Biography

Sir John Thomas Gilbert (1829-98), knight, Irish historian and antiquary, was born at 23 Jervis Street, Dublin, on 23 January 1829. He was educated at St Vincent's Seminary, Usher's Quay, Dublin, Bective College, Dublin, and Prior Park College, near Bath. In 1851 he contributed to the Irish Quarterly Review an essay entitled 'Historical literature of Ireland', which was followed in 1852, by 'The streets of Dublin', which was expanded into his well-known 'History of the city of Dublin'. In 1863 Gilbert published a series of papers under the nom de plume, 'an Irish archivist', in which he called attention to the defects in the treatment of Irish historical documents in the Calendars of Patent and Close Rolls of Chancery in Ireland, published under the authority of the Treasury. In 1880 he became a trustee of the National Library of Ireland. The Royal University conferred on him the honorary degree of LLD in 1892. In 1897 he was knighted. He died on 23 May 1898 in Dublin, of heart failure.

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