White, Gilbert

Epithet: advertising agent, of London

Gilbert White (1720-93), naturalist, was born on 18 July 1720 at the parsonage of Selborne in Hampshire, the eldest son of John White, barrister-at-law, and Anne, the only child of Thomas Holt, rector of Streatham, Surrey. He was educated at Basingstoke under the Revd Thomas Warton, before being admitted as a commoner of Oriel College, Oxford, in December 1739 (B.A., 1743; M.A., 1746). He became a college fellow in 1744, and was admitted one of the senior proctors of the university in 1752. White received deacon's orders in 1747, and became curate in Selborne. He was ordained priest but never practised, choosing instead to engage in literary pursuits and the study of nature. The results of his study of the natural history of his local area were published in The natural history and antiquities of Selborne (1789). He died on 26 June 1793 at his home, The Wakes, and was buried at Selborne church.