author

William Brodie Gurney

1777–1855

A leading shorthand writer in early 19th-century Britain, he recorded major parliamentary and legal proceedings and also devoted much of his life to philanthropy. His work helped preserve some of the era’s most important public debates and trials.

1 Audiobook

Trial of Pedro de Zulueta, jun., on a Charge of Slave Trading, under 5 Geo. IV, cap. 113, on Friday the 27th, Saturday the 28th, and Monday the 30th of October, 1843, at the Central Criminal Court, Old Bailey, London A Full Report from the Short-hand Notes of W. B. Gurney, Esq.

Trial of Pedro de Zulueta, jun., on a Charge of Slave Trading, under 5 Geo. IV, cap. 113, on Friday the 27th, Saturday the 28th, and Monday the 30th of October, 1843, at the Central Criminal Court, Old Bailey, London A Full Report from the Short-hand Notes of W. B. Gurney, Esq.

by Pedro de Zulueta, William Brodie Gurney

About the author

Born in London on December 24, 1777, he came from a family closely tied to shorthand writing. He was the grandson of Thomas Gurney, who developed the Gurney shorthand system, and the son of Joseph Gurney, who also worked as a shorthand writer. William Brodie Gurney continued that family tradition and became especially known for reporting parliamentary business and notable court cases.

He was appointed official shorthand writer for committees of the House of Commons and for proceedings in the House of Lords, and he played a visible part in documenting major public events of his day. Beyond his professional work, he was also known as a philanthropist, a side of his life that appears regularly in reference biographies about him.

Although he is not as widely remembered now as some of the statesmen and advocates whose words he recorded, his career placed him close to the center of public life in Britain. He died in 1855, leaving behind a reputation for both skilled reporting and public-minded generosity.