9 [Vol. xxxiii. 



II.— Synopsis of the Life of GILBERT WHITE. 



By W. H. Mullens. 



Gilbert White, the famous naturalist and author of 'The 

 Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne/ was born at 

 the Vicarage or Parsonage House at Selborne on 18th July, 

 1720 (O. S.), where his parents were staying with his 

 grandfather Gilbert, who was then vicar of the parish. 

 The statement made in several of his biographies that he 

 first saw light at 'The Wakes/ for so many years his 

 subsequent residence, being incorrect, as the following lines 

 from his poem ' The Invitation to Selborne ' show: — 



' Nor be the Parsonage by the Muse forgot ; 

 The partial bard admires his native spot.' 



Gilbert White was the eldest son of John White, Barrister- 

 at-Law (1688-1758), and of Anne (1693-1739), only child 

 of Thomas Holt (d. 1710), Rector of Streatham, in Surrey. 

 His grandfather, also named Gilbert (1650-1728) was the 

 fourth son of Sir Samson White (1607-1684), who was 

 Mayor of Oxford in 1660, and acting as the King's Butler 

 at the Coronation of Charles II. was knighted by that 

 monarch. On his father's side Gilbert White could trace 

 his descent from the Whites of Coggs or Cogges in Oxford- 

 shire (vide Pedigree in ' Life and Letters of Gilbert White/ 

 London, 1901, vol. ii.), and on his mother's from the 

 illustrious family of the Fords of Harting in Sussex (vide 

 ' Transactions of the South-Eastern Union of Scientific 

 Societies/ p. 23, 1908). Gilbert White was the eldest of 

 eleven children, three of whom died in infancy, and those 

 of his brothers and sisters who call for brief notice here, 

 owing to their close association with the naturalist of 

 Selborne, are as follows : — 



(1) Thomas (1724-1797), who adopted the prefix of Holt, 

 on inheriting the property of his godfather, Thomas Holt 

 (not, however, the Rector of Streatham before-mentioned), 

 receiver to the Duke of Bedford's estate at Thorney in the 



