Davies Gilbert

GILBERT, Davies. b. St Erth, Cornwall, 6 March 1767; d. Eastbourne, Sussex, 24 December 1839. He was educated at Penzance Grammar School, at a boarding school at Bristol, and at Pembroke College, Oxford (MA, 1789). Gilbert came from an old Cornish family: his name was originally Giddy and was changed to his wife’s name in 1817, after he had acquired a large Sussex estate by marriage. He was prominent in the affairs of Cornwall, and nationally, serving as Member of Parliament for Helston (1804) and Bodmin (1806-32). A distinguished applied mathematician, he was treasurer and then President of the Royal Society (1827-1830), and helped to promote the great technological advances of the age: he...