Gilbert White is a fascinating figure which is why we think it’s about time we take a closer look at the man himself and share some of our favourite things about him!Now, where do we begin…

He was Britain’s first naturalist

Before Darwin, certainly before Attenborough, there was Gilbert White (1720 – 1793) – an unassuming Parson with an unrelenting passion for, and curiosity of the natural world. His records of the wildlife, flora and fauna local to his humble Hampshire village became the basis for his ground-breaking book The Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne (1789).

Oftentimes dismissed as an amateur ‘country-writer’, this was not at all the case. In fact, his contributions to the field of Natural History are impressive – not only did his observations establish the now widely-understood idea of a ‘food-chain’, he also identified and named numerous species including three kinds of leaf-warblers, the harvest-mouse and the noctule bat. Not bad for an ‘amateur’!

It is easy to imagine him, this very first of English nature writers, the most sober and modest, yet happiest of men.

Flora Thompson, Author

He is the indispensable precursor to those great Victorians who would transform our ideas about life on Earth, especially in the undergrowth – Lyell, Spencer, Huxley and Darwin.

Robert McCrum, 2017, The Guardian.

It wasn’t all science, science, science for Gilbert though – he cared deeply for the animals he observed, recognising that they have inner lives. His blend of evidence and empathy, science and emotion, is probably his most important and enduring legacy. He certainly made quite an impact on a young Charles Darwin who made a pilgrimage to Selborne before setting off on his famous Beagle voyage in 1831. Even the one and only Sir David Attenborough, national treasure, is a fan! He has described Gilbert as a man ‘in total harmony with his world.’

He was Britain’s first naturalist

 …by some apparently unconscious device of the author’s has a door left open, through which we hear distant sounds, a dog barking, cart-wheels creaking.

Virginia Woolf on the writings of Gilbert White.

Gilbert’s writing style has been admired by poets and writers such as WH Auden, John Clare, Samuel Taylor Coleridge and Virginia Woolf. The book was an immediate success, yet it still resonates all these years later. Tristan Sherwood, one of eleven contemporary printmakers and illustrators who have produced new works inspired by the book for our exhibition Drawn to Nature: Gilbert White and the Artists, hits the nail on the head…

I think this book touches on something very human which seems to remain unchanged, the sheer pleasure derived from observing the natural world, something which is often neglected with our modern lifestyles.

Tristan Sherwood, Artist

If you haven’t already treated yourself to a read of this charming book, hopefully we’re convincing you. It’s currently available at the Pallant House Gallery Bookshop.

His book has never been out of print!

If Gilbert White was here today, the Attenborough of his time, he would mourn the predicted loss of the bumble bee, birds, the impact of climate change, loss of habitat, biodiversity, and would be in tears for what is now only beginning to dawn upon us. Gilbert White is more relevant now than ever…

Neil Bousfield, Artist

Swiss artist Samuel Hieronymus Grimm was first up with his landscape engravings for the first edition. Iconic artists that followed in his footsteps include the founding father of British wood-engraving Thomas Bewick, modernist legends John Nash and Eric Ravilious, and printmakers such as Gertrude Hermes and Clare Oldham. Famously Bewick was drawn to the book’s birds, Nash took a liking to the toad, and Ravilious immortalised the bizarrely hilarious moose in the greenhouse! Each of the artists was inspired in their own unique way, and the same can be said today. For our latest exhibition Drawn to Nature: Gilbert White and the Artists we have commissioned eleven contemporary printmakers and illustrators to create new works inspired by the enduring appeal of Gilbert’s observations.

I originally became aware of the book through Ravilious’ illustrations of the text, who has been a long time inspiration to me and influence on my work. Through him I discovered other beautiful versions from other artists I love such as John Nash for example.

Alice Pattullo, Artist

His observations inspired generations of artists

The tortoise took his usual ramble, & could not be confined within the limits of the garden. His pursuits, which seem to be of the amorous kind, transport him beyond the bounds of his usual gravity at this season. He was missing for some days, but found at last near the upper malt-house.

Gilbert White, June 5 1787

This hot weather makes the tortoise so alert that he traverses all the garden by six o’clock in the morning.  When the sun grows very powerful he retires under a garden-mat, or the shelter of some cabbage; not loving to be about in vehement heat.  In such weather, he eats greedily.

Gilbert White, June 16 1782

So popular is Timothy, he has even inspired two books of his own – Sylvia Townsend Warner’s The Portrait of a Tortoise (1946) and Verlyn Klinkenborg’s book, Timothy; or, Notes of an Abject Reptile (2006). Spoiler Alert: according to the Natural History Museum it turns out, he was a she! Following Timothy’s one-way trip to tortoise heaven, she was identified as female. She was a Greek spur-thighed tortoise, and she is immortalised at the Natural History Museum where her shell now resides. You can even explore a 3D scan of Timothy’s shell here.

He had a tortoise named Timothy

“I am with many a xxxxxxx and many a Pater noster and Ave Maria, Gil White.”

Even by modern day standards, that’s a lot of kisses Gilbert! Not everyone is convinced though – some researchers think it is more likely that the x’s have religious connotations, representing blessings rather than kisses for example. So was Gilbert just feeling particularly blessed that day? We may never know – you’ll have to make up your own mind on this one…