Page:A catalogue of notable Middle Templars, with brief biographical notices.djvu/121



Admitted 17 November, 1800.

Youngest son of John Gifford, a general dealer, in business in Exeter, in which city he was born on 24 Feb. 1779, and where he acquired some knowledge of the law in an attorney's office. He was called to the Bar on 12 Feb. 1808, and, entering Parliament, was made Solicitor-General in 1817, and Attorney-General two years later. In this capacity it fell to his lot to conduct the prosecution in the case of Queen Caroline. In the Autumn Term of 1819, he was Reader at the Inn. He was raised to the Bench as Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas in 1824, but after three months was appointed Master of the Rolls. He died 4 Sept. 1826, at the early age of 47. He was also a member of Lincoln's Inn.

Admitted 30 May, 1783.

Only son of the Rev. Edward Giddy of Tredrea, Cornwall. He assumed the name and arms of Gilbert (his wife's family name) in 1817. He was educated at Oxford where he took the degree of M.A. in 1789, and D.C.L. in 1832. He was a man of scientific and literary tastes, a friend of Dr. Beddoes, Sir Humphrey Davy, Thomas Telford, and other leading thinkers. He was also an active and useful member of Parliament, and served on numerous important committees. He was a member of many of the learned societies, and in 1827 was elected President of the Royal Society. He was the author of many pamphlets and papers on economical, antiquarian, and scientific subjects; but his chief work was The Parochial History of Cornwall, published in 1838. He died at Eastbourne, 24 Dec. 1839.

Admitted 29 April, 1847.

Third son of the Rev. James Gilchrist of Newington Green, Middlesex, where he was born 25 April, 1828. He was called to the Bar 3 May, 1850, but preferred literary work, and became a contributor to the Eclectic Review, and subsequently to the Literary Gazette and the Critic, and wrote the lives of artists in the early editions of Men of the Time. His principal works, however, are a Life of Etty, published in 1855, and of William Blake, published by his widow, 1863. He lived his later life in Chelsea, a neighbour of Carlyle, whose friendship he enjoyed. He died there 30 Nov. 1861.

Admitted 22 November, 1828.

Eldest son of William Giles of Frome, Somerset. He was educated at Charterhouse and Oxford, where in 1828 he took a double First Class, and in 1831 obtained the Vinerian Scholarship. In 1832 he became a Fellow of Corpus, and in 1838 took the degree of D.C.L. He abandoned his intention of following the law, and took Holy Orders, and in 1836 became Head Master of the City of London School. As a schoolmaster, however, he was a failure, and he betook himself to private teaching, and the editing and writing of books, particularly translations of many of the old English Chronicles, thus forestalling the more perfect Rolls Series of publications. During his life he held the curacies of Bampton, Oxfordshire, Perrivale, Middlesex, Harmondsworth near Slough, and Sutton, Surrey, where he died 24 Sept 1884.