Davies Gilbert

Davies Gilbert
Born	6 March 1767(1767-03-06) Penzance, Cornwall, England
Died	24 December 1839(1839-12-24) (aged 72) Eastbourne, Sussex, England
Nationality	United Kingdom
Fields	Engineering
Institutions	Royal Society

Davies Gilbert (born Davies Giddy) FRS (6 March 1767 – 24 December 1839) was a British engineer, author, and politician. He was elected to the Royal Society on 17 November 1791 and served as President of the Royal Society from 1827 to 1830.^[1]

Biography

Davies Giddy was born, the only child of Edward Giddy, curate of St Erth church, and Catherine Davies, daughter of Henry Davies of Tredrea. Davies Giddy would later adopt Gilbert as his surname, the maiden name of his wife.^[1]

He was educated at Penzance Grammar School and by his father, and by Rev Malachy Hitchens,^[2] the mathematical astronomer. He went up to Pembroke College, Oxford, from whence he graduated with a M.A. on 29 June 1789.^[1]

Davies was High Sheriff of Cornwall from 1792 to 1793. He served in the House of Commons as Member of Parliament for Helston in Cornwall from 1804 to 1806 and for Bodmin from 1806 to 1832.

Giddy was an intimate friend of physician Thomas Beddoes, had attended Beddoes' lectures in Oxford and had been a confidant of Beddoes in his plans for the Pneumatic Institution in Bristol. He noticed and encouraged Humphrey Davy and convinced Beddoes that Davy was the man to work in the laboratory at the Institution.^[3]

The Dictionary of National Biography article says of him:

"Gilbert's importance to the development of science in the early nineteenth century lay in his faith that science provided the best means to tackle practical problems and in his facility as a parliamentary promoter of scientific ventures."

He also had a great interest for the history and culture of Cornwall. For instance, he removed a Celtic cross from near Truro, on the Redruth Road (where it had found new use as a gatepost), and took it to a churchyard in his new home of Eastbourne.^[4] When asked why he carried off a Cornish Cross and re-erected it in Eastbourne by the Rev. Canon Hockin, of Phillack, Mr. Davies replied, It was in order to show the poor, ignorant folk that there was something bigger in the world than a flint!.

He assembled and published A Parochial History of Cornwall and collected and published a number of Cornish Carols.^[5][6]

He edited for publication a Cornish Language poem about the Passion: Passyon agan Arluth, as Mount Calvary (1826).^[7] He was elected to the Society of Antiquaries in 1820.^[1] Gilbert was the President of the Royal Geological Society of Cornwall from its foundation in 1814 until his death.^[8]

Marriage and family

On 18 April 1808 he married Mary Ann Gilbert, and in 1816 he took his wife's surname, Gilbert, to perpetuate it.^[9] This enabled the couple to inherit the extensive property in Sussex of her uncle, Thomas Gilbert, who had no male heir.^[1][10]

Three daughters and a son survived him. Their son, John Davies Gilbert (5 December 1811 – 16 April 1854) was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in April, 1834 ^[11] but he does not seem to have published any scientific work.

Their eldest daughter, Catherine, married John Samuel Enys (b. 1796) on 17 April 1834.^[12] She was the mother of the notable New Zealand naturalist, John Davies Enys (11 October 1837 – 7 November 1912).^[13]

Their second daughter, Annie, married Rev. Henry Owen, rector of Heveningham, Suffolk on 4 December 1851.^[14]

The other daughters were Mary Susannah and Hester Elizabeth.^[10]

Publications

Books and publications written or edited by Davies Gilbert include:^[15]

• Plain Statement of the Bullion Question (1811)

• Some ancient Christmas Carols, with the Tunes to which they were formerly sung in the West of England. Collected by D. Gilbert. London : J. Nichols and Son, (1822).)^[16]

• Some ancient Christmas Carols, with the tunes to which they were formerly sung in the west of England. pp. x. 79. J. Nichols and Son: London, 1823

• "On the vibrations of heavy bodies in cycloidal and in circular arches, as compared with their descents through free space; including an estimate of the variable circular excess in vibrations continually decreasing." By Davies Gilbert, .. London : printed by William Clowes, [1823] 15,[3]p. 'Extracted from the Quarterly Journal, Vol. XV'.

• A Cornish Cantata. [Names of places in Cornwall arranged in the form of verses.] [Privately printed? East-Bourn?] 1826.

• Mount Calvary; or, the History of the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ, written in Cornish (as it may be conjectured) some centuries past. Interpreted in English, in ... 1682, by J. Keigwin . Edited by D. Gilbert. pp. xxii. 96. Nichols and Son: London, 1826.

• "On the expediency of assigning Specific Names to all such Functions of Simple Elements as represent definite physical properties; with the suggestion of a new term in mechanics; illustrated by an investigation of the Machine moved by Recoil" ... From the Philosophical Transactions. pp. 14. [Privately printed:] London, 1827.

• "Some Collections and Translations respecting St. Neot, and the former state of his Church." In : Hedgeland (J. P.) A Description ... of the ... decorations ... in the Church of St. Neot, etc. 1830.

• A Cornish dialogue between Tom Pengersick and Dic. Trengurtha. East-Bourn : Davies Gilbert, [ca. 1835](In verse.)

• The Parochial History of Cornwall, founded on, [or rather including,] the manuscript histories of Mr. William Hals and Mr. Thomas Tonkin; with additions and various appendices, by D. G. [including copious extracts from J. Whitaker, D. and S. Lysons, &c. and geological notices by Dr. Boase. 4 vol. London, 1838.

References

1. ^ ^{a b c d e} "Obituary: Davies Gilbert, Esq. V.P.R.S". The Gentleman's Magazine (F. Jefferies) XIII (1): 208–211. Jan - June 1840. http://books.google.com/?id=_bafTMlsMNoC&pg=RA1-PA203&dq=%22davies+gilbert%22+obituary. Retrieved 2008-04-02. 
2. ^ West Briton, Jan 3 1840 "Death of Davies Gilbert Esq." - quotation:"His preliminary education was conducted at home; and at a very early age he contracted an intimacy, which continued until death, with the Rev. Malachy Hitchens, vicar of St. Hilary, a gentleman of high and well-deserved celebrity as a mathematician and astronomer, and as editor of the Nautical Almanack."
3. ^ Stansfield, Dorothy A., Stansfield, Ronald G. (1986). "Dr Thomas Beddoes and James Watt: preparatory work 1794-96 for the Bristol Pneumatic Institute". Medical History 30 (30): 276–302. PMC 1139651. PMID 3523076. http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?tool=pmcentrez&artid=1139651. 
4. ^ Website of Eastbourne Pagan Circle accessed 28 October 2006
5. ^ A Parochial History of Cornwall : This book provides the first written evidence of the use of Flag of Saint Piran . It is available via Google Books
6. ^ hymns and Carols for Christmas website
7. ^ Kent, Alan M. (2000). The literature of Cornwall: Continuity, Identity, Difference 1000-2000. Redcliffe Press. pp. 42, 66. 
8. ^ Todd, A. C. (1964). "The Royal Geological Society of Cornwall". In K. F. G. Hosking & G. J. Shrimpton. Present Views of Some Aspects of the Geology of Cornwall and Devon. Penzance: Royal Geological Society of Cornwall. p. 1. 
9. ^ Change of name: ODNB states 1817. Venn Alumni Cantabrigienses says 1816:12:10
10. ^ ^{a b} Burke's A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Commoners of Great Britain ...1838, Volume 4, page 323: Gilbert of Tredrea and East-bourn article(via Google Books)
11. ^ "List of Fellows of the Royal Society, 1660–2006". Royal Society Library & Information Services. Archived from the original on 2007-02-10. http://web.archive.org/web/20070210091600/http://www.royalsoc.ac.uk/downloaddoc.asp?id=3120. Retrieved 2006-10-06.  . He was described as "a Gentleman much attached to Science being desirous of admission into the Royal Society".
12. ^ Burke's A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Commoners of Great Britain ...1838, Volume 4, page 373: Enys article. (via (Google Books)
13. ^ Dictionary of New Zealand Biography article, accessed November 7, 2006
14. ^ Gentleman's Magazine July-December 1851, Page 648: Marriages(via Google Books)
15. ^ Sources: British Library Integrated Catalogue and Cornwall County Library Catalogue
16. ^ This collection and the second edition (1823) includes the first publication of the well-known carols: A Virgin Most Pure and The First Nowell That The Angel Did Say.

• David Philip Miller (2004). "‘Gilbert (Giddy) Davies (1767–1839)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/10686. Retrieved 2006-09-18. 
• A.C. Todd (1967), Beyond the blaze: A biography of Davies Gilbert, D.Bradford Barton 

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Davies Gilbert (aka Davies Giddy) Note: The low count is wrong - search Hansard with "Davies Giddy" and "Davies Gilbert".
• Davies Gilbert Biography in hymnsandcarolsofchristmas.com website
• "Smithsonian/NASA ADS Astronomy Abstract Service". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society (Royal Astronomical Society) 5: 20–23. 1840. Bibcode 1840MNRAS...5...20.. 
• Obituary in The Gentleman's Magazine, Vol.13 (New series) 1840 Jan - June, Page 208-211. Online in Google Books
• Giddy (post Gilbert), Davies in Venn, J. & J. A., Alumni Cantabrigienses, Cambridge University Press, 10 vols, 1922–1958.

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by James Harris John Penn	Member of Parliament for Helston 1804–1806 With: James Harris 1804–1805 Archibald Primrose 1805–1806	Succeeded by Sir John Shelley Archibald Primrose
Preceded by Josias du Pre Porcher James Topping	Member of Parliament for Bodmin 1806–1832 With: William Wingfield, 1806–1807 Sir William Oglander, 1807–1812 Charles Bathurst, 1812–1818 Thomas Bradyll, 1818–1820 John Wilson Croker, 1820–1826 Horace Beauchamp Seymour, 1826–1832	Succeeded by William Peter Samuel Thomas Spry

Persondata
Name	Gilbert,Davies
Alternative names	Giddy, Davies
Short description	Scientist and mathematician. President of the Royal Society, M.P.
Date of birth	March 6, 1767
Place of birth	St Erth, Cornwall
Date of death	December 24, 1839
Place of death	Eastbourne