — suggesting the 1332 presentation was made formally in his name even if his father managed the actual process. 7

Children

Name Dates Mother Notes
Edmund Gournay d. 1387 Unknown G23 in direct line. Lawyer of eminence; steward of John of Gaunt's East Anglian estates. Married Katherine de Wauncy, heiress of West Barsham, Norfolk. History of Parliament entry. 8

Narrative

John IV leaves a narrow paper trail, but it has one unusually sharp scene. He appears first in a deed of his great-uncle John the Rector in 1331, and he appears again in 1332 (probably) as the presenter to the Harpley church living.17 Then comes 9 August 1354: John holding court at Harpley as lord of the manor, not as a name in a pedigree but as the man presiding over tenants, disputes, and local business.5

Harpley gives that spare record some texture. St Lawrence church was not just the nearest parish building; it was the family stage where Gurnays presented clergy, built, prayed, and left their arms in the fabric. Modern church-history sources still preserve that local memory, while Blomefield supplies the older topographical frame.9

What John IV’s tenure did accomplish — in the most important sense — was to raise and launch his son Edmund into the legal career that made the family’s next great transformation possible. Edmund became a lawyer of sufficient eminence to be retained as steward or joint steward of John of Gaunt’s East Anglian estates and as counsel to Norwich and Bishop’s Lynn (King’s Lynn). Men of that calibre did not spring from nowhere; the stable, respectable gentry household John IV maintained at Harpley provided the platform for Edmund’s advancement.8

And Edmund married Katherine de Wauncy, heiress of West Barsham — the alliance that brought a new manor, a new fortune, and a new geographic identity to the family. From Edmund’s generation onward, the family would be known principally as the Gurneys of West Barsham.6

Citations

  1. Daniel Gurney, Record (1848), pedigree p. 286: "JOHN GURNAY, Junior, IV. mentioned in a deed of his uncle's [great-uncle's], 1331." Daniel Gurney, Record of the House of Gournay (1848), Part II, p. 356: "Son and heir of John de Gurney and Joan his wife, occurs in the deed of John, rector and patron of Harpley, 6th Edward III (1331)." ↩
  2. Active 1354 (28 Edw. III). Son Edmund's death: 1387, independently corroborated by History of Parliament Online, biography of Sir John Gurney (d.1408) of Harpley and West Barsham, Norfolk (1386–1421 volume): "In 1387 John inherited from his father manors in Harpley and Hardingham as well as 'Loundhall' in Saxthorpe." Available at historyofparliamentonline.org/.../gurney-john-1408. Source IDs: dg-rec-pt1, history-of-parliament-online-gurney-1386-1421. ↩
  3. Daniel Gurney, Record of the House of Gournay (1848), Part II, p. 356: lord of Harpley, holding court there 1354. ↩
  4. No wife named in any source consulted across this audit pass: Daniel Gurney, Record (1848) and Supplement (1858); Francis Blomefield, Norfolk vol. viii (Harpley entry, pp. 452–459), via British History Online; History of Parliament Online, biography of Sir John Gurney (d.1408) -- which names only John IV's mother (Jane de Lexham, G25), his son Edmund (G23), and the descendants. Confirmed negative. Source IDs: dg-rec-pt1, dg-rec-supp, blomefield-norfolk, history-of-parliament-online-gurney-1386-1421. ↩
  5. Daniel Gurney, Record of the House of Gournay (1848), Part II, p. 356: "It was this John de Gurney who was Lord of Harpley, and held his court there on Friday the vigil of St. Laurence, 28th Edward III (1354)." Footnote cites: "Addit. MSS. Mus. Brit. No. 8,841, fol. 112, in Harpley." The feast of St. Laurence (10 August) means the vigil was 9 August 1354. ↩
  6. Daniel Gurney, Record (1848), p. 279: "Edmund Gurney, grandson of John [i.e., son of John IV], inherited all his manors, and was a lawyer of eminence … He married the heiress of the ancient family of the Wauncys, of West Barsham, in Norfolk … From this period this family of the Gurneys were principally seated at West Barsham." ↩
  7. Daniel Gurney, Record of the House of Gournay (1848), Part II, p. 355: "In 1332, either he or his father presented to the church of Harpley; but more probably this John de Gurney, as he is called John de Gurney junior." Independent corroboration from Francis Blomefield, An Essay Towards a Topographical History of the County of Norfolk, vol. viii (London: William Miller, 1808), "Freebridge Hundred and Half: Harpley," pp. 452–459 — the Harpley parish entry, which includes "Gourney's Manor" as one of three named Harpley manors and traces the Gurney tenure across the late 13th and 14th centuries. The Harpley church-presentation series in Blomefield is the independent topographical source for the Gurney rectorial succession, including Sir John de Gurney (great-uncle of John IV) as rector and patron in the 1320s. Available via British History Online. ↩
  8. Daniel Gurney, Record (1848), p. 279; Daniel Gurney, Record of the House of Gournay (1848), Part II, pp. 357–358 (Edmund Gurney chapter). History of Parliament Online: Edmund Gurney, d. 1387. ↩
  9. Francis Blomefield, "Freebridge Hundred and Half: Harpley," in An Essay Towards a Topographical History of the County of Norfolk, vol. 8 (London, 1808), pp. 452–459, British History Online; "Harpley Church History," GGM Benefice, Harpley, St Lawrence; "The Church of St. Lawrence, Harpley," Explore West Norfolk; and "Harpley St Lawrence," National Churches Trust. These non-DG sources support the Harpley church/place-memory frame: Gurnay patronage, Rector John de Gurnay's chancel association, visible Gurnay/Gurney arms, and the church as the family parish setting. Source IDs: blomefield-norfolk, ggm-benefice-harpley-church-history, explore-west-norfolk-harpley-st-lawrence, national-churches-trust-harpley-st-lawrence. ↩