William Gilbert (author)

William Gilbert (20 May 1804 – 3 January 1890) was a British writer and Royal Navy surgeon. He wrote a considerable number of novels, biographies, histories, essays (especially about the dangers of alcohol and the plight of the poor) and popular fantasy stories, mostly in the 1860s and 1870s. Some of these have been reprinted in recent decades and are still available today. He is best remembered, however, as the father of dramatist W. S. Gilbert of Gilbert and Sullivan.

Gilbert was born at Bishopstoke, Hampshire, the eldest son of William (1780–1812), a grocer in Commercial Row, Blackfriars, London, and his wife Sarah née Mathers (1782–1810). Both his parents died of tuberculosis by the time William was seven years old, and thereafter, he and his younger siblings, Joseph and Jane, were raised in London by their mother's sister and her husband, Mary nee Mathers (b. 1778) and John Samuel Schwenck (d. 1865), a childless and financially comfortable couple. Gilbert's father had also left the children legacies that would be invested by their uncle until the youngest had reached age 21, so Gilbert's would not be due to him until age 26. With the three young Gilbert children, the Schwencks soon moved from Lambeth to a larger house in Clapham, where they raised the children with affection.

Gilbert served the East India Company as a midshipman from 1818 (age 14) to 1821 but was unhappy with the conditions, and so he quit the service. He then spent several years in Italy, returning to England about 1825. There he studied at Guy's Hospital and served as an assistant surgeon in the navy, and then he entered the Royal College of Surgeons in 1830. At this time, he received his an annuity from his father's estate, giving him financial independence, and also published a volume of his poetry. He first married Mary Ann Skelton in 1832, who died two years later at around age 20. By this time, he had privately published another book, but after the death of his wife, he published no more for many years. He married Anne Mary Bye Morris (1811–1888), age 24, on 14 February 1836. She was the daughter of Thomas Morris (1760–1849), an apothecary, and Christiana nee Sutherland (1777–1845). The couple's famous son, W. S. Gilbert, was born on 18 November 1836 at the Morris's house in Southampton Street. The Gilberts then moved to Hammersmith, near Anne's sister Harriet and her family.

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