GILBERT BLANE MEDAL 



3528 



Sir W. S. Gilbert, 

 British dramatist 



and he started his career as drama- 

 tist by writing half a dozen bur- 

 lesques, including a travesty of 

 Tennyson's' The 

 Princess. These 

 were followed 

 by three fairy 

 plays, The 

 PalaceofTruth, 

 1870, The 

 Wicked World, 

 1873, and 

 Broken Hearts. 

 1875; a classi- 

 cal r o m a n ce, 

 Russeii Pygmalion and 



Galatea, 1871 ; and two farcical 

 comedies, Tom Cobb, 1875, and 

 Engaged, 1877. He also wrote 

 plays of serious interest, such as 

 Dan'l Druce, 1876 ; Gretchen, 

 1879; Comedy and Tragedy, 1884 : 

 and Brantinghame Hall, 1888. 



The remarkable series of operas, 

 in the production of which he was 

 associated with Arthur Sullivan as 

 music composer and Richard 

 D'Oyly Carte as theatrical mana- 

 ger, started at The Royalty with 

 Trial By Jury, 1875, and was con- 

 tinued at the Opera Comique by 

 The Sorcerer, 1877, H.M.S. Pina- 

 fore, 1878, The Pirates of Penzance, 

 1880, and Patience, 1881, and at 

 The Savoy by lolanthe, 1882, 

 Princess Ida, 1884, The Mikado, 

 1885, Ruddigore, 1887, The Yeo- 

 man of the Guard, 1888, The Gon- 

 doliers, 1889, Utopia Limited, 1893, 

 and The Grand Duke, 1896. The 

 wit and finish of his dialogue and 

 lyrics, the urbanity of his satire, 

 and the topsy-turveydom of his 

 humour probably contributed as 

 much to the success of The Savoy 

 operas as the grace and charm of 

 Sullivan's music. Gilbert, who was 

 knighted in 1907, died May 29, 

 1911, and was buried at Edgware. 

 Gilbert Blane Medal. Naval 

 prize. It was founded in 1829 by 

 Sir Gilbert Blane, a member of the 





Gilbert Blane Medal. Reverse and 

 obverse sides of the naval prize medal 



board for Sick and Wounded Sea- 

 men, to encourage the study of 

 medicine in the navy. It consists 

 of a gold medal presented bien- 

 nially to each of the two medical 

 officers who produce the most ap- 

 proved daily journals of their prac- 

 tice whilst in charge of a ship of 

 war in the Royal Navy. 



Sir Walter Gilbey, 

 British merchant 



Gilbertines. English monastic 

 order. It was founded by S. Gilbert 

 of Sempringham (q.v.) about 1135. 

 The order included both men and 

 women, who lived in double monas- 

 teries having no communication. 

 The men followed the Augustinian 

 rule and the women the Cistercian. 

 The habit was black, covered with a 

 w hite cloak. S. Gilbert established 

 13 houses, containing some 700 

 canons and 1,500 nuns. The superior 

 was called the master or prior 

 general. See Abbey; Monasticism. 

 Gilbey, SIB WALTER (1831- 

 1914). British merchant. Born at 

 Bishop's Stortford, May 2, 1831, as 

 a youth he was 

 in the office of 

 an estate agent. 

 During the 

 Crimean War 

 he served in 

 the army pay 

 department at 

 the front, and 

 on his return 

 to England he 

 founded, with 



Elliott A- fry QnQ Q f his 



brothers, the firm of W. & A. 

 Gilbey, wine merchants. In 1893 

 Gilbey was made a baronet and 

 the title passed to his son on 

 his death, Nov. 12, 1914. Gilbey 

 was a sportsman and an agricultur- 

 ist, writing books on both subjects. 

 In 1895 he was president of the 

 Royal Agricultural Society, and 

 from 1889-1904 of the Hackney 

 Horse Society. His numerous pub- 

 lications include Riding and Driv- 

 ing Horses, 1901, and Hounds in 

 the Old Days, 1913. 



Gil boa (bubbling fountain). 

 Chain of hills beside the plain of 

 Esdraelon. Saul and his sons were 

 slain in battle here. 



Gildas (c. 516-570). British his- 

 torian. His work, Liber querulus 

 de excidio Britanniae, or Lament 

 over the Destruction of Britain, 

 traces the history of Britain from 

 the Roman invasion to the writer's 

 own time, and has slight literary 

 and doubtful historical value. He 

 is known also as a Breton saint, two 

 monasteries having been founded 

 in his honour in Brittany. 



Gildea, SIR JAMES (1838-1920). 

 British philanthropist. Born at 

 Kilmaine, co. Mayo, Ireland, 

 June 24, 1838, 

 third son of 

 the Very Rev. 

 G R. Gildea, 



?rovost of 

 uam, he was 

 educated at S. 

 C o 1 u m b a's 

 College, near 

 Dublin, and 

 Pembroke 

 College, Cam- 



Sir James Gildea, 

 British philanthropist 



Rutsell 



bridge. He served in a civilian 

 capacity at the War Office, 1857- 

 62 ; was colonel commanding 6th 

 Royal Warwickshire Regt.. 1890- 

 88 ; and from 1909 hon. colonel of 

 the 4th (Special Reserve) Bat- 

 talion. From the time of the 

 Franco - Prussian War, when he 

 joined the committee of the 

 National Society for Aid to the 

 Sick and Wounded in War, he 

 interested himself actively in work 

 on behalf of Service charities. 



He promoted the reorganization 

 of the Royal Patriotic Fund, 

 founded the Soldiers' and Sailors' 

 Families Association, 1885, and 

 the Royal Homes for Officers' 

 Widows and Daughters at Wim- 

 bledon, ] 899, and was one of the 

 promoters of the S. John Am- 

 bulance Association. Knighted in 

 1902, he died Nov. 6, 1920. 



Gilding. Application of very 

 thin metals, principally gold, for 

 decorative and other purposes. 

 The metal is caused to adhere by 

 painting a thin coat of gold size, 

 which is a thickened linseed oil to 

 which has been added a little 

 finely ground ochre. This size be- 

 comes tacky, i.e. sticky, in from 

 one to four days. 



The leaves of gold measure 

 3^ inches square, and are con- 

 tained in books interleaved with 

 paper. When it is desired to 

 finish the work quickly japanner's 

 gold size is used. This becomes 

 tacky in from 30 minutes to two 

 hours. For certain work such as 

 running lines on vehicles ribbon 

 gold is often used. In this the 

 gold is prepared in long narrow 

 strips, and rolled up in trie form of 

 a narrow cylinder or wheel with 

 protecting paper between. The 

 wheel is held in a handle, and the 

 gold is transferred in a short time. 



Gilead. Mt. district in Palestine 

 E. of the Jordan. In it the tribe 

 of Gad appears to have settled. 

 Elijah was the most notable of its 

 sons. See Balm. 



Giles (Lat. Aegidius). Patron 

 saint of lepers and beggars. He is 

 said to have been born at Athens 

 at the end of the 7th century, and 

 to have emigrated to France, 

 where he became a hermit near 

 Nimes. He founded an abbey, 

 which was called by his name. 



Giles, ERNEST (1839-97). Brit- 

 ish explorer. Born at Bristol, he 

 went to Australia at an early age. 

 and between 1872 and 1882 made 

 a number of explorations into the 

 interior. In the first of these, in 

 1872, he started from Chamber's 

 Pillar, about 134 E. long., 25 S. 

 lat., and proceeded N.W. as far as 

 Lake Amadeus. In 1873 he jour- 

 neyed from the Alberga River and 

 followed the 27th parallel to 126 



