Sir Richard Gurney, 1st Baronet
Lord Mayor of London

Sir Richard Gurney, 1st Baronet (died 6 October 1647), was an English merchant who was Lord Mayor of London. He supported the Royalist cause in the English Civil War.
Christened on 8 March 1577/8, Gurney was a city of London merchant and a member of the Worshipful Company of Clothworkers. He was Master of the Clothworkers Company in 1633 and Sheriff of London for 1633 to 1634. On 26 August 1634 he was elected an alderman of the City of London for Bishopsgate ward. He was elected instead as alderman for Dowgate ward in 1637. In 1641 he was elected Lord Mayor of London. He was knighted on 25 November 1641 and created a baronet, of London, on 14 December 1641. He was president of Christ's Hospital from 1641 to 1643.
Gurney was a strong supporter of the King and published the King's commission of array.
“Sir Richard Gurney, 1st Baronet” enters the record as lord Mayor of London. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Richard, Gurney and Baronet can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Sir Richard Gurney, 1st Baronet” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Richard, Gurney and Baronet provides the most credible route into that argument.
Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated May 27, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q7528597. VIAF identifies the subject as 315533275. The Library of Congress control number is n85061515. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1647, 1577, 1633 and 1634.
A concise general-reference account can conceal disagreements about scope, terminology or the weight assigned to individual sources. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Sir Richard Gurney, 1st Baronet”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Sir Richard Gurney, 1st Baronet primary sources, Sir Richard Gurney, 1st Baronet archive and Richard research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Sir Richard Gurney, 1st Baronet”?
- Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
- Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Sir Richard Gurney, 1st Baronet” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.