1813 to 1825 he was clerk in a London bank. After a two years’ residence in Birmingham, he was appointed manager of the Kilkenny branch of the Provincial Bank of Ireland, and in 1829 he was promoted to the Waterford branch. In 1834 he became manager of the London and Westminster Bank; and he did much to develop the system of joint-stock banking. On more than one occasion he rendered valuable services to the joint-stock banks by his evidence before committees of the House of Commons; and, on the renewal of the bank charter in 1844, he procured the insertion of a clause granting to joint-stock banks the power of suing by their public officer, and also the right of accepting bills at less than six months’ date. In 1846 he was elected a fellow of the Royal Society. He died in London on the 8th of August 1863. The Gilbart lectures on banking at King’s College are called after him.
The following are his principal works on banking, most of which have passed through more than one edition: Practical Treatise on Banking (1827); The History and Principles of Banking (1834); The History of Banking in America (1837); Lectures on the History and Principles of Ancient Commerce (1847); Logic for the Million (1851); and Logic of Banking (1857).
GILBERT, ALFRED (1854–), British sculptor and
goldsmith, born in London, was the son of Alfred Gilbert,
musician. He received his education mainly in Paris (École
des Beaux-Arts, under Cavelier), and studied in Rome and
Florence where the significance of the Renaissance made a
lasting impression upon him and his art. He also worked in
the studio of Sir J. Edgar Boehm, R.A. His first work of
importance was the charming group of the “Mother and Child,”
then “The Kiss of Victory,” followed by “Perseus Arming”
(1883), produced directly under the influence of the Florentine
masterpieces he had studied. Its success was great, and Lord
Leighton forthwith commissioned “Icarus,” which was exhibited
at the Royal Academy in 1884, along with a remarkable
“Study of a Head,” and was received with general applause.
Then followed “The Enchanted Chair,” which, along with many
other works deemed by the artist incomplete or unworthy of
his powers, was ultimately broken by the sculptor’s own hand.
The next year Mr Gilbert was occupied with the Shaftesbury
Memorial Fountain, in Piccadilly, London, a work of great
originality and beauty, yet shorn of some of the intended effect
through restrictions put upon the artist. In 1888 was produced
the statue of H.M. Queen Victoria, set up at Winchester, in its
main design and in the details of its ornamentation the most
remarkable work of its kind produced in Great Britain, and
perhaps, it may be added, in any other country in modern times.
Other statues of great beauty, at once novel in treatment and
fine in design, are those set up to Lord Reay in Bombay, and
John Howard at Bedford (1898), the highly original pedestal
of which did much to direct into a better channel what are
apt to be the eccentricities of what is called the “New Art”
School. The sculptor rose to the full height of his powers in his
“Memorial to the Duke of Clarence,” and his fast developing
fancy and imagination, which are the main characteristics of all
his work, are seen in his “Memorial Candelabrum to Lord Arthur
Russell” and “Memorial Font to the son of the 4th Marquess of
Bath.” Gilbert’s sense of decoration is paramount in all he does,
and although in addition to the work already cited he produced
busts of extraordinary excellence of Cyril Flower, John
R. Clayton (since broken up by the artist—the fate of much of
his admirable work), G. F. Watts, Sir Henry Tate, Sir George
Birdwood, Sir Richard Owen, Sir George Grove and various
others, it is on his goldsmithery that the artist would rest his
reputation; on his mayoral chain for Preston, the epergne for
Queen Victoria, the figurines of “Victory” (a statuette designed
for the orb in the hand of the Winchester statue), “St Michael”
and “St George,” as well as smaller objects such as seals, keys
and the like. Mr Gilbert was chosen associate of the Royal
Academy in 1887, full member in 1892 (resigned 1909), and
professor of sculpture (afterwards resigned) in 1900. In 1889 he
won the Grand Prix at the Paris International Exhibition. He
was created a member of the Victorian Order in 1897. (See
Sculpture.)
See The Life and Work of Alfred Gilbert, R.A., M.V.O., D.C.L., by Joseph Hatton (Art Journal Office, 1903). (M. H. S.)
GILBERT, ANN (1821–1904), American actress, was born at
Rochdale, Lancashire, on the 21st of October 1821, her maiden
name being Hartley. At fifteen she was a pupil at the
ballet school connected with the Haymarket theatre, conducted
by Paul Taglioni, and became a dancer on the stage. In 1846
she married George H. Gilbert (d. 1866), a performer in the
company of which she was a member. Together they filled
many engagements in English theatres, moving to America in
1849. Mrs Gilbert’s first success in a speaking part was in 1857
as Wichavenda in Brougham’s Pocahontas. In 1869 she joined
Daly’s company, playing for many years wives to James Lewis’s
husbands, and old women’s parts, in which she had no equal.
Mrs. Gilbert held a unique position on the American stage, on
account of the admiration, esteem and affection which she
enjoyed both in front and behind the footlights. She died at
Chicago on the 2nd of December 1904.
See Mrs Gilbert’s Stage Reminiscences (1901).
GILBERT, GROVE KARL (1843–), American geologist,
was born at Rochester, N.Y., on the 6th of May 1843. In 1869
he was attached to the Geological Survey of Ohio and in
1879 he became a member of the United States Geological
Survey, being engaged on parts of the Rocky Mountains, in
Nevada, Utah, California and Arizona. He is distinguished
for his researches on mountain-structure and on the Great Lakes,
as well as on glacial phenomena, recent earth movements, and
on topographic features generally. His report on the Geology of the Henry Mountains (1877), in which the volcanic structure
known as a laccolite was first described; his History of the Niagara River
(1890) and Lake Bonneville (1891—the first of
the Monographs issued by the United States Geological Survey)
are specially important. He was awarded the Wollaston medal
by the Geological Society of London in 1900.
GILBERT, SIR HUMPHREY (c. 1539–1583), English soldier, navigator and pioneer colonist in America, was the second son of Otho Gilbert, of Compton, near Dartmouth, Devon, and step-brother of Sir Walter Raleigh. He was educated at Eton and Oxford; intended for the law; introduced at court by Raleigh’s aunt, Catherine Ashley, and appointed (July 1566) captain in the army of Ireland under Sir Henry Sidney. In April 1566 he had already joined with Antony Jenkinson in a petition to Elizabeth for the discovery of the North-East Passage; in November following he presented an independent petition for the “discovering of a passage by the north to go to Cataia.” In October 1569 he became governor of Munster; on the 1st of January 1570 he was knighted; in 1571 he was returned M.P. for Plymouth; in 1572 he campaigned in the Netherlands against Spain without much success; from 1573 to 1578 he lived in retirement at Limehouse, devoting himself especially to the advocacy of a North-West Passage (his famous Discourse on this subject was published in 1576). Gilbert’s arguments, widely circulated even before 1575, were apparently of weight in promoting the Frobisher enterprises of 1576–1578. On the 11th of June 1578, Sir Humphrey obtained his long-coveted charter for North-Western discovery and colonization, authorizing him, his heirs and assigns, to discover, occupy and possess such remote “heathen lands not actually possessed of any Christian prince or people, as should seem good to him or them.” Disposing not only of his patrimony but also of the estates in Kent which he had through his wife, daughter of John Aucher of Ollerden, he fitted out an expedition which left Dartmouth on the 23rd of September 1578, and returned in May 1579, having accomplished nothing. In 1579 Gilbert aided the government in Ireland; and in 1583, after many struggles—illustrated by his appeal to Walsingham on the 11th of July 1582, for the payment of moneys due to him from government, and by his agreement with the Southampton venturers—he succeeded in equipping another fleet for “Western Planting.” On the 11th of June 1583, he sailed from Plymouth with five ships and the queen’s blessing; on the 13th of July the “Ark Raleigh,” built and manned at his brother’s expense, deserted
