Daniel Walter Thomas Gurney MC

Lieutenant - King's Royal Rifle Corps

Daniel Walter Thomas Gurney was born on 29th April 1898 in Chelsea, London, the son of Walter Somerville Gurney and his wife Violet Elizabeth Emily (Troubridge). He was their only son but did have two sisters, Diana (1895) and Philippa (1899). Walter Somerville Gurney, born 8th June 1858 at Middleton, Norfolk, married Violet Elizabeth Emily Troubridge, born 1859 in Kensington, in North Runcton, Norfolk on 22nd November 1893. Walter had been born and raised at North Runcton Hall, the home of his father Somerville Arthur Gurney (1835-1917), a banker.

Violet was the fourth of seven children born to Thomas St. Vincent Hope Cochrane Troubridge and his wife Louisa Jane (Gurney) between 1857 and 1866 although one of the children, Thomas Hay Troubridge died at just a few weeks of age. Tragically, Louisa died on 29th August 1867, at the age of just 36, followed closely by her widower, Thomas, on 2nd October that same year aged 52. This left six children, between the ages of eighteen months and ten years of age, orphaned. The two surviving boys appear to have been sent off to boarding school, the youngest girl, Helen, stayed with her grandfather, Daniel Gurney, at North Runcton Hall for a while and the other three girls disappeared for a while (in that the records cannot be traced) before surfacing living together, along with younger sister, Helen, in a house at Hunstanton with a couple of servants. While two of her sisters moved back to London when they were older, Violet remained in Hunstanton with older sister, Amy, until she married Walter. After their marriage Walter and Violet lived in Claydon, Suffolk until 1905 when they moved, with their young family, to Mangreen Hall.

In May 1916 Daniel was offered a commission in the King's Royal Rifle Corps, confirmed in a letter from Buckingham Palace to Daniel's grandfather, Sir Somerville Gurney. Daniel entered France with the K.R.R.C. on 24th July 1917 and served most of WW1 in France. On 5th April 1919 at the Rifle Depot, Winchester, No.1 Special Company of the K.R.R.C. was formed to fight against the Bolsheviks in Russia. The Company comprised 7 officers and 212 other ranks and deployed to Russia in April not to return until October that year. Daniel Gurney was one of the seven officers in that company.

Daniel Walter Thomas Gurney's Military Cross was announced in the London Gazette dated 3rd October 1919 while serving with No 1 Special Company King's Royal Rifle Corps, "He displayed consistent gallantry throughout several weeks continuous fighting during the successful advance down the Murmansk railway in April and May 1919. On 15th May, when attacking the enemy north of Medvyeja-Gora, his platoon came under exceedingly heavy machine-gun fire. He dashed forward with his front section, and led his men splendidly till he fell severely wounded just prior to the capture of the position." As a result of his wounds Daniel lost a leg and never fully recovered from his injuries and was placed on the "half-pay" list on 15th July 1920 as a result of his injuries. In addition to his Military Cross we know Daniel was awarded the British War Medal and Victory Medal. (Further examination of the army records at the National Archive will be required to determine more details of his army record but this has not been possible to date.)

On 14th July 1920 Daniel married his cousin Charlotte Edith Annette Lloyd (Troubridge), the widow of Ernest Alfred Collyer Lloyd who had been killed on 31st July 1917 in Belgium having been married to Charlotte for just nine months and 2 days. Daniel and Charlotte's wedding took place at St. Mary's Church, Bryanston Square, Marylebone. By this time Daniel's grandparents, Somerville and Katherine Gurney of North Runcton Hall had both died and his parents had moved from Mangreen to live at North Runcton. Daniel and Charlotte had a son, Richard, born October 1921 in Marylebone and a daughter, June, born 1924. Richard died in 2001 and June in 2014 and it appears that following June's death the family decided to sell Daniel's medals and several other artefacts relating to his time in the army. Unfortunately, having passed through the hands of various auction houses and dealers the whereabouts of these items is now a mystery but we do have a photograph of the medals.

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