Thomas Gisborne

Infobox Person
name = Thomas Gisborne


image_size =
caption = detail from Joseph Wright painting
birth_date = 31 October 1758
birth_place = Bridge Gate, Derbyshire
death_date = 24 March 1846
death_place =
education = Harrow and entered St John's College
occupation = divine
spouse = Elizabeth
parents = John and Ann Gisborne
children = eight

Thomas Gisborne (31 October 1758 –24 March 1846) was an Anglican divine, priest and poet. He was one of the Clapham Sect, who fought for the abolition of the slave trade in England.

Life

Gisborne was born at Bridge Gate, Derbyshire, the son of John Gisborne of Yoxhall Lodge in Needwood Forest, Staffordshire and his wife Anne Bateman. He was educated at Harrow and entered St John's College, Cambridge in 1776, where he established life-long friendships with William Wilberforce and Thomas Babington. At Cambridge, he became the first Chancellor's medallist in 1780. He became curate of Barton-under-Needwood in 1783, and prebendary of Durham, 1823 and 1826. In 1784 he married Thomas Babington's sister Mary Babington and they lived at Yoxall Lodge which Gisborne had inherited with a considerable amount of money. The house provided an ideal retreat from which Wilberforce and Thomas Babington could work on the abolition of the slave trade. Wilberforce treated it as his summer residence from about 1794. [ [http://www.bluebellwoodsofyoxalllodge.com/history.html Bluebell Woods of Yoxall Lodge - History] ] Gisborne was also a close friend of Hannah More.

Gisborne himself produced a range of religious and social works. He also wrote poetry and a number of hymns. [ [http://www.cyberhymnal.org/bio/g/i/gisborne_t.htm Cyber Hymnal] ]

Reverend Thomas and Mary Gisborne were portrayed by Joseph Wright of Derby in 1786. [ [http://www.jstor.org/pss/874459 The Burlington Magazine No. 743 Vol 107 February 1965] ] They had eight children. His son Thomas Gisborne was a Member of Parliament, and his daughter Mary married William Evans who succeeded him in parliament. The youngest daughter Lydia married the Reverend Edmund Robinson but created a scandal by conducting an affair with Branwell Brontë.

Writing

He wrote about the role of women, particularly in "An Enquiry into the Duties of the Female Sex", (1797), where he argued that women's subordinate nature is innate. Whilst he shared the view that women should not conceal their intellectual abilities, and that parents should never force their daughters into marriage, he commended the traditional feminine virtues and the domestic role for women. Law, politics and government, scholarship, philosophy, navigation and war all "demand the efforts of a mind endued with the powers of close and comprehensive reasoning, and of intense and continued application" and are thus best left to men. The concomitant duties of men are set out in his companion volume, "An Enquiry Into the Duties of Men in the Higher and Middle Classes of Society in Great Britain" (1794). ‘The master of the house’ should ‘not attend the savage spectacle of cockpits and boxing matches; nor engage in the ruinous occupations and infamous society of race-courses and gaming tables’. Instead, he has a responsibility for the moral health and education of wife and children and should ‘join the family circle in the winter’s evening’s perusal of selected portions of history, poetry or other improving and elegant branch of literature’.

Published works

*"Principles of Moral Philosophy", (1789)
*"Remarks Respecting the Abolition of the Slave Trade", (1792)
*"Walks in a Forest", (1794)
*"An Enquiry Into the Duties of Men in the Higher and Middle Classes of Society" in Great Britain" (1794)
*"An Enquiry into the Duties of the Female Sex", (1797)
*"Po­ems Sac­red and Moral", (1798)
*"A Se­lect­ion of Psalms and Hymns for Pub­lic and Pri­vate Use", with Jon­a­than Stubbs (1805).
*"Sermons Volume 1" [http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=2WIAAAAAMAAJ&dq=%22Thomas+Gisborne%22+Yoxall&source=gbs_summary_s&cad=0]
*"A Familiar Survey of the Christian Religion and of History", (1810)
*"Essays on Recollection of Friends in a Future State", (1822)

Hymns

*"A Sol­dier’s Course from Bat­tles Won"
*"Hark! ’Tis the Bell with Solemn Toll"
*"O Father, Glorify Thy Name"
*"Saviour, When Night In­volves the Skies"
*"Thy Humblest Works with Full Accord"
*"When Groves by Moon­light Si­lence Keep"

References