These research notes are provided as-is and contain supplementary working research.
This page expands an Evidence link in Origin — trade and training: the findings, sources, and qualifications behind the marked passage.
Negative result
No Merchant Taylors' binding or patrimony freedom for John
The Merchant Taylors' Company of London apprentice and freedom records for 1583-1800 (Scott's full transcription of the binding books and freedom registers, UKDA-SN-9263) contain no binding of a John Gurney son of Francis Gurney to any Merchant Taylor master and no Gurney freedom by patrimony at all: the two John Gurney apprentices in the dataset are a glover's son of 'Moborne', Worcestershire (bound 1602) and an Aylesbury ironmonger's son (bound 1655), neither the emigrant, and the 3,391-record patrimony sheet returns zero Gurney variants. The colonial John's tailoring was therefore not transmitted through his proposed father's own livery company, whether by apprenticeship to a fellow Merchant Taylor or by patrimony freedom after Francis Gurney's death.
Search scope
- Searched: UK Data Service SN 9263 - Matthew Scott, Merchant Taylors' Company of London: Apprentices 1583-1800 (2024) — Merchant Taylors' Company binding books and freedom registers (apprentice bindings, freedoms, and patrimony freedoms), 1583-1800
- Coverage window: 1583 to 1800
- Search: Every Gurney-variant occurrence across all five data sheets in two passes (core Gurney/Gurnay/Gournay/Gurnoe set, then a wide g-vowel-(r/n) scan), seeking a John Gurney son of Francis bound to a Merchant Taylor master and any Gurney freedom by patrimony.
- Results reviewed: 47
- Limitations: Two John Gurney apprentices exist (glover's son of 'Moborne', Worcestershire, bound 1602; Aylesbury ironmonger's son, bound 1655) but neither fits the emigrant's chronology or parentage.; The dataset covers the Merchant Taylors' Company only; a John trained in another London livery (Drapers, Clothworkers, Worsted Weavers), in a country apprenticeship off the London books, or informally within a household would not appear.; Absence of a patrimony freedom does not by itself disprove the Candidate-B parentage; it removes a supporting inference the case file had not explicitly claimed.
Why this conclusion
- Synthesized by Finding John's tailoring learned off the enrolled books (informal/country training)The informal/country-training reading synthesizes the Merchant Taylors' negative (no livery-company binding or patrimony freedom).
Sources
- Scott, M. (2024). Merchant Taylors' Company of London: Apprentices 1583-1800 [data collection]. UK Data Service. SN 9263. DOI: 10.5255/UKDA-SN-9263-1. Print companion: M. Scott, The Merchant Taylors Company of London: Apprentices 1583-1800, British Record Society vols 136-138., UKDA-SN-9263 (Scott 2024), all five sheets; Gurney-variant filter (47 occurrences); John bindings vol.3b no.852 (Worcs. glover's son, 1602) and vol.14 no.514 (Aylesbury ironmonger's son, 1655); Patrimony sheet 3,391 rows, zero Gurney
Technical details
- Evidence marker:
G13-PM-000045 - Primary research item:
G13-RI-000072 - Graph revision:
244 - Machine-readable JSON:
/assets/g13-graph/marker-bundles/G13-PM-000045.json