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Celebrating Hampshire Historians

White, Gilbert

1720-1793

Although White the naturalist is well documented, there is little on White the historian. His entry in ODNB notes that in recording his local parish he sought ‘pleasing information' and ‘cheerful employment’, with a   requirement to ‘light upon ancient customs and manners … especially on those that were monastic’.  However, of course, his real contribution was to add science in the form of natural history to the mix. In reality, the addition of ‘antiquities’ to his Natural History of Selborne (1789)was almost an afterthought, probably in part due to his brother Thomas.

He was a wholesale merchant and had come into an inheritance in about 1776, when he toyed with the idea of writing a book on the natural history and antiquities of the whole of Hampshire.  Nothing came of the idea, but later he did contribute to the Gentleman’s Magazine, especially on Anglo-Saxon and medieval topics. Gilbert was also influenced by a growing interest in ‘local books’ and demonstrated an editorial grasp of the business, no doubt acquired from another brother, Benjamin, the London ‘bookseller’, who published the The Natural History.

Contributions to Gilbert’s studies of antiquities were made by a neighbouring clergyman, the Rev. Richard Chandler, vicar of East Worldham. The extension of the subject matter of the bookno doubt delayed its completion: in one letter, Gilbert’s lifelong friend, the Rev. John Mulso, referred rather sniffily to the ‘Rubbish of the Antiquities of your Native Place’.

Sources

Portrait

The only likenesses of Gilbert White are sketches, held by the British Library.

Contribution to county’s history

The antiquities section of The Natural History, often omitted from later editions, was dealt with in 26 letters, mostly on Selborne Priory, which was taken over ‘pre-Dissolution’ in 1459 by William Waynflete, Bishop of Winchester, for his foundation of Magdalen College, Oxford.  Some later editions included new material, such as the one of 1875 (Macmillan, London) which had a chapter on antiquities by Roundell Palmer, 1st Earl of Selborne (1812-1895). He mentioned a number of discoveries, including a cache of 30,000 Roman and Romano-British coins found in 1873 ‘halfway between Blackmoor House and Woolmer Pond’.  

Relevant published works

  • Gilbert White, The Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne, in the County of Southampton: with Engravings [byHieronymus Grimm] and an Appendix. London, 1789.

Critical Comments

When Gilbert penned his ‘antiquities’ the prevalence of a classical education meant that ancient history dominated thoughts of the past. The growing influence of scientific thinking probably led to a more critical approach to the subject and its adjunct, archaeology. Gilbert’s ‘advertisement’ or preface makes a claim – one of the earliest? –- for local studies, by suggesting that ‘parochial history… ought to consist of natural productions and occurrences as well as antiquities. …[and] if stationary men would pay some attention to the districts on which they reside, and would publish their thoughts respecting the objects that surround them, from such materials might be drawn the most complete county-histories’.

Other Comments

An analysis of the additional material included in the sections on antiquities in the various editions of The Natural History over time might be illuminating.

Contributor

Barry Shurlock, 13 02 22

Key Words

Selborne, antiquities, Selborne Priory, natural history, John Mulso, Benjamin White. Rev. Richard Chandler, East Worldham

If you are able to add anything to this entry, please send your ideas to celebrating@hantsfieldclub.org.uk.

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