Edward Temperley Gourley
Encyclopedia
Sir Edward Temperley Gourley, VD
(1826–1902) was a coal fitter, shipowner and politician born in Sunderland, England
. He was knighted for his political work.
on June 8, 1826, he left school at 13 and served his apprenticeship
as a coalfitter with John Halcro.
The Halcro office was one of the largest commercial businesses then in Sunderland and, under the supervision of John Halcro, Gourley acquired the rudiments of business and successful commerce. His job took him to Holland and Germany
, where he studied foreign trade, and, after finishing his apprenticeship, he was rewarded with a percentage of the firm's profits.
The Sunderland Echo
later reported: "The Crimean War
appears to have afforded him a fine opportunity for developing his business. At that time, when a wretched and niggardly government was starving the Tommy Atkins
of that day in the trenches
before Sebastopol, Sir Edward had a number of vessels engaged as transports."
Gourley went on an extended Continental tour during this period, visiting Turkey
, the Crimea
and Spain
. It was this journey which persuaded him to favour steamers over sailing ships and, on his return, he invested heavily in steam shipping and became one of the leading shipowners in Sunderland.
1868 brought Gourley a run of bad luck, when he lost several steamers. When the bad luck and disasters continued, the politician Samuel Plimsoll
brought serious charges against the "fair fame of Sir Edward" in an appeal on behalf of "Our seamen." These charges were subsequently the subject of investigation in the law courts. But the people of Sunderland, however, backed Gourley over Plimsoll, and voted for him as their MP that same year.
From 1883 to 1892 he was a director of the Imperial Tramways Company
and its subsidiary the Corris Railway
.
After entering Parliament
, Gourley retired from the active management of his business, but always kept at least a few ships of his own. He was also a large shareholder in steamers and this interest in shipping remained with him until his death in 1902.
for Sunderland
.
The Sunderland Echo reported at the time: "It was his pleasing duty to make his first speech in the local Parliament in moving a resolution, the outcome of which was the Havelock statue, which now stands in Mowbray Park
. The services rendered by the great Sir Henry Havelock to this country were a theme which many an orator might covet for his maiden speech, and Sir Edward had the satisfaction of seeing his resolution carried. Sunderland was eager to do honour to her most illustrious son."
Donations for the statue poured in from around the country and, when it was finally erected, Sir Henry's son, Sir Henry Havelock-Allan, paid his first visit to Sunderland and met Gourley. The pair would, just a few years later, jointly represent in Parliament.
As a Town Councillor, Gourley was diligent, energetic and popular. He was "imbued with thoroughly progressive and democratic tastes," according to the Echo. Indeed, such was his popularity among fellow councillors and townspeople that, in 1864, he was unanimously elected Mayor. He was re-elected to the Mayoralty the following year and, in his second term of office, he had to guard the town against rindepest and cholera
. "Under his directing every possible precaution was taken and the result was that a single case of cattle plague occurred in the borough," the Echo reported. "The cholera, which was then raging in Holland, fortunately did not attack Sunderland. Under the Mayor's guidance, the lower parts of the town were cleansed, and these precautionary measures were blessed with success."
Gourley's other political work at this time included being appointed as chief magistrate for Sunderland and working as an Alderman
for the town. He was also a shipowners' representative on the River Wear
Commission, a borough magistrate, a justice of the peace for the county, and a Deputy-Lieutenant. He also joined forces with Samuel Storey
, a Liberal
councillor, to become one of the founder members of the Sunderland Echo in 1873.
It was in 1868 that Gourley took his biggest step forward in politics, when he was elected as a Liberal MP for the town. He served in this post until 1900, when he retired, and was an early convert to Home Rule for Ireland.
The Echo reported after his death: "He never lost sight of the fact that he was a representative of a shipping centre, and whenever the opportunity offered his abilities were devoted to the good of that industry. He sought to benefit not only the shipowners, but the sailors, and much of his energy was devoted to the interests of the seafaring class.
"He was probably the most persistent questioner in the House of Commons, and much of his work there consisted in interrogating the Government on points on which he desired information or with the object of exposing an abuse. The subject of the royal yachts was one in which he manifested an especially keen interest, as he did also in the condition of the mercantile marine, in connection with which he constantly impressed the necessity of having
the vessels manned as much as possible with Britishers, so that they could be depended upon in the event of war."
and, in early life, he attended Bethel Chapel in Villiers Street, conducting a Sunday school there. For several years, he acted as one of the secretaries of the local Sunday School Union and was "often to be found on the platform when the great Sunday school gathering took place." In later life, he was also a keen advocate of temperance
and, for some time, he was secretary of the Sunderland Temperance Society.
. Of Gourley's sisters, one died unmarried and another married Joseph Lumsden, a Sunderland chain and anchormaker. After her death, Lumsden took her sister for his second wife. Gourley himself remained a bachelor until his death on 15 April 1902.
Volunteer Decoration
The Volunteer Officers' Decoration was created by Royal Warrant under command of Queen Victoria on 25 July 1892 to reward 'efficient and capable' officers of the Volunteer Force who had served for twenty years...
(1826–1902) was a coal fitter, shipowner and politician born in Sunderland, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. He was knighted for his political work.
Early life
Edward Temperley Gourley - known as E.T. Gourley - was the eldest son of shipowner John Young Gourley and his wife, Mary Temperley. Born on the banks of the River WearRiver Wear
The River Wear is located in North East England, rising in the Pennines and flowing eastwards, mostly through County Durham, to the North Sea at Sunderland.-Geology and history:...
on June 8, 1826, he left school at 13 and served his apprenticeship
Apprenticeship
Apprenticeship is a system of training a new generation of practitioners of a skill. Apprentices or protégés build their careers from apprenticeships...
as a coalfitter with John Halcro.
The Halcro office was one of the largest commercial businesses then in Sunderland and, under the supervision of John Halcro, Gourley acquired the rudiments of business and successful commerce. His job took him to Holland and Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, where he studied foreign trade, and, after finishing his apprenticeship, he was rewarded with a percentage of the firm's profits.
Business life
At the age of 22, Gourley went into business for himself as a ship-chandler. He was not satisfied, however, with this profession and went on to become a ship owner. His father, John Gourley, joined him in the business, as did his uncle, William Temperley. Working from an office in Villiers Street, Gourley expanded his business to include the exportation of coal and the importation of timber. Such was his apitutude for the business that, within a few years, he had acquired several fine ships, which were used in the Indian trade.The Sunderland Echo
Sunderland Echo
The Sunderland Echo is an evening newspaper serving the Sunderland, South Tyneside and East Durham areas of North East England. The newspaper was founded by Samuel Storey, Edward Backhouse, Edward Temperley Gourley, Charles Palmer, Richard Ruddock, Thomas Glaholm and Thomas Scott Turnbull in 1873,...
later reported: "The Crimean War
Crimean War
The Crimean War was a conflict fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the French Empire, the British Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and the Kingdom of Sardinia. The war was part of a long-running contest between the major European powers for influence over territories of the declining...
appears to have afforded him a fine opportunity for developing his business. At that time, when a wretched and niggardly government was starving the Tommy Atkins
Tommy Atkins
Tommy Atkins is a term for a common soldier in the British Army that was already well established in the 19th century, but is particularly associated with World War I. It can be used as a term of reference, or as a form of address. German soldiers would call out to "Tommy" across no man's land if...
of that day in the trenches
Trench warfare
Trench warfare is a form of occupied fighting lines, consisting largely of trenches, in which troops are largely immune to the enemy's small arms fire and are substantially sheltered from artillery...
before Sebastopol, Sir Edward had a number of vessels engaged as transports."
Gourley went on an extended Continental tour during this period, visiting Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
, the Crimea
Crimea
Crimea , or the Autonomous Republic of Crimea , is a sub-national unit, an autonomous republic, of Ukraine. It is located on the northern coast of the Black Sea, occupying a peninsula of the same name...
and Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
. It was this journey which persuaded him to favour steamers over sailing ships and, on his return, he invested heavily in steam shipping and became one of the leading shipowners in Sunderland.
1868 brought Gourley a run of bad luck, when he lost several steamers. When the bad luck and disasters continued, the politician Samuel Plimsoll
Samuel Plimsoll
Samuel Plimsoll was a British politician and social reformer, now best remembered for having devised the Plimsoll line .-Early life:Plimsoll was born in Bristol and soon moved to Whiteley Wood...
brought serious charges against the "fair fame of Sir Edward" in an appeal on behalf of "Our seamen." These charges were subsequently the subject of investigation in the law courts. But the people of Sunderland, however, backed Gourley over Plimsoll, and voted for him as their MP that same year.
From 1883 to 1892 he was a director of the Imperial Tramways Company
Imperial Tramways Company
The Imperial Tramways Company Ltd was created to bring under common management a number of street tramways. Originally based in London, its headquarters moved to Bristol in 1892 and from then on it shared its senior management with Bristol Tramways under the chairmanship of George...
and its subsidiary the Corris Railway
Corris Railway
The Corris Railway is a narrow gauge preserved railway based in Corris on the border between Merionethshire and Montgomeryshire in Mid-Wales....
.
After entering Parliament
Parliament of the United Kingdom
The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body in the United Kingdom, British Crown dependencies and British overseas territories, located in London...
, Gourley retired from the active management of his business, but always kept at least a few ships of his own. He was also a large shareholder in steamers and this interest in shipping remained with him until his death in 1902.
Political life
Gourley first took an active interest in politics in 1857, when he became a town councillor. It was a role he was to continue until 1865, just three years before he became a Member of ParliamentMember of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
for Sunderland
Sunderland (UK Parliament constituency)
Sunderland was a borough constituency of the House of Commons, created by the Reform Act 1832 for the 1832 general election. It elected two Members of Parliament by the bloc vote system of election until it was split into single-member seats of Sunderland North and Sunderland South for the 1950...
.
The Sunderland Echo reported at the time: "It was his pleasing duty to make his first speech in the local Parliament in moving a resolution, the outcome of which was the Havelock statue, which now stands in Mowbray Park
Mowbray Park
Mowbray Park is a municipal park in the centre of Sunderland, Tyne and Wear, England, located a few hundred yards from the busy throughfares of Holmeside and Fawcett Street and bordered by Sunderland Museum and Winter Gardens to the north, Burdon Road to the west, Toward Road to the east and Park...
. The services rendered by the great Sir Henry Havelock to this country were a theme which many an orator might covet for his maiden speech, and Sir Edward had the satisfaction of seeing his resolution carried. Sunderland was eager to do honour to her most illustrious son."
Donations for the statue poured in from around the country and, when it was finally erected, Sir Henry's son, Sir Henry Havelock-Allan, paid his first visit to Sunderland and met Gourley. The pair would, just a few years later, jointly represent in Parliament.
As a Town Councillor, Gourley was diligent, energetic and popular. He was "imbued with thoroughly progressive and democratic tastes," according to the Echo. Indeed, such was his popularity among fellow councillors and townspeople that, in 1864, he was unanimously elected Mayor. He was re-elected to the Mayoralty the following year and, in his second term of office, he had to guard the town against rindepest and cholera
Cholera
Cholera is an infection of the small intestine that is caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae. The main symptoms are profuse watery diarrhea and vomiting. Transmission occurs primarily by drinking or eating water or food that has been contaminated by the diarrhea of an infected person or the feces...
. "Under his directing every possible precaution was taken and the result was that a single case of cattle plague occurred in the borough," the Echo reported. "The cholera, which was then raging in Holland, fortunately did not attack Sunderland. Under the Mayor's guidance, the lower parts of the town were cleansed, and these precautionary measures were blessed with success."
Gourley's other political work at this time included being appointed as chief magistrate for Sunderland and working as an Alderman
Alderman
An alderman is a member of a municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law. The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking member of a borough or county council, a council member chosen by the elected members themselves rather than by popular vote, or a council...
for the town. He was also a shipowners' representative on the River Wear
River Wear
The River Wear is located in North East England, rising in the Pennines and flowing eastwards, mostly through County Durham, to the North Sea at Sunderland.-Geology and history:...
Commission, a borough magistrate, a justice of the peace for the county, and a Deputy-Lieutenant. He also joined forces with Samuel Storey
Samuel Storey
Samuel Storey was a British politician born in County Durham. He became a Member of Parliament for Sunderland and the main founder of the Sunderland Echo newspaper.-Early life:...
, a Liberal
Liberal Party (UK)
The Liberal Party was one of the two major political parties of the United Kingdom during the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was a third party of negligible importance throughout the latter half of the 20th Century, before merging with the Social Democratic Party in 1988 to form the present day...
councillor, to become one of the founder members of the Sunderland Echo in 1873.
It was in 1868 that Gourley took his biggest step forward in politics, when he was elected as a Liberal MP for the town. He served in this post until 1900, when he retired, and was an early convert to Home Rule for Ireland.
The Echo reported after his death: "He never lost sight of the fact that he was a representative of a shipping centre, and whenever the opportunity offered his abilities were devoted to the good of that industry. He sought to benefit not only the shipowners, but the sailors, and much of his energy was devoted to the interests of the seafaring class.
"He was probably the most persistent questioner in the House of Commons, and much of his work there consisted in interrogating the Government on points on which he desired information or with the object of exposing an abuse. The subject of the royal yachts was one in which he manifested an especially keen interest, as he did also in the condition of the mercantile marine, in connection with which he constantly impressed the necessity of having
the vessels manned as much as possible with Britishers, so that they could be depended upon in the event of war."
Religious life
Gourley was a CongregationalistCongregational church
Congregational churches are Protestant Christian churches practicing Congregationalist church governance, in which each congregation independently and autonomously runs its own affairs....
and, in early life, he attended Bethel Chapel in Villiers Street, conducting a Sunday school there. For several years, he acted as one of the secretaries of the local Sunday School Union and was "often to be found on the platform when the great Sunday school gathering took place." In later life, he was also a keen advocate of temperance
Temperance movement
A temperance movement is a social movement urging reduced use of alcoholic beverages. Temperance movements may criticize excessive alcohol use, promote complete abstinence , or pressure the government to enact anti-alcohol legislation or complete prohibition of alcohol.-Temperance movement by...
and, for some time, he was secretary of the Sunderland Temperance Society.
Personal life
Gourley had one brother and three sisters. His brother, William, was a captain in one of his father's boats as a young man, but he later left the North and died at BournemouthBournemouth
Bournemouth is a large coastal resort town in the ceremonial county of Dorset, England. According to the 2001 Census the town has a population of 163,444, making it the largest settlement in Dorset. It is also the largest settlement between Southampton and Plymouth...
. Of Gourley's sisters, one died unmarried and another married Joseph Lumsden, a Sunderland chain and anchormaker. After her death, Lumsden took her sister for his second wife. Gourley himself remained a bachelor until his death on 15 April 1902.
Further reading
- Sunderland Daily Echo: April 1902, January 21, 1881, July 1, 1895
- The Durham Thirteen: Published April 1874
- Parliamentary Representation of the Six Northern Counties: By W.W.Bean
- The Alderman: Published April 8, 1876
- Wearside Review: Local notabilities, published 1886
- Sunderland Times: November 11, 1871