John Courtney (1734–1806) was an English diarist, lawyer and property owner. He attended

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any ...

, where he received legal training. He inherited lands and properties in and around

Beverley Beverley is a market town and civil parish in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It is located north-west of Hull city centre. At the 2021 census the built-up area of the town had a population of 30,930, and the smaller civil parish had ...

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...

, where he lived and served in the local militia. He kept diaries from 1759 to his death.

Life and career

Courtney was born in

. His father, also John (1679–1756), the son of a London

stonemason Stonemasonry or stonecraft is the creation of buildings, structures, and sculpture using stone as the primary material. Stonemasonry is the craft of shaping and arranging stones, often together with mortar and even the ancient lime mortar ...

, worked for the

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company that was founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to Indian Ocean trade, trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (South A ...

and became Governor of

Surat Surat (Gujarati Language, Gujarati: ) is a city in the western Indian States and territories of India, state of Gujarat. The word Surat directly translates to ''face'' in Urdu, Gujarati language, Gujarati and Hindi. Located on the banks of t ...

. His mother was Elizabeth Bourdenand (née Featherstone), daughter of Thomas Featherstone of

. His parents were married in 1732. Courtney studied at

Beverley Grammar School Beverley Grammar School is an 11–16 boys’ Comprehensive school (England and Wales), comprehensive secondary school, secondary Academy (English school), academy school in Beverley, East Riding of Yorkshire, England. A school may have been est ...

under the Revd John Clarke, who moved to Wakefield School in 1751, taking Courtney with him. The next year, Courtney was admitted as a

pensioner A pensioner is a person who receives a pension, most commonly because of retirement from the workforce. This is a term typically used in the United Kingdom (along with OAP, initialism of old-age pensioner), Ireland and Australia where someone of p ...

, where he received legal training. His grandmother and other relatives left him land and rental property in Beverley and the surrounding area, and he returned there to live the life of a country gentleman. Courtney married Mary Smelt (born circa 1744–1805), daughter of William Smelt and Ursula (née Hankin). Mary was the sister-in-law of the botanist Sir Sir Thomas Frankland, 6th Baronet and Cornelius Smelt, a

Lieutenant Governor of the Isle of Man The lieutenant governor of the Isle of Man ( or ''lhiass-chiannoort vannin'') is the Lord of Mann's official personal representative in the Isle of Man. He has the power to grant royal assent and is styled "His Excellency". No Manx-born perso ...

. Courtney and Mary had three daughters and at least five sons: John (1769–1845) who became a priest, Ralph (b.1770 and died the same year), Cornelius (1773–1793), Henry (1774–1844), Thomas (1776–1818) and Septimus (1779–1843), Mary (1777–1787), Margaret Jesse (b. 1780) and Dorothy Anne (b. 1781)."Papers of the Courtney Family of Beverley"
, Hull University, Brynmor Jones Library, accessed November 27, 2013

Diaries

Courtney began keeping diaries by 1759, which contain information about Beverley politics, buildings, sporting events, restaurants and other public accommodations and attractions. They relay gossip about all of the well-known local families. They also describe his activities at Cambridge, his management of his property and his children and family. He was an active member of the local militia and records his thoughts, in 1762 and 1763, about the Anglo-Spanish War, and later the French Revolution. In the 1790s, he notes his conversations with

William Wilberforce William Wilberforce (24 August 1759 – 29 July 1833) was a British politician, philanthropist, and a leader of the movement to abolish the Atlantic slave trade. A native of Kingston upon Hull, Yorkshire, he began his political career in 1780 ...

and his thoughts on the

slave trade Slave trade may refer to: * History of slavery - overview of slavery It may also refer to slave trades in specific countries, areas: * Al-Andalus slave trade * Atlantic slave trade ** Brazilian slave trade ** Bristol slave trade ** Danish sl ...

and

Thomas Paine Thomas Paine (born Thomas Pain; – In the contemporary record as noted by Conway, Paine's birth date is given as January 29, 1736–37. Common practice was to use a dash or a slash to separate the old-style year from the new-style year. In ...

's '' Rights of Man''. After the turn of the century, he discusses

Horatio Nelson Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson, 1st Duke of Bronte ( – 21 October 1805) was a Royal Navy officer whose leadership, grasp of strategy and unconventional tactics brought about a number of decisive British naval victories during the French ...

and the

Peace of Amiens The Treaty of Amiens (, ) temporarily ended hostilities between France, the Spanish Empire, and the United Kingdom at the end of the War of the Second Coalition. It marked the end of the French Revolutionary Wars; after a short peace it set t ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Courtney, John 1734 births 1806 deaths 18th-century English diarists 19th-century English diarists 18th-century English lawyers 18th-century English landowners 19th-century English landowners Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge People from Beverley Writers from the East Riding of Yorkshire