Humphrey Gilbert
Sir Humphrey Gilbert (c. 1539 – 9 September 1583) was an English adventurer, explorer, member of parliament and soldier who served during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I and was a pioneer of the English colonial empire in North America and the Plantations of Ireland.[1][2] He was a maternal half-brother of Sir Walter Raleigh and a cousin of Sir Richard Grenville.[2]
For other people named Humphrey Gilbert, see Humphrey Gilbert (disambiguation).
SirHumphrey Gilbert
9 September 1583 (aged 43–44)
Anne Aucher (1548-1631) m 1570
6 sons and 1 daughter
- Otho Gilbert
- Catherine Champernowne
Biography[edit]
Early life[edit]
Gilbert was the 5th son of Otho Gilbert of Compton, Greenway and Galmpton, all in Devon, by his wife Catherine Champernowne. His brothers, Sir John Gilbert and Adrian Gilbert, and his half-brothers Carew Raleigh and Sir Walter Raleigh, were also prominent during the reigns of Queen Elizabeth I and King James VI and I. Catherine Champernowne was a niece of Kat Ashley, Elizabeth's governess, who introduced her young kinsmen to the court. Gilbert's uncle, Sir Arthur Champernowne, involved him in the Plantations of Ireland between 1566 and 1572.[3]
Gilbert's mentor was Sir Henry Sidney. He was educated at Eton College and the University of Oxford, where he learned to speak French and Spanish and studied war and navigation. He went on to reside at the Inns of Chancery in London in about 1560–1561.
Gilbert was present at the siege of Newhaven in Havre-de-Grâce (Le Havre), Normandy, where he was wounded in June 1563. By July 1566, he was serving in Ireland during the Tudor conquest of Ireland, under the command of Sidney (then Lord Deputy of Ireland) against Shane O'Neill. He was then sent to England later in the year with dispatches for the Queen. At that point, he took the opportunity of presenting the Queen with his A Discourse of a Discoverie for a New Passage to Cataia (Cathay) (published in revised form in 1576),[4] treating of the exploration of a Northwest Passage by America to China.