Samuel Gilbert (died ) was an English cleric, writer on horticulture, and floriculturist.

Life

Gilbert was chaplain to Jane, wife of

Charles Gerard, 4th Baron Gerard Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English language, English and French language, French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic, Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*k ...

of Gerards Bromley, and rector of

Quatt Quatt is a small village in Shropshire, England in the Severn Valley. The civil parish, formally known as Quatt Malvern, has a population of 219 according to the 2001 census, reducing to 200 at the 2011 census. It lies on the A442 south of Brid ...

Shropshire Shropshire (; alternatively Salop; abbreviated in print only as Shrops; demonym Salopian ) is a landlocked historic county in the West Midlands region of England. It is bordered by Wales to the west and the English counties of Cheshire to th ...

. He seems to have lived with his father-in-law John Rea, who died in 1681, at

Kinlet Kinlet is a small village and civil parish in the south-east of the county of Shropshire, England. The parish is on the northern edge of the Wyre Forest and is in the Bridgnorth District of Shropshire. The parish incorporates the hamlets of Kin ...

, Shropshire, near

Bewdley Bewdley ( pronunciation) is a town and civil parish in the Wyre Forest District in Worcestershire, England on the banks of the River Severn. It is in the Severn Valley west of Kidderminster and southwest of Birmingham. It lies on the River Sev ...

. The date of his death is uncertain.Boulger 1890, pp. 334–335.

Works

In 1676 Gilbert published a pamphlet entitled ''Fons Sanitatis, or the Healing Spring at Willowbridge in

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation Staffs.) is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. It borders Cheshire to the northwest, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwickshire to the southeast, the West Midlands Cou ...

, found out by … Lady Jane Gerard'', London, pp. 40, some of the cures recorded in which work are attested by himself. It has therefore been suggested that he also practised as a physician.Boulger 1890, p. 334. After the death of Rea, in 1681, he also published the ''Florist's Vademecum and Gardener's Almanack'', 1683, subsequent editions of which appeared in 1690, 1693, 1702, and 1713. The work is arranged according to the months, and to the second edition are added various appendices and a portrait of the author, engraved by Robert White, which was reproduced in the ''Journal of Horticulture.'' Gilbert speaks of his father-in-law as the greatest of florists; and, as his own writings contain many verses, it has been suggested that he also composed those in Rea's ''Flora, Ceres, and Pomona'', 1676.

Family

Gilbert married Minerva, daughter of John Rea. They had one son, Arden, and four or five daughters.Boulger 1890, p. 335.

Notes

Bibliography

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gilbert, Samuel Year of birth missing 1692 deaths 17th-century English Anglican priests English garden writers Writers from Shropshire English male poets Clergy from Shropshire