John Gurney

Sir John Gurney KC (February 14 1768 - March 1 1845) was a British judge noted for his harshness and independence. He is particularly remembered for being the last British judge to ever sentence capital punishment for sodomy (gay sex). After several noted cases during the early 19th century, he was knighted and made a Baron of the Exchequer on 13 February 1832, only to step down in 1845 and then die.

Biography

John Gurney was born in London in 1768. Many of his family members were noted stenographers, including his brother William and his father Joseph. He was originally educated at St. Paul's School in London, but was later moved to a school in Suffolk. Gurney developed a love for the legal profession after his father took him to watch a criminal trial.

In May 1793, Gurney qualified as a barrister. Two months later, he was hired as a junior barrister during a libel case, later running the case himself after the senior barrister didn't show up. He was such a success that he was hired as junior counsel during the trials of Thomas Hardy and John Horne Tooke for treason. Gurney was also hired later to successfully defend Robert Crossfield in an alleged plot to kill George III.

After his successful prosecution of Lord Thomas Cochrane for fraud, Gurney was made a King's Counsel in 1820. Later, in 1832, he was knighted and made a Baron of the Exchequer (judge). Three years later Gurney sentenced two gay men, James Pratt and John Smith, to death for the crime of sodomy. This was despite the fact that a) sodomy is a term for gay sex and so their "crime" did not harm anybody and b) the case rested solely on the testimony of two witnesses deemed by latter-day historians to be unreliable.

Gurney ignored pleas for mercy and sentenced John Hughes to transportation to Australia for 20 years in 1843. He soon became known as a harsh and independent judge. He held the position of judge for over a decade before finally stepping down in 1845. Soon after, he died of an unknown illness.