Frederick Gilbert (1827-1902)

Frederick Gilbert was the brother of Sir John Gilbert, R.A. He seems to have been a reclusive sort of man, very little is known about his life. In Notes & Queries for 3 Nov 1900, Ralph Thomas, wrote that “Frederick Gilbert was a brother of Sir John Gilbert, in whose house at Blackheath, he lived. Though a skilful draughtsman, he left off practicing his profession many years before he died. I believe it was difficult to distinguish his work from that of his brother’s. His death occurred on March 26, 1902, in his 75th year, and he is buried in the family vault in Lewisham Cemetery, Ladywell.”

All of Frederick Gilbert’s work was done for the publisher John Dicks in his various publications. He illustrated the serials of Malcolm J. Errym (James Malcolm Rymer), and Edward Ellis (C. H. Ross & Ernest Warren) for Reynolds’s Miscellany as well as many serials for John Dicks’ Bow Bells, Every Week and The Boy’s Herald.

He illustrated a number of novels by G. W. M. Reynolds and contributed to many of Dicks’ English Library of Standard Works which included titles by Ainsworth, Lord Lytton, G. P. R. James and Sir Walter Scott.

The illustration at top is from “Owen Redgrave,” written by Edward Ellis and published in the Boy’s Herald, July 1877, a reprint of “The Buccaneers; or, The Hidden Treasure,” from Reynolds’s Miscellany, Volume 34, No. 877. April 1, 1865. I have already posted a number of Gilbert illustrations in my posts on Boy’s Herald HERE.