These research notes are provided as-is and contain supplementary working research.
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
Topic file location: Origin — trade and training
Technical details
- Research item:
G13-RI-000072 - Graph revision:
244 - Machine-readable JSON:
/assets/g13-graph/findings/G13-RI-000072.json
This is one research item from the John Gurney research graph; the fuller narrative treatment is in the linked topic above and the research library.