Gurney Genealogy Library Updated 2 April 2026 by Allen Gurney WIP / Draft

John de Gournay III (fl. c. 1300–1353)

Ancestor fact sheet for G25 in the direct Gurney line. Recovered the family estates from his uncle the Rector; Lord of Harpley 1332–c.1353. Published April 2026.

Born
c. 1300, Norfolk. Son of Sir William de Gournay III (G26) and Katherine Baconsthorpe. First attested in a deed of his uncle John (Rector of Harpley) in 1331. 1
Died
c. 1353 or later. Living in 27 Edward III (1353). 2
Occupation / Status
Lord of Harpley and associated Norfolk manors (Swathings in Hardingham, Hingham-Gurneys, and others). Patron of the living of Harpley (presented to the church in 1332). 3
Buried
Unknown. No record. 2
Marriage(s)
Jane de Lexham — daughter of Edmund de Lexham; married before 1324, or in that year. Through this marriage, John continued the family line; son John IV (G24) born c. 1330. 4

Highlights

  • Recovered the family estates through his uncle's death — the classic medieval succession by nephew. His father Sir William III had conveyed all the Gournay Norfolk manors to his brother John (Rector of Harpley) in 1294. When the Rector died in 1332 without heirs, the estates reverted to William III's son — John III. The pedigree describes him as "heir to his uncle John, Rector of Harpley" — a nephew-inheritance that preserved the direct male line through an unusual gap in the normal pattern. 5
  • Presented to the living of Harpley in 1332 — the very year he succeeded. As lord of Harpley, John III immediately exercised one of the most tangible symbols of manorial authority: the right of advowson, the presentation of a new incumbent to the church living. In 1332 he presented to the church of Harpley, the same living his uncle had held as Rector. 6
  • His wife Jane de Lexham is named and dated — unusually precise for this generation. The DG pedigree records that Jane was the daughter of Edmund de Lexham and that she married John "before 1324, or in that year." This is one of the earliest marriage dates in the junior Norfolk branch with a named wife and an approximate date — a mark of how the documentary record begins to thicken in the 14th century. 7

Children

Name Dates Mother Notes
John de Gournay IV fl. c. 1330–1370; lord of Harpley 1354 Jane de Lexham G24 in direct line. Mentioned in deed of uncle John (Rector) 1331. Lord of Harpley, held court there in 1354. Father of Edmund Gurney (G23). 8

Narrative

John de Gournay III is the generation that restored continuity. His father had, for reasons that remain unrecorded, transferred the entire family estate to a clerical brother in 1294 — an act that bypassed the normal path of inheritance for nearly four decades. When Rector John died in 1332, John III stepped forward as his nephew and heir, receiving back the manors of Harpley, Swathings in Hardingham, Hingham-Gurneys, and associated holdings.

The documentary record for John III is sparser than for his more dramatic predecessors, but it is clear and consistent. He first appears in a deed of his uncle John (Rector of Harpley) dated 6 Edward III (1331) — described in DG Part II as John de Gurney Junior, confirming he was alive before the succession. The following year he succeeded to the estates and exercised advowson at Harpley, presenting a new rector in place of his deceased uncle.

He had married Jane de Lexham — daughter of Edmund de Lexham — by 1324 at the latest. The Lexham family were established Norfolk gentry; the Lexhams of Lexham in Norfolk are documented from the early 13th century. This marriage gave John III a son, John IV (G24), who appears in the 1331 deed as a young man and became lord of Harpley in his turn c. 1354.

John III’s long life — attested from c. 1300 to at least 1353 — spanned the early decades of the Hundred Years’ War, the catastrophic Black Death of 1348–49 (which killed roughly a third of England’s population), and the first great parliamentary crises of Edward III’s reign. There is no surviving evidence that he participated directly in any of these events, which for a minor Norfolk landholder of the period is not surprising. His legacy was simpler and more durable: he re-established the Gournay line in possession of the Harpley estates and fathered the son who would connect the family to its most consequential medieval alliance — with Katherine de Wauncy and the West Barsham inheritance.

Citations

  1. DG-I pedigree p. 286: "JOHN DE GURNEY, III. heir to his uncle John, Rector of Harpley, presented to that living in 1332; living 27 Edw. III." First attestation: "JOHN GURNAY, Junior, IV [sic — DG's pedigree numbering uses IV here for what the project numbers as John IV; John III is the man who appears in 1331]." DG-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)." — Note: DG Part II p. 356 uses the numbering "John de Gournay IV" for the man the project JSON numbers as G24; his father (G25 in project JSON) is described as "John de Gurney and Joan his wife." This slight pedigree numbering discrepancy between DG and the project JSON is noted in the Research Appendix. ↩
  2. DG-I pedigree p. 286: "living 27 Edw. III" = 1353. ↩
  3. DG-I pedigree p. 286 and DG-II, p. 355 (Harpley church). ↩
  4. DG-I pedigree p. 286: "JANE, dau. of Edmund de Lexham, married before 1324, or in that year." ↩
  5. DG-I, p. 279: "John, his nephew (son of William), became his heir." Pedigree p. 286: John III "heir to his uncle John, Rector of Harpley." ↩
  6. DG-I pedigree p. 286: "presented to that living in 1332." DG-II, p. 355: the church at Harpley, Blomefield account. ↩
  7. DG-I pedigree p. 286: "JANE, dau. of Edmund de Lexham, married before 1324, or in that year." ↩
  8. DG-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)." DG-I pedigree p. 286: "JOHN GURNAY, Junior, IV. mentioned in a deed of his uncle's, 1331." ↩

Research Appendix

Lineage Status

Confirmed. John III is documented in DG-II’s Harpley chapter (deed of 1331, advowson presentation 1332) and in the pedigree with “living 27 Edw. III” (1353). His wife Jane de Lexham and her father are named. The father-son relationship to John IV is established by DG-II p. 356.

DG Pedigree Numbering Note

DG Part II pp. 355–357 uses the numbering “John de Gournay IV” for the man the project JSON identifies as G24, and refers to his father as “John de Gurney and Joan his wife.” This suggests the wife of G25 (project JSON: John de Gournay III) may be named Joan in DG Part II, not Jane — or DG is using a different spelling. The pedigree p. 286 gives “JANE, dau. of Edmund de Lexham.” The Part II text (p. 356) refers to “John de Gurney and Joan his wife.” Jane/Joan are variant forms of the same name in medieval English records. No substantive discrepancy — same woman, variant spellings in two different parts of DG.

Sources Consulted

  • DG-I, pp. 279 and pedigree p. 286.
  • DG-II, pp. 355–357 (Harpley church chapter, John IV section).
  • Ancestors_v3.json; Gurney_Research_KnowledgeBase_1.md.

Negative Results

  • No death date or burial site recorded.
  • No record of John III’s personal activities during the Black Death (1348–49) or the early Hundred Years’ War period.
  • Edmund de Lexham (Jane’s father) — no further detail found in sources consulted.

Open Questions

  1. The 1331 deed of Rector John mentioning John III: this is cited as “Addit. MSS. Mus. Brit. No. 8,841, fol. 112” in DG-II p. 356 footnote (for the 1354 court entry). Could the 1331 deed be located in the same Additional Manuscripts collection at the British Library?
  2. The Lexham family: are they documented in Blomefield’s History of Norfolk with a pedigree that would give more detail on Jane’s parentage?
  3. Did John III participate in any of the Norfolk Commissions of Array for the early Hundred Years’ War period? Commissioned array records for Norfolk c. 1337–1353 might contain his name.